New York, United States of America, Sept. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Ocean Stewardship Coalition, an initiative of the UN Global Compact, is proud to announce the launch of the “Plankton Manifesto.” This landmark document, unveiled during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 23 September, 2024, emphasizes the critical role of plankton in addressing the interlinked global crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, emphasized the urgency of this initiative, stating: “The Plankton Manifesto represents a vital step forward in our collective response to the triple planetary crisis. Plankton are not only the foundation of marine ecosystems but also key players in our fight against climate change and pollution. By safeguarding plankton, we are protecting a crucial part of our planet’s life support system, ensuring the resilience of our oceans and freshwater ecosystems for future generations.”
Plankton, the microscopic organisms that have been foundational to life on Earth for over 3.5 billion years, perform essential functions that sustain our planet’s health. They generate a significant portion of the oxygen every year, absorb vast amounts of carbon—accounting for 99% of the ocean’s biological carbon pump—purify water, and recycle nutrients vital for marine life. As the base of the marine food web, plankton indirectly support the livelihoods of more than 12% of the world’s population through fisheries and aquaculture. Plankton growths in freshwaters affect drinking water availability for countless millions.
Despite their immense importance, plankton are under threat and remain poorly understood. The Plankton Manifesto calls for immediate global recognition and action to protect these vital organisms. It advocates for the adoption of “Plankton-Based Solutions” to benefit humanity and the environment, leveraging advances in DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, satellite monitoring, AI-assisted image analysis, and other cutting-edge technologies to enhance our understanding and stewardship of plankton.
Key Recommendations of the Plankton Manifesto
The manifesto presents a series of strategic recommendations to guide global efforts for safeguarding plankton and harnessing their potential to address the triple planetary crisis:
- Improve Knowledge to Better Monitor: The manifesto calls for strengthened funding and coordinated global research efforts to enhance our understanding of plankton biodiversity and their critical role in the ocean ecosystem and in freshwater systems. It highlights the need for developing methodologies to monitor plankton biodiversity and activity, creating shared screening platforms, and prioritizing the study of plankton in polar regions. A global consolidated plankton atlas and developing plankton-based health indices are also recommended to monitor marine and freshwater ecosystems comprehensively.
- Create Plankton Awareness for All: A global “plankton literacy” project is proposed to raise awareness of the essential roles of plankton in water quality, food webs and planetary functioning. This educational initiative targets both schools and policymakers aiming to drastically increase everyone’s familiarity with plankton. The manifesto also emphasizes the need to map market dynamics for plankton applications to ensure that public and private investments support sustainable development.
- Integrate Plankton in Global Political Discussions: The manifesto urges the inclusion of plankton in international climate and biodiversity discussions. It calls on UNFCCC Parties to recognize the role of plankton in climate mitigation and to incorporate plankton conservation into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Additionally, the manifesto advocates for integrating plankton-related indicators into the Monitoring Framework of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and ensuring that the roles of plankton are reflected in the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty.
The Plankton Manifesto is a result of a collaborative effort, led by the United Nations Global Compact, that involved 30 international experts from leading institutions and industries worldwide. It will seek endorsements at key global environmental conferences, including COP29 on Climate, COP16 on Biodiversity, and the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, in June 2025.
The Plankton Manifesto is accessible here.
Notes to Editors
About the Ocean Stewardship Coalition
Since 2018, the United Nations Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition has been a convening point for ocean related industries, governments, UN organisations, academic institutions, and financial actors to work together towards a well-managed ocean and a sustainable ocean economy. The coalition mobilizes the private sector by engaging them in policy processes, developing guidance with them for principle-based ocean business, setting and realizing science based targets for ocean-climate action, and helping create an enabling environment for scaling up blue finance and investments.
About the United Nations Global Compact
The ambition of the UN Global Compact is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the SDGs through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 20,000 participating companies, 5 Regional Hubs, 62 Country Networks covering 78 countries and 14 Country Managers establishing Networks in 20 other countries, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative — one Global Compact uniting business for a better world.
