Our proposals and demands to address the climate crisis
Resolving the climate crisis requires a collective, global effort. All peoples and nations were called upon, and they responded: the 2015 Paris Agreement is globally binding and commits humanity to limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while actively pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. However, implementation requires numerous further steps. Here, a distinction must be made between two spheres of action:
(1) the private sphere
This comprises all the individual leverage points where "each of us" can take action. This includes sustainable living, reducing CO2 emissions, and actively demanding the implementation of the Paris Agreement from policymakers. Larger, higher-emitting, and slower to adapt, however, is
(2) the public sphere
Transport as a sector, energy generation, and building regulations are subject to state regulation, subsidies, and restrictions. In these areas, elected legislatures must act and establish the necessary regulatory frameworks. This applies to all sectors – those widely discussed, as well as several specific to the marine environment. These constitute our primary demands:
{
By kind permission of Marc-Uwe Kling / Bernd Kissel
Banning Bottom Trawling
Bottom trawling fisheries emit approximately the same level of CO2 equivalents as global aviation. Demands for reductions in aviation, the abolition of fuel tax subsidies for flights, and bans on short-haul flights are justified and are supported by us. However, it is equally critical to ban bottom trawling. This practice damages the seabed, which acts as a highly effective carbon sink. When the seabed is disturbed and degraded, sequestered CO2 is released—accounting for these substantial impacts on the climate.
Regional Protected Areas for Carbon Sinks
Specifically, mangroves, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, functioning as vital carbon sinks. The more these ecosystems remain intact or can be restored, the more they contribute to capturing and permanently storing atmospheric CO2. Anthropogenic encroachment on every square metre of land—for housing, agriculture, transport, and tourism—is destroying these critical natural landscapes. This degradation must be halted; these areas must be designated as protected zones to allow them to perform their ecological role in mitigating climate change without human interference.
Prohibiting Krill Harvesting in the Antarctic
The Antarctic region around the South Pole appears inhospitable, primarily associated with images of blizzards, icebergs, and penguins. In reality, the region is exceptionally productive in terms of biomass generation, particularly krill. These micro-organisms (zooplankton) sustain the entire marine food web from the bottom up. Furthermore, their feeding activity metabolises vast quantities of CO2, contributing to the process by which oceans generate approximately half of the world's oxygen while simultaneously sequestering and processing immense volumes of carbon dioxide. Harvesting zooplankton from the oceans deprives marine ecosystems of their primary food source. This is particularly critical in the Antarctic and must be prohibited.