How will you give back to the ocean this year? Make your ocean promise!
Events
November 8, 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
The four speakers of the panel discussion "Blue Carbon: The Ocean’s Role in Fighting Climate Change" at COP27. From left to right: Dr Narissa Bax (Researcher, University of Tasmania), Dr James Edson (Senior Scientist, WHOI), Dr Anya Waite (CEO of OFI Canada) and Professor Ed Hill, (Chief Executive Officer NOC).
Ocean School’s founding partner, the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), will be part of COP 27, the UN Climate Change conference, taking place in Egypt from November 6 to 18, 2022. Check out this article to learn more about how OFI and Ocean School will contribute to this international event.
On November 8, Ocean School’s founding partner, the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), will participate in “The Importance of Deep Blue Carbon” panel discussion during the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) in Egypt. COP is an annual meeting that brings countries together “to take action towards achieving the world’s collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).”
In the panel discussion, OFI will discuss the need to invest in ocean observation. OFI argues that policy needs to reflect the consensus that the ocean controls our climate. OFI states that “the ocean has absorbed 40 percent of fossil fuel emissions and 90 percent of the heat produced by humans.” However, the ocean’s function is changing rapidly, posing a great risk to our economy and our planet.
Because the world knows so little about the ocean, scientists and organizations do not have the data that they need to predict weather events and long-term climate change. According to OFI Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director Anya Waite, “95 percent of ocean carbon is ‘deep blue carbon’ in the high seas beyond national jurisdictions and the ocean is critically under-observed.”
In this panel discussion, The Ocean Frontier Institute will propose the North Atlantic carbon observatory “to serve as an initial framework for nations to join forces to consider how to measure, manage and report on carbon—enabling better climate forecasts to inform global climate policy and strategy.”
The panel discussion will also feature Ocean School’s video “A love letter to the Ocean,” a poem written by marine biologist Helen Scales and narrated by environmentalist Sarika Cullis-Suzuki. “A love letter to the Ocean” will also be featured at the Canada Pavilion.
To learn more about COP27 and the the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, visit the UNFCCC website.
The Ocean Frontier Institute, established in 2016, is a partnership led by Dalhousie University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and University of Prince Edward Island. The Institute is now an international entity administering the Canada First Research Excellence Fund -- The Safe and Sustainable Development of the Ocean Frontier, the Ocean Graduate Excellence Network (OGEN), Ocean School, and the North Atlantic Carbon Observatory (NACO).
The COP27 Virtual Ocean Pavilion is an online platform which aims to raise the visibility of the ocean and showcase why the ocean matters in climate negotiations and to all life on our planet. Events will be open for the entire duration of the pavilion (30 August – 18 November 2022) but with access to on-demand resources until 18 December 2022. Register for free to access live and on–demand content.
