It’s deeply heartening to witness the exemplary efforts and leadership of Ervis Foundation to protect the ocean and tackle the overwhelming challenge of plastic pollution that confronts us today.
The ocean sustains all forms life on our planet and is fundamental to our future and the future of generations to come. As Ervis Foundation demonstrates through its youth-led initiatives — the Blue Circle and its school-based, Blue Warrior Clubs – now is the time for the youth of the world to rise to the challenge and protect the ocean.
Rapidly dying coral reefs, vanishing biodiversity and loss, collapsing fish populations, and escalating, permanent extinction of marine species is collectively exacerbating the ocean crisis. The underlying causes behind the ocean’s inability to function effectively as our life support system are overfishing, ocean acidification, plastic pollution, and rising ocean temperatures. The compounded effects of these causes are debilitating to our marine ecosystems. It is vital to protect and restore the ocean’s natural capability to produce oxygen, sequester carbon, serve as the biggest natural carbon sink, and provide food and sustenance for billions of citizens of this planet that depend on it. A healthy and thriving ocean is critical to a healthy future for our planet and all its inhabitants.
Marking the defining Decade of Action, today, we have no more than ten years at most to take urgent action to stay below 1.5°C. Identifying and implementing sustainable pathways to prevent this irreversible heating threshold and avoiding the existential risks to nature and people, that crossing it will bring, is critical. This demands transformative change that respects and revitalizes our ocean, its biodiversity, blue ecosystems, and all forms of life that rely on a healthy ocean for a healthy future. The Decade of the 2020s must inspire vision and action to set the ocean on a course to recovery. The time is here, and the conditions today are apt for governments, businesses, and communities alike to join hands and lead the change. There is a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 framework, the undeniable science of the IPCC’s Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, and an unstoppable youth movement to Protect Our Planet.
We must listen to science and mobilize our youth, as their lives will be shaped by the actions we take now. Ervis Foundation has taken this mission to heart and is well on its way to committing youth-led action to build a healthy blue future for all.
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