(COP)26 FAILURES AND COUNTING
28.10.2021
Ocean Rebellion has projected statements on to the Hydro, the location of the forthcoming UN COP26 failure, and the SEC Armadillo to demand that COP26 makes the Ocean a priority. The slogans describe the multiple ways humanity is destroying the Ocean: by industrial fishing; release of blue carbon; shipping pollution; greenwashing; habitat destruction; acidification; deep sea mining and local issues.
Ocean Rebellion appeals to world governments to take the degradation of our Ocean seriously. We demand all governments Act Now and cease all subsidies to fossil fuels and start taxing shipping fuel at the same level as land-based fuel.
Floss Stallard from Ocean Rebellion says:
“The delegates at COP26 must stop talking and start saving the Ocean. At the moment our seas are used as an ‘infinite’ resource for exploitation. The Ocean is not an infinite resource, it is finite and dying. The Ocean is the Earth’s lungs, scientists estimate that 50 – 80% of the world’s oxygen comes from the Ocean. When the Ocean stops breathing, we stop breathing”.
Sophie Miller from Ocean Rebellion says
“The Ocean produces more oxygen than all the tropical rainforests on Earth put together. We constantly hear pleas to plant more trees but if we also stop cruising, bottom trawling, deep sea mining and in addition end fuel subsidies and tax shipping emissions we can make a real impact. The Ocean can recover quickly but we must stop destroying and start repairing. UN bodies like the International Marine Organisation (IMO) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA) aren’t fit for purpose, both are institutionally corrupt and at the mercy of industrial scale greed. ”
Sophie adds
“Ocean Rebellion calls for a global ban on bottom trawling at COP26 as a prelude to urgent marine biodiversity and habitat repair, together with a just transition for fishery workers.”
Laura Baldwin from Ocean Rebellion says
“Shipping emissions are causing elevated levels of atmospheric CO2, and black carbon from heavy fuel oil (HFO) used in shipping, is causing accelerated melting of polar ice. HFO is a waste product of the oil industry, ships will run cleaner and better on distilled fuel. Ocean Rebellion calls for a ban on HFO, now.”
Rob Higgs from Ocean Rebellion adds
We call for a drastic reduction of shipping emissions by easy means like fuel efficient slow steaming and retiring of inefficient ships, this is a minimal requirement to make the shipping industry consistent with Paris Agreement goals. There are also grounds for asking whether Frankenstein Fuels (Very Low Sulphur Fuels) endorsed by the UN International Marine Organisation (IMO) are causing engine failures like the Wakashio which brought disaster to Mauritian shores. Ocean Rebellion calls for a ban on HFO and VLSFO. COP26 must end this madness and overhaul the IMO removing all fossil fuel stakeholders.”
Rob says
“This is an emergency. Ocean Rebellion is appealing to the delegates at COP26 to wake up, join the dots, and take immediate action. Marine habitat destruction is causing elevated levels of atmospheric CO2. For instance, UK bottom trawling [dragging heavy weights along the seabed to catch fish] generates emissions equivalent to 13% of UK land-based emissions.”
Floss Stallard from Ocean Rebellion says:
“The Cambo Oil Field is a continuation of bowing to Fossil-fuel industry lobbying pressure, we need to wean humanity off oil not dig more wells. The 170 million barrels of oil Siccar Point will pump from Cambo, 75 miles off the shore of Shetland, is the pollution equivalent of 18 coal plants running for a year. We know Boris Johnson will do nothing, he’s a weak-willed greedy fool, but the Scottish Parliament can show true leadership and deliver a blow to Westminster by showing what a real environmental policy looks like.”
Roc Sandford also from Ocean Rebellion says:
“Salmon farming is destroying Scotland’s coastline, loch by loch, and with it the jobs of countless local people who depend for their livelihood on clean and living seas. Our leaders are betraying us. The industry has captured the Scottish government, Marine Scotland, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and NatureScot. No more excuses Nicola—implement the settled will of the Scottish Parliament with a moratorium on salmon farms. And let’s wind down Scottish salmon farming completely if they won’t clean up their act.”
Clive Russell from Ocean Rebellion says
“The delegates at COP26 must Act Now to stop Deep Sea Mining before it begins. Deep Sea Mining is simply criminal, companies like The Metals Company, will be destroying marine life we know nothing about. This sort of damage – in the name of car batteries – can’t be allowed to happen. The Deep Sea Bed is not a resource to be exploited ‘for the benefit of humankind’, it’s a habitat to be nurtured on behalf of all life.”
