The 2020 United Nations Ocean Conference focusing on the theme, “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development“ will be organized in Lisboa from the 2nd to the 6th of June 2020. A preparatory meeting took place in New York on the 5th and 6th of February.
Our p
artner, Thomas Lesage and his non-profit organization Children for the Oceans, attended this meeting. The NGO, created by Thomas when he was 14 years old, aims at gathering a worldwide youth network in order to educate on different threats facing the ocean such as acidification, overfishing and plastic pollution. He attended the preparatory meeting in order to convey the message that there is a need to make a connection between civil society and its role in ocean protection. He would like the decision-makers to have a focus on youth awareness as kids and young people are a key in order to disseminate messages across society as a whole.
During his speech on the 5th of February, Thomas advocated for scientific knowledge dissemination and the need of political commitment where solutions have already been found. “Dissemination is one thing, and in addition we all agree that science and innovations have to be developed but we already have some available solutions and have already identified the key issues. In this context we need strong political commitments and pragmatic actions to save our ocean. The time for us to act is now” he asserts.
Discover his intervention: