A plankton manifesto, which will be presented at the UN in New York on September 23, recalls the major role of billions of still little-known organisms that constitute 90% of ocean biomass, the basis of all life. And insists on the need to better fund research and develop plankton education, which can provide solutions to the three major crises: climate, biodiversity and pollution.
It is the basis of all living things and we do not know it. Or very little. It is invisible or almost. Even if its name is not indifferent to many, it would be very difficult for them to specify exactly what it contains. “Planktonthis unknown drifting”a comedian who knows ancient Greek would chuckle. Planktos means wanderer. Except that there would be nothing to laugh about if the trillions of organisms that make it up decided to change too much under the influence of climate change, the rise in ocean temperature, their acidification, etc. Would we be moving towards a new world if these 90% of the oceans’ biomass, in return, were to change dangerously when they are vital?
Fishing, aquaculture, tourism affected… It is high time to learn about “this absentee from the discussions”as Vincent Doumeizel, Ocean Advisor to the United Nations Compact, and a great defender of algae, describes it. Hence the decision to launch a “Plankton Manifesto” (see box) which will be presented on September 23 in New York, during the UN summit.
It has already been formally endorsed by Peter Thomson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, who recalled in 2021, at the start of the Ocean Decade, that around “Only 10% of the composition of the oceans is understood by science. And our future health depends on that of the ocean”.
A test? We will see if the COP16, devoted to biodiversity, which will be held in October-November in Cali, Colombia, takes up the subject. International discussions have until now been mainly devoted to biodiversity on the continents.
A few days before the “Grand Océan” Festival, co-organized by Science and Futurewith Challenges et Historyin partnership with the events center LesEchos-LeParisienon September 13 and 14, at the Cité de Mer, in Cherbourg, our magazine wanted to announce this Manifesto which underlines the vital importance of the pl[…]
- sciencesetavenir.fr
