In the 2019 Rei Jaume I Awards Jury Declaration, 19 Nobel laureates and leading personalities outline threats facing the world’s oceans.
They urge public and private actors to immediately adopt measures to counteract these threats and preserve the ocean’s natural heritage for future generations.
19 July 2019: Nobel laureates and leading personalities from science, business and culture urged public and private actors to adopt “immediately effective measures” to counteract the deterioration of the health of the oceans in a Declaration.
In the 2019 Rei Jaume I Awards Jury Declaration (PRJI), 19 Nobel laureates and personalities outline threats facing the world’s oceans. They recognize that the oceans face threats from marine pollution and the growing use of plastics, overfishing, the presence of hazardous waste and pesticides, and marine transportation. The members of the juries of the PRJI further observe that these threats have become “immediate threats to the health of the oceans,” and contribute to pollutants entering the human food chain, threatening human health. They express additional concern about the impact of global warming, the increase of the average temperature of ocean waters, the intensity of meteorological phenomena on the coasts and air pollution, underscoring these threats as a “serious threat to wildlife and flora of the oceans.”
Within this context, the members of the juries of the PRJI, urge “all public and private actors” to immediately adopt measures to counteract these threats and preserve the ocean’s natural heritage for future generations. The members recognize the UN Decade of Oceanic Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ‘Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate’ (SROCC), which is expected to be released in September 2019, as key frameworks for mobilizing action towards a more sustainable and resilient ocean.
The Government of Valencia and the Valencian Foundation for Advanced Studies (FVEA) present the Rei Jaume I Awards annually to six researchers for their contributions in the areas of Economics, Environmental Protection, General Research, Medical Research, New Technologies and Urban Studies. [2019 Rei Jaume I Awards Jury Declaration] [UNESCO Press Release] [UNESCO Webpage on Decade]