UN Special Envoy for the Ocean Urges COP31 to Prioritize Ocean-Based Climate Action
Peter Thomson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, is advocating for the ocean to be a central focus at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey. For over three decades, Pacific island countries have warned about the warming ocean's threat to food and energy security and global survival, but these warnings have often been dismissed as regional issues. The current climate devastation, exacerbated by an El Niño cycle and record-breaking ocean heat, demonstrates that this crisis extends beyond coastal regions. Rising sea levels are impacting fertile farmland and displacing communities, while ocean warming threatens global energy grids and supply chains. The ocean, as the planet's largest carbon and heat sink, absorbs 30% of CO2 emissions and 90% of excess heat, but this comes at a cost to its ecosystems. By 2050, ocean-linked disasters could lead to losses of $56 billion under a 2°C warming scenario, highlighting the urgent need to keep global warmin...
