A new form of colonialism is threatening the oceans

Brut America

A new form of colonialism is threatening our oceans. Olivier Dubuquoy from the NGO ZEA advocates for their liberation.

Transcript

00:00Today, states have the opportunity to take over portions of the sea.

00:04So, in fact, they colonize the ocean.

00:14A state, it is enough that it is a portion of the sea, so of the coasts,

00:18and from that moment on, it can claim up to 200,000 sailors

00:22and also have what is called an extension of the continental plateau.

00:27And from there, all the resources that are in the water column

00:30as well as in the seabed, so all the mining resources,

00:34are the property of the states that have claimed these portions of the sea.

00:38And once they have recovered these portions of the sea,

00:41they can give operating permits to various mining companies,

00:47including oil and gas companies,

00:49which will, in the seabed, exploit all fossil fuels,

00:53so gas and oil.

00:55And this rush towards these fossil fuels is intensifying today.

01:00So we are in something quite phenomenal,

01:02since we are in a new form of colonization,

01:05both of spaces and resources,

01:07and it is in the process of shaking up all the scales

01:09from a global geopolitical point of view.

01:11That is why I think that the ocean is really, in the 21st century,

01:15the heart of all the issues,

01:17both from an ecological point of view,

01:19from a geopolitical point of view,

01:21but also from an energy point of view,

01:23because the ocean could really be the territory of the energy transition.

01:27And so we are really in a fairly critical period

01:32where few people are talking about the ocean in this term,

01:35whereas it will really become the main topic, I think, of the years to come.

01:40The ocean is the main climate regulator.

01:42The ocean is the space that is most threatened by oil and gas companies.

01:46So if we want to protect life on this planet,

01:48we have to succeed in protecting the ocean,

01:50which itself protects us,

01:52since it is the main climate regulator.

01:54We are based on this figure,

01:56which now dates back a little,

01:58which has been provided both by indigenous communities

02:00but also by the scientific community,

02:02that we have to leave 80% of fossil fuels in the ground

02:05if we do not want to accentuate this delaying bomb,

02:09which is global warming.

02:11So we started on the idea

02:13that if 80% of fossil fuels must remain in the ground,

02:17it is simply enough not to exploit the fossil fuels in the ocean,

02:21since we have already wreaked havoc on the earth.

02:23And here we find ourselves in a situation

02:25where, since the International Energy Agency

02:28recommends that to replace

02:30two-thirds of oil and gas production,

02:34it would be necessary to drill into the oceans,

02:36and more specifically into the Arctic.

02:38In parallel to this, we see that there is an agreement in Paris

02:41where everyone agrees that it is really necessary

02:43to limit global warming.

02:45We say to ourselves that we will have to act for this,

02:48and the best way is to simply block oil projects,

02:51since we need to gradually start

02:54and accelerate this transition,

02:57which we all call our wishes,

02:59to be able to move on to another model,

03:01because otherwise we run the disaster.

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