The Next Four Years Will Decide the Ocean’s Future

This summer, the ocean sent us another warning. In August, global sea-surface temperatures reached their highest level on record. Days later, the most comprehensive assessment of coral reefs ever published showed that increasingly frequent marine heatwaves are leaving reefs less time to recover between bleaching events. Global hard coral cover has declined by 9.5% compared with the 1980-2009 average, driven primarily by human-induced climate change.For me, this is deeply concerning, but also a reason to act. I come from Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands off the coast of East Africa where the ocean is inseparable from our lives, livelihoods, and future. It supports the food we eat, the jobs people depend on, and the resilience of our economy.During my years in office, I saw what is possible when governments make ocean protection a political priority. In 2020, during my presidency, Seychelles designated 30% of its waters for protection, years before the world adopted the global goal of protecting 30% of land and ocean by 2030. That experience taught me that ambitious conservation is possible when political commitment is matched by action.With fewer than four years remaining u...