An oceans defender is a human rights and environmental activist focused on protecting the Earth's oceans. General objectives include protecting the rights of human beings as well as defending aquatic ecosystems from pollution or destruction. [1] They generally oppose extractivism, overfishing, unreported fishing, and human rights abuses of those living on coastlines or in ocean-reliant economies. [1]
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Oceans defender is a term used to describe individuals, organizations, or communities working to protect marine ecosystems and the human rights of people who depend on the ocean. Oceans defenders include small-scale fishers, climate activists, conservationists, Indigenous peoples, youth, researchers, and environmental human rights defenders whose work focuses on safeguarding the ocean and defending those affected by environmental harm.
The concept has gained international recognition due to increasing threats to the marine environment, including overfishing, deep-sea mining, plastic pollution, coastal development, and climate change. Oceans defenders advocate for sustainable governance of marine resources and demand accountability from governments and corporations whose activities affect coastal communities. [2]
In 2000, underwater photographer Kurt Lieber founded the Ocean Defenders Alliance to "help the ecosystem survive [an] onslaught of man-made debris and pollution." It became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2002. [3]
In 2011, Gigi Brisson formed the Ocean Elders group, a worldwide group of activists including Sylvia Earle, Richard Branson, Jackson Browne, James Cameron, Rita R. Colwell, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Wade Davis, Jane Goodall, Gerry Lopez, Catherine A. Novelli, Frederik Paulsen Jr, Bertrand Piccard, Thomas Remengesau Jr., David E. Shaw, Nainoa Thompson, Ted Turner, Don Walsh, Bob Weir, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Neil Young, and José María Figueres. [4] [5]
Circa 2013, Greenpeace proliferated photographs from its Oceans Defender Tour, documenting "illegal and destructive fishing methodologies in the Gulf of Thailand." [6] [7] The following year, Greenpeace Southeast Asia published a list of 10 everyday tasks citizens can do to help oceans defenders. [8]
In 2020, the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (representing 10 million small-scale fishers from 54 countries) issued a statement affirming the necessity of ocean defenders in continuing to preserve human rights for those reliant on oceans for economic benefit. [9] [10]
In 2022, Nigerian environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey endorsed a toolkit for "Oceans and Human Rights Defenders," detailing methods of unity and advocacy. [1]
In 2022, Frontiers in Marine Science noted that ocean defenders face additional risk because they "are frequently from groups already subject to historical and continued structural marginalization and exclusion from decision-making. This includes small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, Peoples of Colour, women and youth." [11]
In 2023, the University of British Columbia shared a document under the title "[m]ore must be done to protect ocean defenders." [12] The same year, Time for Kids published an interview with Sylvia Earle titled "Ocean Defender." Earle identified the largest current issue for ocean defenders as deep sea mining to create batteries for electronic vehicles, which harms deep sea ecosystems. She also denounced fish as food, stating, "[we need] to get over this idea that ocean wildlife is needed for our food security. We are now beginning to understand the high cost [to the environment] of eating fish." [13]
Many oceans defenders are categorized by the United Nations and other global institutions as Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) because their activism involves protecting both the environment and fundamental human rights [14]