Ken Buesseler is getting ready to attend his third international climate summit, on behalf of ocean science. Buesseler is a Senior Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and next week he’ll be in Belém, Brazil at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP30.
WHOI and other ocean science, philanthropic and stakeholder organizations are running the Ocean Pavilion, which will hold lectures and discussions regarding ocean-based solutions to climate change.
“We and our other 17 organizations … represent and support this particular pavilion,” Buesseler explained. “We can stand for the oceans and tell people why the oceans matter.”
Most COP pavilions represent the various countries participating in the conference. While political negotiations happen behind the scenes, countries showcase themselves through their pavilions. Parties and observers can attend talks put on at the pavilions, which also serve as home bases for international attendees.
This will be the fourth year of the COP Ocean Pavilion. Buesseler says it’s important to keep ocean science and protection in the conversation around climate change.
“Just getting out in front of this audience and saying, ‘Hey, let's recognize that we can't represent this planet by just having pavilions with country's names on them,’” he said. “We have to have representation for this ocean, this ocean common.”
Ocean Pavilion partners will also present the Belém Ocean Declaration at COP 30. The document calls on nations to take concrete steps to safeguard the ocean and the communities that depend on it.
Buesseler said one-third of our carbon dioxide emissions end up in the ocean and there are “ways we can enhance the uptake of carbon dioxide in the ocean, whether we change its chemistry or we grow more ocean plants." He added, "The phytoplankton, the little microscopic plants that produce half the oxygen on this planet, live in the oceans.”
Buesseler said, “So it really is important with this declaration we say, 'Okay, that's a controller. That's a climate regulator. Let's understand its capacity. How big is it? How can we monitor that effectively?'"
With that information in hand, Buesseler said scientists can look for more equitable climate solutions and possibly "reduce the harm and suffering that we see right now from climate change.”
