While coastal and Indigenous communities have been sustainably managing the ocean, protecting biodiversity and safeguarding a healthy climate for all for centuries, destructive fishing and industrial exploitation is harming people’s health and livelihood, while destroying nature and climate. We need to uphold community driven solutions to ensure a fair and sustainable future for the ocean and the people – and demand governments follow their lead.

Julienne Dogue, a woman working in the fish processing business, collects seafood on the shore near Mar Lodj fishing village, Fatick region, Senegal. © Clément Tardif / Greenpeace

The ocean has been at the heart of coastal communities’ livelihoods, feeding families around the world and weaving communities together through vibrant cultural traditions. Millions of small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, and coastal people rely on healthy oceans for food, income, and cultural survival.

But oceans and people’s health are threatened by unsustainable practices and industrial exploitation – from state-imposed industrial megaprojects and destructive fishing in Thailand, to intensive aquaculture in Chilean Patagonia, fishmeal and fish oil factories in West Africa, and bottom trawling in Sri Lanka. Despite misleading promises, industrial exploitation is bringing havoc on nature and in most cases impoverishing communities.

Solutions are within voices making waves, and this is why we need to uphold community driven solutions to ensure a fair and sustainable future for the ocean and the people – and demand governments follow their lead.

Women activists with their empty traditional calabash bowls, raise their fists in defiance in Mbour, Senegal to highlight their grassroots campaigns against industrial overfishing and coastal industrialisation and demand government action. They also hold a banner reading “My gourd is empty because of trawlers”. © Clément Tardif / Greenpeace

UNOC3: A pivotal moment for people and the ocean

Global leaders gather this week at the UN Ocean Conference, UNOC3, in Nice, France to discuss the future of the oceans, and because we all depend on the oceans, this big global event is crucial for the future of oceans and people.

Marine conservation can only be a success with coastal communities leading the wa(y)ve. This UNOC is going to be an important moment to set the level of ambition of the states in the UN Ocean Conference political declaration. Governments need to recognise that coastal people, who have been ocean stewards and traditional knowledge holders on sustainable ocean management and practices for centuries, are the rightful leaders of coastal protection and the 30×30 target.

You may wonder: How can I, from the other side of the world, contribute to this big global event?

Here are 4 concrete and easy actions you can take right away in order to support coastal people’s rights and ocean conservation.

• ACTION 1: Post on Twitter/ X, Threads and Bluesky to call on world leaders to ensure community-led marine protection

Post on Twitter/ X, Threads and Bluesky to tell world leaders that small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, and local coastal communities must be recognised as rights-holders and frontline stewards of the ocean.

• ACTION 2: Share this post on Facebook to support people and oceans health

The ocean is also a vital climate regulator and key to help mitigate climate change and its impacts. Coastal communities, small-scale fishers and Indigenous Peoples who have been sustainably managing the oceans for centuries are not only protecting their livelihoods, but everyone’s right to live in a healthy environment.

Join the Voices Making Waves by demanding governments to halt industrial exploitation of the oceans, destructives practices and uphold coastal people’s rights, agency and power by securing co-equal access to co-manage and co-design their own future.

• ACTION 3: Share these images in your story to show world leaders that solutions lies within voices making waves

Community driven solutions like community-led marine protected areas and small-scale fisheries are already making waves around the world. Grounded in sustainable practices, they are supporting economies, human rights and healthy oceans and biodiversity.

Share these images in your Instagram stories to demand governments that policies protect the rights of small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, local coastal communities, as well as women and youth — those most dependent on, and essential to, ocean stewardship.

Don’t forget to use #UNOC3 #OceanJustice and #SaveOurOcean hashtags and tag @greenpeace

• ACTION 4: Tell your friends on WhatsApp to join the rising tide

Share the blog with your friends with a message like this:

Hey! Did you know that oceans and people’s health are under threat because of growing industrial and destructive practices? It’s not only affecting coastal people’s livelihoods, but because the ocean protects us from the worst of climate change impacts, it’s also affecting the health of all of us around the world. Good news is small-scale fishers, coastal communities and Indigenous People have been sustainably managing the ocean for centuries, and as global leaders gather at UNOC3 to discuss the future of ocean management, we have a unique opportunity to tell them that marine conservation can only be a success with coastal communities leading the way. Will you join the Voices Making Waves by posting on your social media?

A wave can spark a revolution. Following the lead of the people fighting for coastal futures, we can protect marine ecosystems, climate and people’s health while supporting workers, economies, and vibrant cultures to pass to the next generations.

Laura Bergamo is the Global Communications & Engagement Lead for the Ocean Justice Campaign.

Source: greenpeace.org