CITIZENS COMPASS— CNN’s Call to Earth will follow renowned oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and coral reef conservationist Titouan Bernicot over the course of a year, to see how their organisations are working to save the world’s oceans.
In the first half-hour documentary, the two ocean champions sit down for a one-on-one interview, filmed in the National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington, DC, to discuss the state of the oceans and whether we can achieve the global commitment to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Bernicot is the founder and CEO of Coral Gardeners. Since 2017, the organisation has planted 221,212 corals, covering 25,100 m2 of ocean. He talks about the company, “In Mo’orea, my island home, it’s where we have the global headquarters now. We have an amazing team. But my dream was to go beyond the borders of French Polynesia, because coral reef, it’s a global issue. What scares me a lot is that when I was 16 years old, 25% of the world’s coral reef were already dead. And now after a decade, it’s more than 50. It’s a global challenge that we’re facing. And now the goal is to be in 10 countries by the end of 2030.”
Earle, a Rolex Testimonee, is the founder of Mission Blue. They support 169 Hope Spots across 116 countries and the high seas, covering more than 57 million km2 of ocean. Earle discusses the need to amplify positive stories, “We are constantly surprised with success stories. Sometimes it takes people understanding that something good is happening here and then it magnifies. In fact, communication is part of what needs to be done. People don’t know why they should really care about the ocean. The ocean is so big, so vast. Until they know that the ocean keeps all of us alive, why would you care?”
Reflecting on the overlooked scale of marine ecosystem decline, Bernicot observes, “People, they don’t realise that the biggest fire of all times is happening underwater. Under the surface. They talk about fires on land, but in the water, it’s boiling. And the ocean is on fire.”
Bernicot asks Earle whether she believes the world can meet its ambitious targets to protect the ocean. She responds, “Depends on how you count. From my standard, we have about 3% of the ocean that is really protected right now. (…) And could we get there? If we do take serious action in the high seas, there’s now a treaty that really provides a framework for protecting at least 30% of the high seas by 2030 as an ambitious goal.”
Looking to the future, Bernicot says he wants to inspire more people, “The biggest challenge, it’s that for the moment, saving the planet like conservation is too niche, doesn’t reach enough people and this has to change. We need to create an emotional connection between people and the thing we want to protect. And that’s what I’m trying to study with the team, how do we take what you did, but to a giant level, and I think I have a couple of ideas.”
Earle is also positive for the future, telling CNN, “We’ve come a long way since we started in 2009, and we have this network of hope, leading to action. Hope alone is great, but until you put it into practice… We’re looking for good business models. We need some of those who have made a fortune from taking from nature to give back to nature. To find the joy in being part of the solution.”
She concludes, “We have to go to these meetings, the climate conferences, the scientific meetings, the engineering meetings, whatever it is, to keep this message of urgency and a plan. We can do this to inspire people to do what they can do to be part of the solution.”
