Hope for 2021 in Australian Ocean sustainability.
As the new year is showing its face, today is the 1st of Jan 2021, most of the people on the planet earth are wondering if it will be a better year than 2020, anxiously…
In Australia COVID 19 penetration rate has been very mild thanks to the rapid response from the government and strict lockdown imposed at the onset of each new cluster. This meant all the Christmas and New Year festivities have been cancelled at last minutes and one part of Sydney put in complete lock down because following the appearance of a new cluster in the North of Sydney. The Australian population is generally compliant with directives and the number of cases has been contained so far.
However, this has created a host of consequences such as economic difficulties and mental health havoc, as the economy shut down for quite some time.
The big question is to know weather 2021 will be a better year in the sustainability department. People want to kno if the actions needed to support the race to limit climate change and biodiversity decline will intensify or if the government will play the job card as a motive to increase the development of CO2 emitting industry. In particular mining which is providing a large part of the Australian GDP.
I believe that some positive signs ahead as the end of the year has seen a couple of events that are linked to particularly exciting initiatives and are paving the way to important sustainable developments in the ocean economy.
- The first one is the signature of an agreement, including Australia, amongst 14 countries, to take care of the ocean in an unprecedented way. Under the leadership of the High level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, these countries have pledged to sustainably manage 100% of their national water by 2025. They will achieve this goal through ending subsidies contributing to overfishing, enforce measures to stop illegal fishing and manage oceans within their jurisdictions in a sustainable manner. This is significant as these governments are collectively responsible for 40% of the global coastlines. The countries included are Australia, Fiji, Canada, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Palau and Portugal. The task force for Australia was launched in December under the leadership of the PrimeMinister and following the recommendations of the report and subsequent roadmap of the High Level Panel Group.
- Another significant development is the support from the government and investors to the innovation and the construction of the first farm and processing plant able to turn red seaweed into a feed supplement for cattle able to reduce their methane production by 90 per cent. Overall the 1.5 billion cows on the planet are each contributing 100kg of methane a year, which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emission. This development is expected to start mid 2021 and to be located in South Australia with some possible further developments in New Zealand. The project is also significant because it involves a partnership with the First Nations Narungga people for the development of the site located on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. The properties of the Asparagopsis species were first established by the research entities CSRIO, MLA and James Cook University and the development of this opportunities provide environmental benefits with jobs and economic value.
2020 has been bleak in many aspects, however a few promising developments and commitments are providing some hope for 2021 and maybe will lead to a return to a new normal where nature and human could live in better harmony…