FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2019
Contact: Caiti Goodman, 202.478.3437 (O), 202.361.0254 (C), [email protected]
Yozell: Action Needed to Respond to Ocean Impact of Climate Change
New IPCC Climate Report highlights ocean and climate risks
Major ocean protection events upcoming
Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere at the United Nations General Assembly, declaring an ocean emergency.
Sally Yozell, Director of Environmental Security at the Stimson Center, released this statement:
The climate crisis has arrived, and it is having a profound impact on the food, economic, and national security of coastal nations. Countries around the world will need to work together to face this assault.
This latest IPCC report illuminates the climate emergency with a forecast of more intense storms and rising sea levels, unprecedented coastal flooding, and marine heat waves that will increase the killing of coral reefs while further depleting fish stocks that billions depend on for their health and livelihoods.
Later this Month:
- The Stimson Center will release the Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index (CORVI), a tool to measure the climate and ocean risk to coastal urban centers which is designed to help financial institutions, development organizations, the private sector and governmental policymakers prioritize funding.
- The Index will be released at the Our Ocean Conference (OOC) in Oslo, Norway on October 24th . The OOC will also feature concrete commitments to improve the health of our oceans. Since the first Our Oceans Conference in 2014, over 1,000 commitments totaling $40.6 billion USD, have been made by governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the academic science community.
The Stimson Center’s Environmental Security program explores the array of environmental threats, both human and natural, that have the potential to undermine national, regional, or global security.
Sally Yozell is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Environmental Security program at the Stimson Center. Yozell’s research examines the suite of environmental threats that have the potential to undermine national, regional, or global security. Her work focuses on ocean security, climate security and wildlife protection.
Prior to joining Stimson, Yozell was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State where she provided advice and technical expertise to advance U.S. policies in the international arena related to ocean, climate, and wildlife protection.
Read Full Bio.
The Stimson Center is a nonpartisan policy research center working to solve the world’s greatest threats to security and prosperity.
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