Rémi Parmentier – Chile was one of the original signatories to – and an ongoing supporter of – Because the Ocean, an initiative I have coordinated since its conception in 2015.
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Rémi Parmentier is the Secretary of the Because the Ocean Initiative. A Co-Director of the Varda Group he has been an ocean advocate for over 40 years.

Karen Sack – A couple of days ago it was my huge pleasure to speak at the annual Chatham House Prize ceremony in London and congratulate this year’s winners – Sir David Attenborough and the BBC Studios Natural History Unit – in person. 
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Karen is based in Washington DC and brings over 20 years of experience working for international non-governmental organizations on environmental issues. She was formerly the Senior Director for International Oceans at The Pew Charitable Trusts where she helped initiate the Global Ocean Commission. Before that, she was the Head of Greenpeace International’s Political & Business Unit and the Head of their international oceans campaign. In 2004, Karen was the first person from a non-governmental organization to speak at a regular session of the United Nations General Assembly, representing the concerns of over 60 groups from around the world over the plight of our oceans. She is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Action Council on Oceans. Ask her why she’s dedicated to work on ocean conservation and she’ll say “it’s about more than just the fish”.

Sonja Fordham – Overfishing not only threatens marine biodiversity, but overall planetary health, with sharks among the Ocean’s most threatened animals, due to excessive, often unregulated, fishing practices.
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Sonja Fordham is president of Shark Advocates International, a project of The Ocean Foundation dedicated to the conservation of sharks and rays. She has more than 25 years of elasmobranch policy experience through this role and former positions with the Shark Alliance and Ocean Conservancy. Her work focuses on publicizing the plight of threatened elasmobranch species and promoting science-based remedies before wildlife and fisheries regulatory bodies. Ms. Fordham has co-authored many publications on shark and ray conservation and serves on numerous fishery management advisory panels. She has been engaged in ICCAT deliberations since 2004.

Source: Project Syndicate. 
Author: Pascal Lamy.

Keeping climate change in check will require reducing the carbon footprint associated with global shipping, which accounts for the bulk of world trade. With governments and the shipping industry already moving in the right direction, the challenge will be to agree on policies that are adequate to the scale of the crisis.