(serene music)
What we mean by rewilding the sea
is any effort to improve the health of the ocean
by leaving it alone to recover
or actively restoring habitats and species.
Our aim is to get back to intact, thriving marine ecosystems
in rude health and at their full potential.
Rewilding not only secures a future
for a whole host of marine species and habitats,
but these new marine powerhouses of life
can help us deliver our climate change objectives,
healthy ecosystems,
fix and store huge amounts of carbon.
Left alone to thrive, areas of rewilded sea
can provide benefits to fisheries
and the communities around them.
replenishing stocks and creating nurseries for key species,
for all of us, and for generations to come.
(music)
Serious ambition is urgently needed, and at scale.
We talk about saving nature,
but this is about nature saving us.
We can't go on simply undermining
the very fabric of the system
that ultimately supports us.
We need to think big, and act now.
We are now entering
the United Nations decade of ecosystem restoration.
This is our moment.
It's time for us to rethink how we do things.
Working together better across governments,
industry, environmental bodies, and academia.
Protecting our coasts and supporting fisheries.
(music)
From oysteries to mangroves,
from America to Africa and Asia,
restoration successes are happening all over.
Marine restoration really does work
and we're getting better at it all the time.
We've made a good start,
exciting things are happening,
and we've learned that every sea and coast
can benefit.
(music)
Rewilding is seriously underfunded
and not yet taken seriously in politics.
It's an essential for everyone.
We need the ocean thriving
and punching at its full power,
if we are going to revert planetary disaster.
Today, wild marine protected areas
count for six per cent of global ocean surface.
Fully protected areas are less than one per cent.
Many of them have no adequate enforcement at all.
We must overcome barriers to collaboration,
and provide some freedom to innovate,
improving processes and regulations
to make rewilding possible.
The future of our vital ocean
depends on what we do in the next few years.
There is a huge potential to achieve something amazing,
bringing the life back to oceans as it used to be.
All of this is doable.
We must just get together and make it happen.
Let's all work together, in partnership,
to restore the marine environment.
This is a wonderful opportunity,
for practitioners, regulators and funders,
to come together,
to raise our collective ambition,
and rewild the sea.
(epic music)