Symposium on Ocean Acidification -Back to Blue-

Tokyo

Thank you for your introdcution, Mr. Goddard. His Excellency Mr. Peter Thomson, United Nations Special Envoy for the Ocean, Lord Dayton, Chairman of The Economist Group, distinguished participants. 

Today, we stand at a point where the very survival of mankind is at stake. Mother Ocean has nurtured all source of life on our planet. It is this Mother Ocean that is in a grave condition heavily threatened by human activities. For long, we tended to focus our attention mainly on land, but problems such as pollution, population explosion, climate change are negatively impacting the entire planet, not only land but also the ocean. In fact, the ocean that covers seventy percent of our planet is significantly more impacted although damages are not easily visible. Yet they are beyond doubt slowly destroying the Mother Ocean.

Two years ago, The Nippon Foundation which has implemented various initiatives to address ocean issues for close to forty years and The Economist Group, a global media and network giant, jointly launched the Back to Blue Initiative having shared a sense of crisis of the ocean in danger. During these two years, we not only investigated and analyzed contaminants such as plastics and chemicals in addition to the issue of ocean acidification, but we have continued to set off an alarm bell that the problem is so grave that we can no longer turn a blind eye to it. The Nippon Foundation has also been monitoring the coastal areas of Japan regarding the effects of ocean acidification, but in different parts of the world, the speed of progression is much faster than what we have imagined. It is already causing the extinction of shellfish, the destruction of coral, the collapse of the whole ecosystem. This is an imminent crisis that has come this far that we cannot wait any longer. In fact, it is even too late.

Assembled guests, colleagues, and friends. Has the ocean ever been in such a critical condition in the long history of the world? Has there ever been any generation shouldering this huge role and responsibility to protect the endangered ocean? The weight of the role and the responsibility we shoulder is massive. Let us face this crisis without hesitation and together think and act so that we will be able to pass on the Mother Ocean to the future generations for thousand years and beyond. Thank you very much.