Dr. Thierry Chopin, a professor of marine biology at UNB, is one of 19 international researchers and policy analysts who prepared a groundbreaking report for the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York.

The report, “The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change: Five Opportunities for Action,” was written for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (HLPSOE), a unique group of 14 current heads of state and government.

Their work is the first ever comprehensive, quantitative analysis into the role that ocean-based solutions can play in the fight against climate change. While the ocean is being threatened by climate change, the researchers flipped the approach to ask if the ocean could, in fact, be a solution for climate change.

“We identified five opportunities for action that could help turn the tide against climate breakdown,” says Dr. Chopin. “We highlight solutions that would help curb climate change and contribute to the development of a sustainable ocean economy, while protecting coastal communities from increasingly severe storms, safeguarding and creating jobs, improving food security, reducing air pollution, restoring habitats for wildlife and helping maintain economic growth, thereby helping to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.”

 

Continue reading at University of New Brunswick.

Image via University of New Brunswick.