WEBVTT - Investing in Protecting our Oceans

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg BusinessWeek with Karl Messer and Tim

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<v Speaker 1>Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio. Well, as I was praying for

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<v Speaker 1>our next guest, I came across a great Bloomberg opinion

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<v Speaker 1>piece by our columnist Laura Williams. Check out what she

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<v Speaker 1>wrote earlier this year. She said, We've got a lot

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<v Speaker 1>to thank the ocean. For three billion people depend on

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<v Speaker 1>its ecosystems for food and economic security. It's also helped

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<v Speaker 1>to mitigate climate change, absorbing ninety three percent of the

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<v Speaker 1>heat trapped by greenhouse gases and about thirty percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the carbon dioxid admitted by burning fossil fuels so far.

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<v Speaker 1>If we didn't have the ocean, we'd be in a

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<v Speaker 1>much stickier situation. Well, next guest knows all too well

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<v Speaker 1>the importance of the ocean. Doctor Deborah Brosnan is a

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<v Speaker 1>marine scientist in environmental risk expert. She's also the head

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<v Speaker 1>of the scientific consulting company Deborah Brosnan and Associates. She's

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<v Speaker 1>just returned from the Global Citizen Forum. It ran alongside

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<v Speaker 1>the UN Climate Change Conference COP twenty eight in the UAE.

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<v Speaker 1>Doctor Brosnan joins US from Washington, DC this afternoon. Good

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<v Speaker 1>to have you with us this afternoon, doctor Brosnan. What

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<v Speaker 1>did you find in COP? How did you How were

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<v Speaker 1>the vibes? I mean, I've heard in scenes news reports

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<v Speaker 1>about sort of both sides of the spectrum here.

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<v Speaker 2>So COP is very interesting. So the first week of

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<v Speaker 2>COP was extremely hopeful. I came into COP and then

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<v Speaker 2>day one I felt optimistic. All of a sudden, we

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<v Speaker 2>had two nations, UAE and Germany pledged one hundred million

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<v Speaker 2>dollars each towards loss and damage, which is really to

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<v Speaker 2>help small island, developing states and emerging nations deal with

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<v Speaker 2>the loss and the damage from climate change that they

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<v Speaker 2>didn't cause. So there was a huge level of optimism,

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<v Speaker 2>and week one we saw that develop more and more

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<v Speaker 2>and that people were very positive. Week two, which is

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<v Speaker 2>what we're coming to the close of right now, which

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<v Speaker 2>is when really a lot of the negotiations started, the

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<v Speaker 2>mood really began to change and then a COP felt

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<v Speaker 2>like one hundred thousand people all running around talking but

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<v Speaker 2>not necessarily doing. And what we're seeing right now, as

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<v Speaker 2>you know, we've gone into overtime at COP twenty eight

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<v Speaker 2>because nations are battling whether to include in the language

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<v Speaker 2>to phase out fossil fuels, or simply to say it

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<v Speaker 2>would be a good idea and it could be done

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<v Speaker 2>in this way. So COP twenty eight has been I think,

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<v Speaker 2>like many cops, starting strong with a lot of hope

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<v Speaker 2>and then getting mirred, mired in politics and marred in

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<v Speaker 2>nations really battling for different interests. On the other hand,

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<v Speaker 2>it's fair to say that everybody at COP, everybody knows

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<v Speaker 2>we're in a climate crisis, and everybody knows that something

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<v Speaker 2>must be done urgently. The challenge is in the agreements.

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<v Speaker 3>Why is it so important to protect the oceans. Is

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<v Speaker 3>it about the sea life within the ocean, or are

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<v Speaker 3>we more a cop talking about how it relates to

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<v Speaker 3>climate change a COP.

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<v Speaker 2>We're talking more about how it relates to climate change,

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<v Speaker 2>because that is the focus of COP. But the reason

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<v Speaker 2>it's really important to protect the oceans goes even beyond

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<v Speaker 2>copp and climate. The ocean's cover three quarters of our

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<v Speaker 2>planet and we literally depend on them for they produce

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<v Speaker 2>half of the planet's oxygen, and in terms of climate change,

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<v Speaker 2>they're absorbed over ninety percent of the excess heat. Now

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<v Speaker 2>the oceans support three billion people more or less indirectly.

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<v Speaker 2>The level of which we depend on the oceans is

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<v Speaker 2>something I think most people don't fully understand. Along the coastline,

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<v Speaker 2>where you have coral reefs, where you have oyster reefs

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<v Speaker 2>and sand dunes, those nature based solutions, those nature natural

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<v Speaker 2>habitats actually buffer us against sea level rise and climate change.

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<v Speaker 2>So our relationship with the ocean is fundamental to our survival,

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<v Speaker 2>and the challenge really is that people don't fully understand it.

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<v Speaker 2>So our oceans really if they were a country, they

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<v Speaker 2>drank seventh in the world, so they would be a

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<v Speaker 2>major presence at cop But yet there the lowest evolved

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<v Speaker 2>funding of the sustainable development goals. So we really have

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<v Speaker 2>to up our attention to the ocean and we can.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they do seem like an afterthought now that you know.

