Turning the tide for Ocean action

All life on Earth depends on a healthy ocean. As the planet’s largest carbon sink, it is a vital buffer against climate change.

Producing most of the world’s oxygen and covering more than 70% of our planet’s surface, the ocean plays a critical role for life on Earth. Its waters are home to everything from plankton to mammals, and billions of people find their food and livelihoods along its coasts and high seas.

Yet ocean ecosystems are under immense pressure, with overfishing and habitat destruction from seafood production among the leading causes of ocean degradation. Without urgent action, the stability of marine ecosystems and global seafood supply chains is at risk, which will further weaken the ocean’s ability to mitigate climate change and stabilize the global commons.

OCEAN OPTIMISM

Celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker David Attenborough is set to deliver a message of hope that we can reverse some of this damage, in a new documentary Ocean with David Attenborough from Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios, which will be shown in cinemas on 8 May 2025 – coinciding with Attenborough’s 99th birthday.

Through immersive cinematography, the film will reveal the great challenges facing our ocean including destructive fishing techniques and mass coral reef bleaching. But Attenborough will also draw on stories from around the world to offer optimism that we can and will restore the ocean.

Timed for release ahead of World Ocean Day and midway through the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, Ocean with David Attenborough will show why ocean recovery is vital for stabilizing the global commons and securing a healthier future for us all.

NEW SCIENCE

While the film will highlight the ‘great age of ocean discovery’ we are now in, large areas of the ocean remain unstudied which leaves critical gaps in our understanding of its limits and resilience. Without clear scientific guidelines, we risk destabilizing the ocean’s ability to sustain life – including our own.

To address this, a new working group within the Global Commons Alliance Earth Commission will define the first ever safe and just boundaries for the ocean. The boundaries set scientific thresholds on human activity to ensure the ocean remains healthy while balancing a stable planet with economic and social justice.

The working group team spans five continents and includes 15 researchers with expertise in areas like marine biology, agriculture, food systems, and social science. A marine biologist who specializes in coral reefs, Earth Commissioner David Obura, said the group will begin identifying potential indicators that can serve as benchmarks to assess whether the ocean remains within safe ecological limits.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Earth Commission has already established boundaries for five key areas of the Earth system: land, freshwater, climate, air and nutrient pollution. However, setting these boundaries also requires a scientific approach to justice.

Unlike other scientific frameworks, the Earth Commission incorporates justice into all its assessments. This means defining limits in a way that prevents significant harm from happening to all species and people, including future generations, as well as ensuring that everyone on Earth has access to resources for a dignified life.

For the ocean, this could be ensuring vulnerable coastal communities have access to fisheries. It could also mean setting limits on pollution and overfishing in ways that protect both biodiversity and the rights of Indigenous and small-scale fishers.

The ocean also does not exist in isolation, because what happens on land directly impacts its health. Agricultural runoff pollutes coastal waters, rising temperatures drive coral bleaching, and economic pressures fuel overfishing and habitat destruction. A key challenge for the Earth Commission team is addressing these interconnected threats holistically.

“We cannot set ocean boundaries in isolation,” said Rashid Sumaila, Co-lead Commissioner. “They must be integrated into broader efforts to tackle climate change, economic inequality, and sustainable development.”

Once the boundaries are set, the team will explore what must be done for humanity to stay or return within them if they are breached. Its findings can then be used to inform science-based targets for businesses and governments.

BUSINESS TARGETS

In March 2025, the Global Commons Alliance Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) launched the first-ever ocean science-based targets, starting with seafood. This milestone completes SBTN’s initial suite of science-based targets for nature – providing companies with a clear framework for environmental action across freshwater, land, and now ocean.

Developed under the leadership of World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International, the targets help companies address key drivers of ocean degradation, including habitat and biodiversity loss and overexploitation of fish stocks.

The new ocean targets for seafood provide a globally recognized, standardized framework to help companies move beyond traditional sustainability commitments, scale their action, and build more resilient supply chains for a safer future for people and planet.

• Learn more about the SBTN’s new ocean targets
• About the Earth Commission’s ocean working group