In November 2021, Plymouth City Council was the first in local government to make an Ocean Recovery Declaration using the ‘Motion for the Ocean’, a model motion ready to be adopted by local authorities across the UK.
We created the Motion for the Ocean after recognising that, while the Climate Emergency Declaration was gaining momentum, too often the critical role of the ocean in meeting commitments on climate change was overlooked.
The ocean and climate are integral to one another. The climate emergency cannot be tackled without addressing our relationship with the marine environment.
The ocean provides primary food sources for enormous numbers of people, is a climate regulator and the world’s greatest carbon sink. Its health affects us all, even when it feels distant. That’s why the Motion for the Ocean was written, to support the needs of councillors representing inland councils just as much as coastal councils.
Plymouth declared a climate emergency in 2019, the year that we declared our intention to build the UK’s first national marine park. But, as a council, we hadn’t yet connected these intentions in our policy approach.
I attended the Coastal Futures Ocean Recovery Conference 2021 as a marine social science researcher, listening to scientists arguing that politicians don’t take the urgent state of our oceans seriously. As a scientist, it can be difficult to be heard by national government, but councils work at the coal face, listening to citizens. As a researcher of marine citizenship, I knew that local authorities can help citizens and politicians get to grips with this critical issue.
I enlisted the help of Emily Cunningham, a marine and coastal specialist and Lead Officer of the LGA’s Coastal Special Interest Group, and Nicola Bridge, Head of Ocean Advocacy and Engagement at the Ocean Conservation Trust, and a specialist in ocean literacy and public engagement with the ocean.
The timely publication of government ‘asks’ for marine health and management, led by Dr Sian Rees, of Plymouth University, informed our thinking, and we developed the Motion for the Ocean.
The model motion stresses the importance of the ocean for climate, highlighting that local planning and decision-making are pivotal in negotiating the relationship people have with their natural places.
“We need to innovate towards a sustainable blue economy”
It recognises that coastal authorities have direct responsibility for a range of impacts at the coast, and that inland authority areas impact the ocean at source, particularly through waste and water management and carbon emissions.
The motion calls for councils to help develop ocean literacy and marine citizenship in residents, facilitating connections to the marine environment that sit in the heart and drive people to act.
We must continue to use the sea and cannot manage it simply by excluding people; instead, we need to innovate towards a sustainable and equitable blue economy.
The motion demands that national government use evidence from research and coastal communities, committing resources to establish sustainable ways to manage coastal and offshore waters.
As a back-bencher in opposition, tabling the motion and seeing it pass in Plymouth was my proudest moment since being elected in 2018. So far this year, Falmouth Town, South Tyneside and North Norfolk Councils have all declared an urgent need for ocean recovery.
Please help keep the wave rolling by bringing the Motion for the Ocean to your council.