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Transcript

Why Ocean Solutions Fail Without Collaboration (And How to Fix It) · How To Protect The Ocean

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  The future of ocean conservation won't be
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  built by scientists alone,
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  and it won't be built by businesses
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  alone. It'll be built
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  when those worlds collide.
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  Because the biggest ocean problems we
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  face today aren't just scientific.
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  They're economic, they're political, and
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  they're technological.
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  And no single sector
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  can solve all on its own.
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  And if you look at how
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  politics are done in today's world,
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  if you look at how
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  everything is done in today's world,
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  businesses play a very important role,
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  not only from running the
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  economy or influencing the
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  economy, but these days, a lot of the
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  billionaires or the CEOs tend
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  to be the experts that people
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  turn to, that politicians turn to, and
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  other people turn to, to
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  find out how to build businesses
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  and how to run a country in some cases.
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  So we know that businesses
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  are going to be influential,
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  and not only being able to scale projects
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  like we've talked in
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  the last two episodes,
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  but also to combine with ocean
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  conservationists and
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  scientists to help protect the ocean.
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  This is the how to protect the ocean
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  podcast. And if you're listening, because
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  you want to find out more
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  about the ocean each and every weekday,
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  and you want to find out
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  the breakdown of science,
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  policy, and solutions, hit that follow
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  button right now, because
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  this week, we are going over
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  solutions and how businesses and science
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  can collide together to
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  partner in protecting the
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  ocean. And we do that at conferences like
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  the World Ocean Summit that
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  I went to a couple weeks ago.
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  And we also can do that at the Earth X
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  conference that's happening April 20 to
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  the 22nd of this year.
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  It happens each and every year. If you
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  want to go to it, you're going
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  to want to listen to Friday's
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  episode, right? Interview the CEO of
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  Earth X, Peter Simic, who talks about how
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  this conference is not just a
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  conference of just the oceans, the
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  constant conference of solutions of
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  engineering of everything.
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  It's actually 20 conferences in one. So
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  if you are someone who's interested in
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  protecting the ocean,
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  want to find solutions, scale those
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  solutions, you'll want to listen to that
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  episode and go to the Earth X conference.
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  And by the way, they are not sponsoring
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  us today. They just tend to be the theme
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  of this week because I've
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  been doing a lot of themes
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  for the podcast every week. And today
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  we're talking this week, we're talking
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  about ocean solutions and something that
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  I feel is really, really important.
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  Okay, right now, most ocean work still
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  happens in silos. Like I have scientists
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  talk to scientists,
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  businesses talk to businesses,
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  policy makers talk to policy makers. And
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  even within that escape, I've worked in
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  government before, you know, you tend to
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  work, you tend to stick in silos within
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  government, not just within like
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  ministries, but like or among ministries,
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  but within the ministry.
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  So I remember in Canada for fisheries and
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  oceans, Canada, I didn't know really what
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  the west and country, west coast was
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  doing or the east coast was doing because
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  I was in the central coast.
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  And that's what we did. We worked on the
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  Great Lakes and we didn't really go
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  outside unless you met them at a workshop
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  or anything like that.
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  So silos exist in every aspect of ocean
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  conservation, any kind of aquatic
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  conservation or just
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  conservation in general.
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  And when they don't connect, when people
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  don't connect, solutions get stuck.
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  A scientist can discover a breakthrough
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  in coral resilience, but without funding,
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  that research never scales.
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  A company might build a tool that reduces
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  bycatch, but without policy support, no
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  one is required to use it.
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  A government might create a marine
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  protected area, but without enforcement
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  or technology, it exists mostly on paper.
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  So the problem isn't a lack of solutions.
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  It's a lack of connection between the
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  people who can make those solutions work.
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  Take Global Fishing Watch. The project
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  only exists because three very different
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  organizations came together.
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  Google, Oceana and SkyTruth. They
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  combined satellite data, AIS signals and
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  machine learning to do something that
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  used to be impossible.
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  Track fishing activity across the entire
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  ocean in near real time. And what they
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  found changed everything.
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  They revealed that vast areas of the
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  ocean, once thought to be lightly fished,
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  were actually heavily exploited.
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  They exposed patterns of illegal,
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  unreported and unregulated fishing, which
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  is called IUU fisheries.
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  And they made the data public, which
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  means governments, NGOs and journalists
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  can now hold the bad actors accountable.
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  That's not just technology, that's
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  collaboration, creating
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  transparency at global scale.
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  At Earth-X, something unexpected
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  happened. Two politicians from completely
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  different political backgrounds met.
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  Not online, not through headlines. In the
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  same room. They had conversations. They
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  built trust. And over
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  time, they found common ground.
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  Eventually, they helped launch a
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  bipartisan energy caucus. Now, why does
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  that matter for the ocean?
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  Because ocean solutions often fail, not
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  because they don't work, but because they
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  don't survive politics.
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  And we've seen that time and time again,
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  especially in these days.
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  Collaboration creates alignment.
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  And alignment creates action. When
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  different sectors
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  collaborate, something powerful happens.
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  Problems get reframed. A scientist may
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  see coral bleaching as a biological
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  issue. A business might
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  see it as a risk to tourism.
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  A government might see it as a threat to
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  coastal economies. Put
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  those perspectives together.
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  And suddenly the solutions become bigger,
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  faster and more urgent.
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  Solutions get stronger.
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  Science ensures they work. Businesses
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  ensure they scale. And policies ensure
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  they stick. And barriers get removed.
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  Funding flows more easily. Regulations
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  become more realistic. And technology
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  gets adopted faster. Because everyone is
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  involved from the beginning.
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  If you're in science, your work matters.
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  But it won't reach its full impact unless
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  it connects to the real world.
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  If you're in business, you're not just
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  part of the problem. You're not just part
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  of the problem. You can
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  be part of the solution.
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  But only if you understand the science
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  behind what you're building. And if
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  you're early on in your
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  career, this is your advantage.
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  Because the future belongs to people who
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  connect both worlds. People who
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  understand science, business and policy.
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  And know how to bring them together. This
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  is the important part of collaboration.
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  And if you are, like I said, if you're an
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  early scientist or you are an early
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  career scientist or an early career
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  conservationist or even someone who has
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  an idea for a business.
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  This is your advantage now. In today's
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  world, when you have the technology, you
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  can use a number of different tools to
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  start your project, to start your idea
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  and develop that along with scientists,
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  along with conservationists, along with
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  business businesses,
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  along with policy makers.
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  And make sure that it sticks and make
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  sure that you can help solve ocean
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  problems and scale that solution to make
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  it even bigger and have a bigger impact.
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  So if you want to be a part of that
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  future, make sure you're following how to
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  protect the ocean. And if you are and if
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  this episode helped you see conservation
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  differently, share with one other person
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  who needs to hear it.
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  Because the more people who understand
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  how solutions actually work, the better
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  chance we have to protect the ocean. No
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  more just sticking in our silos of
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  science,
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  conservation, business and policy.
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  It is time to bring us everybody to it's
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  time to bring everybody together and
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  understand that we all have to solve the
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  problems that are facing the ocean
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  because the problems that are facing us.
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  I want to thank you so much for joining
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  us on today's episode of the How to
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  Protect the Ocean podcast. Have a great
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  day. Don't forget to follow for the next
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  episode and have a great day. Talk to you
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  next time and happy conservation.