5 partners joining forces to create an ‘Alliance for the Seas and Oceans’
 « L’Alliance pour les Mers et les Océans »
Launching in Rio de Janeiro - June 22, 2012.

Oceans bring people together and yet we often ignore them.
They should be our top priority; it is time we became citizens of the ocean, as well as of the Earth.

The ocean is being hit hard by pollution, by the overexploitation of its resources, by the destruction of its habitats and by biodiversity loss. And these ravages may give rise to new conflicts. Today 65% of the ocean’s surface lies outside any legal jurisdiction, yet the ocean is the machine that allows life on Earth and the world ocean regulates the major natural equilibriums of our planet. There is only one water system on Earth. Our lives, well-being and prosperity depend on it, in other words they depend on the water cycle, on the clouds, on the rain, on the rivers and on the ocean.

Our future is full of challenges and we are convinced that many of the solutions will come from the oceans. We are proposing a society, which makes use of innovation and new technologies in order to sustainably, exploit the ocean’s resources, to open access to new resources and to create new jobs.

An important step has been taken by Rio+20, which has recognized all the challenges facing oceans, and the opportunities they offer. Nonetheless, the governments gathered in Rio have not been able to agree on a clear road map setting out the details of the objectives, the timetable and the governance needed. It is, as a result, now incumbent on civil society to seize this agenda and encourage governments and decision-makers to implement a genuine work program with tangible projects.

Our approach is a constructive one and we will support positive initiatives from governments, from local authorities, from business, from the public at large, from islands and from all stakeholders at local, regional and international levels.

We want to set in motion an economic, social, environmental and cultural ‘movement’. Each and every one of us has their place in this new society; we propose to build it together in a cooperative spirit, without conflict. The ocean’s wealth and resources belong to us all, they must be shared equitably, and we are all responsible for them.  In this new society we call the “Blue Society” we are all stewards of the ocean: for the sake of today’s generations, and those to come.

It means believing once more in progress and prosperity for all.
It means reconnecting the ocean with prosperity and humankind.
It’s time to get to work.

This is why we are creating a joint alliance, the “Alliance for the Seas and Oceans” so that this vision becomes a reality.

With a view to organizing a debate with society on the vital role played by oceans in our daily lives, as well as on the importance of our choices and actions for them, we wish to pool our capabilities, join forces with the people who, like us, work for the oceans and their future. We propose to raise awareness, to educate and mobilize on why the sea and oceans are vital for our planet. We propose to generate a joint commitment to this new inspiring and inspired society, which puts the ‘culture of the sea’ at the heart of sustainable development.
We, Green Cross, Nausicaà, Sea Orbiter, Tara Expeditions and World Ocean Network  make a joint commitment to speak with one voice, at an international level, in order to spread our message on the seas and oceans. We wish to unite all those who share our objectives.
Between now and the end of 2012 we will be proposing guidelines for a joint project towards a governance of oceans.


Green Cross : Jean-Michel COUSTEAU   
Nausicaá/Réseau Océan mondial : Philippe VALLETTE
World Ocean Network : Manuel CIRA
SeaOrbiter : Jacques ROUGERIE
Tara Expédition : Etienne BOURGOIS / Romain TROUBLE
General Secretary  - Alliance for the Seas and Oceans: Ludovic FRERE ESCOFFIER


Green Cross France et Territoires

Founded by Mikhail Gorbatchev in 1993, Green Cross is an international NGO. Focused on the relationship between poverty, security and environment. Our mission is to help secure a just, sustainable and secure future for all.

Presided by Jean-Michel Cousteau, Green Cross France et Territoires is the French organization of Green Cross International. Our approach is territorial and integrated, with specific focus on energy, food, water, moving forward thru advocacy and local or transverse projects.


Nausicaá, Centre National de la Mer   

Since its opening 20 years ago, the mission of Nausicaà National-Sea Center is to raise awareness among its visitors about a better management of the oceans and their resources. Nausicaà received in 1999 the label “Centre of Excellence” for its awareness actions from the Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission-UNESCO.

Nausicaà -National Sea Center is much more than a mere aquarium. Nausicaà is a unique place where visitors can discover the marine environment. At once entertaining, educational and scientific, the Centre derives its originality from its main focus on the relationship between Man and the Sea. The Nausicaà experience consists of giant aquariums, underwater explorations and state-of-the-art technology so that you will truly believe you are there. Precise explanations, specialized media library, movies, temporary exhibitions, conferences, pedagogic programs and activities in exhibitions: everything you need to understand and learn.

Nausicaà has been involved for several years in awareness and conservation actions on themes discussed during the Rio+20-United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.


World Ocean Network

The World Ocean Network (WON) is an international association mobilized during the International Year of the Ocean in 1998 in cooperation with Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and officially launched in 2002.

WON assembles 450 organizations reaching out to a global audience of millions: aquaria, zoos, educational organizations, science centers, natural history museums, media, and NGOs all over the world.

Their aim is to inform and educate the general public on marine and maritime issues, to raise awareness of the paramount role that the world’s oceans play in the Earth’s balance, and to empower stakeholders and the general public civil society to adopt appropriate individual and community attitudes to use marine ecosystems in a sustainable way.


Tara Expéditions

Tara Expeditions has been organizing missions aboard the research schooner Tara for the past 9 years. Our goal is to learn more about the impact of climate change on ecosystems. Tara Expeditions is a non-profit association based in France that provides samples and data to the scientific community worldwide. One of the main objectives is to increase environmental awareness among the general public, and particularly young people through our Tara Junior outreach program. Through the work of scientists and also artists, Tara Expeditions is observing our changing environment, and learning more about the complex and fragile ecosystem called Earth.

Thanks to the initiative of the French designer agnès b. and Etienne Bourgois, Tara has accomplished 8 successful expeditions – to Greenland, Antarctica, Patagonia, South Georgia, the Arctic and all over the world with the latest expedition Tara Oceans. Tara Oceans is the very first attempt to make a global study of marine plankton biogeography.

After a call in Paris this winter, the schooner will leave for a new mission next May 2013 and will head for the Great North. Tara will attempt to circum navigate the Arctic Ocean by the northwest and northeast passages, if the sea ice permits this…


SeaOrbiter

SeaOrbiter is an international oceanographic drifting-station unique in the world. Placing man at the heart of the ocean, it allows the observation and study of the still-widely unknown underwater world, 24 hours a day and during long-duration missions. SeaOrbiter is a new-generation vessel whose core mission is to contribute to a deepening of our knowledge about the marine ecosystems, to better understand the influence of the oceans on climate, and to facilitate research of the abysses. A true sentinel of the oceans and a relay between the space and the sea, SeaOrbiter will be above all an education platform about the underwater world, the better-management of the resources, and the preservation of our planet’s biodiversity. It embodies a major human adventure of the beginning of the 21st century: The exploration of the last frontier on earth, the ocean.


Source:
Alliance for the Seas and Oceans 
Sea for Society - Blue Society Mission