* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
For World Ocean Day 2020, we release the documentary 'Sanctuary' - the story of a fight for a better planet for us all
Javier Bardem is an Oscar-winning actor, Carlos Bardem is a Spanish actor, and Alvaro Longoria a film director
Today on World Oceans Day we are making our documentary “Sanctuary” available for everyone with one purpose: to help us think of how we want the future to be.
Many of us are right now living through a period of unprecedented turbulence. As we call for action and justice for the most vulnerable in our societies, and in how we rebuild our economies, thoughts are already beginning to turn to how we step into the next phase of human history. One thing is clear, it cannot be business as usual for our planet.
The pace with which we as a species have taken action to tackle this urgent existential threat can offer us a glimmer of hope as to how, together, we can take the critical action required to protect our oceans, forests and climate - the support-systems of our planet - for future generations.
The ocean provides half of the world’s oxygen as well as life-sustaining food for billions of people. Our oceans also absorb climate-wrecking emissions, helping to slow climate breakdown. Now more than ever, they’re under threat from different forms of human impact like climate breakdown, industrial fishing, plastic pollution and deep sea mining. But a global rescue plan is already underway: to agree a historic Global Ocean Treaty at the United Nations and cover at least a third of the world’s oceans in protected ocean sanctuaries.
That’s why we recently joined a Greenpeace mission to create the largest protected area on Earth: an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary. It was an epic voyage to one of the last great wildernesses of the planet. Together with scientists and activists, we witnessed the wonders of a frozen world that we urgently need to protect. We saw how greed and corporate power threaten even the smallest forms of life, like krill, the basis of the Antarctic food web, and how collapsing ocean ecosystems can affect us all.
Today, on World Oceans Day, we would like to invite you to join us on this journey. Our film, Sanctuary, is the story of that fight for a better planet for us all: a story of hope and of the inspiring scientists and campaigners - ordinary people - that commit their lives to defending our natural world. Standing in the Antarctic, dwarfed by the huge scale of towering icebergs and giant whales breaking the glassy water, was a privileged and humbling experience. But even more than seeing, we want people to feel what we felt in those moments: to feel what is at stake for our planet if we fail to protect it.
We know the power we hold when we all come together to make our voices heard. It is possible to coordinate a truly global response to the climate crisis. To build back better and not return to business as usual. And to protect our global oceans on which we all rely. In moments of crisis, surely we are stronger together.
While many of us remain confined, we still have the power to build connections to each other, to deepen our roots in the natural world and to demand that our leaders protect our planet for generations to come. Already, over 3 million of us are united in calling for a global treaty to protect the world's oceans. Join us on that journey. While many of us may feel trapped, we can be part of something bigger. This could be our ocean’s last chance: let’s give them the sanctuary they need.
