Delegates from over 190 countries recently gathered in Lisbon for the UN Ocean Conference, the most important event on this issue this year. Opening the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged governments "to raise their level of ambition for the recovery of ocean health".
Governments must heed that entreaty. Climate change has become a constant factor in the ocean's decline. Rising sea levels, coral reef degradation, and more severe coastal weather events suggest a bleak future.
But if one thing was obvious in Lisbon, it is that a growing number of governments -- from Fiji to the US -- are starting to crack down on a sector that relies exclusively on the dirtiest and most polluting fossil fuels: the international shipping industry. The Marshall Islands, the US, Kenya and Denmark called for immediate action to achieve zero-emission shipping by 2050, while the UN secretary-general pressed the sector to "present credible plans" to achieve this goal.
