Our Incredible Ocean: Now Is the Time to Protect It | National Geographic

Foreign, thank you. Thank you. Winning the environmental war will require a commitment far beyond any commitment ever made by any society in the history of man. Are we able? Yes. Are we willing? That's the unanswered question.

Today, we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking so that humanity stops threatening its life support system. The oceans are being assaulted by carbon dioxide, plastic, and pollution; illegal fishing and too much fishing. In some places, it's huge and it's powerful and it's big, but it's fragile. Together, citizens of the world, we will work to save our planet from ourselves.

There is a place in Baja California called Cabo Pulmo. Thirty years ago, its populations were completely decimated. Then, one brave family decided to prohibit fishing on their own reef. In a single human generation, the fish have come back spectacularly. The ocean has an extraordinary capacity to regenerate when it is protected.

We're not going to meet this challenge unless the community of nations comes together around a single comprehensive global ocean strategy. Foreign, today I can announce we are taking steps to create two new marine sanctuaries. The New Zealand government will establish a 620,000 square kilometer ocean sanctuary in the Comoros region. Kiribati has taken the decision to fully close all commercial fishing in the Phoenix Islands protected area.

Foreign, Norway will do its part to combat marine plastic waste and microplastics. Foreign, we know what we need to do to address the threats facing the ocean. There's nothing that we're looking at that doesn't have a solution. Foreign.