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<v Speaker 1>In preparing for this, I kind of felt like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we don't necessarily talk about the ocean a lot in

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<v Speaker 1>the context of climate change. We talk so much about

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<v Speaker 1>greenhouse gas emissions, and we talk about a transition away

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<v Speaker 1>from fossil fuels, but we talk about forests, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>but oceans we don't talk about it in the same way.

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<v Speaker 1>Ocean shot. Now, this is a really cool project that

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<v Speaker 1>I want to make sure we're covering, use AI cameras,

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<v Speaker 1>explain what it is and what you've discovered just over

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<v Speaker 1>the last year.

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<v Speaker 2>So ocean Shot was designed to focus on the a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit more. I spoke about the value of coral

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<v Speaker 2>reefs in providing habitats, in breaking wave action so that

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<v Speaker 2>we keep sand on the beach, protect coastal properties, and

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<v Speaker 2>support fisheries and biodiversity. So ocean Shot was designed to

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<v Speaker 2>literally design the kind of coral reef structure that we

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<v Speaker 2>need to have an our oceans for today in the future,

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<v Speaker 2>the kind of habitats they provide, and then to build

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<v Speaker 2>and create those structures and put them in the sea.

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<v Speaker 2>And we deployed our first ocean Shot in our Antigue

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<v Speaker 2>and Barbuda last year and we watch we've planted it

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<v Speaker 2>with nine different species of corals. But over that one year,

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<v Speaker 2>we put artificial artificial intelligence cameras on those reefs to

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<v Speaker 2>see what kind of species we've had and what kind

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<v Speaker 2>of species we're showing up and use the AI technology

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<v Speaker 2>to identify those species. So within a year we had

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<v Speaker 2>thirty six species of fish start to come in and

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<v Speaker 2>literally set up home in our modules along with octopus,

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<v Speaker 2>along with lobster and a host of other species. And

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<v Speaker 2>what it really showed us with the cameras is that

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<v Speaker 2>once we provide the habitat for species, they do come.

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<v Speaker 2>Those thirty six species of fish would not have existed

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<v Speaker 2>without these ocean shot reefs. And the other thing we're

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<v Speaker 2>learning is that we can restore these these reef habitats

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<v Speaker 2>these reefs in a way that is scalable and transferable,

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<v Speaker 2>particularly emerging nations where we find most of these coral reefs.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's been a fascinating experiment and we're planning on

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<v Speaker 2>doing some more.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean thirty six new species of fish. I'm

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<v Speaker 3>curious what does progress look like when it comes to

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<v Speaker 3>ocean restoration. Is there an element of irreversible damage to

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<v Speaker 3>coral reefs or can we actually make progress and restore

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<v Speaker 3>reefs to a level that you know there were years ago.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think that that's a really important question as

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<v Speaker 2>to what do we define as success and progress. I

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<v Speaker 2>think corals are in trouble this year, in particular, we

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<v Speaker 2>had water temperatures one hundred and one degrees fahrenheit off Florida,

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<v Speaker 2>and that's, by the way, the temperature of a hot tub,

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<v Speaker 2>so corals were immersed in that and we saw a

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<v Speaker 2>huge amount of coral bleaching immortality. So we're working very

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<v Speaker 2>hard to restore resilient corals. But the other part of

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<v Speaker 2>success is to say, with these habitats that have been

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<v Speaker 2>either destroyed or degraded and literally collapsed, that success to

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<v Speaker 2>me is restoring and creating habitats that are viable into

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<v Speaker 2>the future that will transition to the climate change that

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<v Speaker 2>we're having, and where we start to see communities, biological

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<v Speaker 2>communities of fish invertebrates that are important to the reef

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<v Speaker 2>but also important to us, either for food or recreation

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<v Speaker 2>or other Even medicines today start to come back and

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<v Speaker 2>establish themselves, but also persist because there's no doubt we

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<v Speaker 2>are going through a huge transition in the earth. There

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<v Speaker 2>is no way we're going back to the reefs of

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<v Speaker 2>thirty forty fifty years ago any more that we're going

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<v Speaker 2>back to the world of thirty forty years ago. We

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<v Speaker 2>have to build for the future.

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<v Speaker 1>We have thirty seconds left and can and with an

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<v Speaker 1>optimistic note, what makes you optimistic about the future.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, I'm hugely optimistic because I can see that whatever's

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<v Speaker 2>happening in copp When you look around you, scientists like

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<v Speaker 2>me are taking action and doing work. I just did

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<v Speaker 2>an underwater panel with Paddy. They're working on one billion divers,

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<v Speaker 2>actually doing work in the ocean to change things. The

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<v Speaker 2>upcoming generation takes for granted that we're going to take action.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm hugely optimistic that we are going to get through

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<v Speaker 2>this in a positive way and have a better world.

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<v Speaker 1>Well really appreciate you joining us, especially after so much

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<v Speaker 1>travel over the last few days. Doctor Deborah Brosnan, marine

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<v Speaker 1>scientist and environmental risk expert, the head of the scientific

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<v Speaker 1>consulting company Deborah Brosnan and Associates