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.
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.
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.
