MR.
DICAPRIO: Good morning, everyone.
And thank you, Secretary Kerry, for having me here today and thank you for your years
of leadership working to protect our oceans.
It's fantastic to start off the day by hearing President Obama commit to expanding marine
reserves in U.S. waters and taking serious steps to prevent illegally caught fish from
entering the marketplace.
Now before I wanted to be an actor, I dreamt about becoming a marine biologist.
As a kid, I always had a fascination with the ocean and its wildlife.
In fact, the first philanthropic dollar I ever contributed was to save the wild manatee
in Florida.
I had never seen a manatee before, but I somehow felt connected to the plight of these animals
who had no voice and no ability to save themselves from the devastation caused by human activity.
Today I feel just as connected and inspired by ocean life that covers most of our planet.
As an avid diver, I've been fortunate enough to experience some of the most pristine wild
places on Earth, from my very first dive in the Great Barrier Reef to the Galapagos to
Mozambique, Belize, and the islands of Thailand.
And just last year, I got to visit Cocos Island, a national park of the shores of Costa Rica,
where I had the opportunity to swim with 15 different species of shark -- white tips,
tiger sharks, and hammerheads -- in one of the world's largest natural shark sanctuaries,
and I came out unscathed.
These experiences haven't just been adventures.
They've been educational for me.
They've taught me just how fragile these ecosystems really are.
Since my very first dive in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia 20 years ago to the dive
I got to do in the very same location just two years ago, I've witnessed environmental
devastation firsthand.
What once had looked like an endless underwater utopia is now riddled with bleached coral
reefs and massive dead zones.
Recently on the Cocos Island dive, we stayed inside a marine-protected area where it was
technically illegal to hunt sharks or other marine life within 10 miles of the sanctuary,
but every night we hopelessly watched illegal fishing vessels invade the waters just one
mile offshore.
I've learned that with each passing day, so many of our aquatic species are in jeopardy
-- not because of nature's unpredictability, but because of human activity.
I've learned about the incredibly important role our oceans play on the survival of all
life on Earth, and I've decided to join so many people and others that are working here
today to protect this vital treasure.
Growing up, I remember hearing stories about the seemingly endless bounty that our oceans
had to offer, how fishermen would cast a net a hundred years ago and catch 10-foot long
tuna or 18-foot long sturgeon.
It seemed like nothing would ever challenge the abundance the sea had to offer.
But today, we live in a very different reality.
Because of modern industrialized fishing, ships are heading into ever-deeper waters
in search of decent catch only to find ever-dwindling stocks.
We have systematically devastated our global fisheries through destructive practices like
bottom trawling, where huge nets drag across the bottom of the ocean for miles, literally
scraping up everything in their path, permanently destroying abundant underwater forests teeming
with every imaginable form of wildlife.
And while we've heard a lot about the impacts of climate change on dry land, the oceans
will be the sink that absorbs the brunt of our pollution and the danger of higher temperatures.
This is especially troubling since oceans are the source of most of our oxygen and life-giving
nutrients on this planet.
They dictate our climate, our weather patterns, and ultimately our own survival.
Without healthy oceans we are in serious trouble, and the outlook for their health is not good.
I want to acknowledge the fact that significant commitments have been announced here over
the last day to afford ocean protection.
President Obama's announcement will help to preserve coral reefs and other vulnerable
areas, and help to deter black market fishing and seafood fraud in our markets through traceability
and transparency initiatives.
I also commend President Tong of Kiribati who just announced yesterday the full closure
of commercial fishing in the Phoenix Island Marine Protected Area by 2015.
That means that an area of the ocean the size of California is now completely protected.
I applaud these pledges and others like them made here, and I look forward to working alongside
those who have made these commitments to ensure their success.
But this is just the beginning.
We need to do much more to scale these commitments globally, continuously building more urgency
and momentum to match the magnitude of this massive global challenge.
This isn't simply an exercise in wildlife conservation.
Several billion people a year depend on seafood as a source of protein, and yet we are failing
to protect these vital waters.
We are failing to set aside significant preserves that are off limits to fishing.
We are failing to protect these critical ecosystems -- the coral reefs, the forests of the sea,
the tide pools, and the deep water canyons.
We're plundering the ocean and its vital resources.
And just because we can't see the devastation from dry land does not mean it's any less
dangerous to life on Earth, and it has to stop.
Unfortunately today, there's no proper law enforcement capacity and little accountability
for violating the law.
It's the Wild West on the high seas.
The ocean is an under-regulated marketplace right now.
Even though the ocean covers 71 percent of our planet, less than 1 percent are fully
protected as marine reserves where fishing is prohibited.
These last remaining underwater bio-gems are being destroyed because there isn't proper
enforcement or sufficient cooperation among governments to protect them.
People who depend on these oceans' resources for sustenance need to hear that governments
are working to create strong systems of accountability for those who are destroying it.
If we don't do something to save our oceans now, it won't be just the sharks and the dolphins
that will suffer; it will be all of us including our children and our grandchildren.
You've all heard the bad news about the accelerated collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet recently,
which is incredibly scary.
And you've probably heard about the growing concern in the scientific community about
the methane emissions driving rapid climate change in ocean acidification.
Methane is a greenhouse gas far more damaging than carbon dioxide.
There seem to be new stories every week about methane's potential to send us beyond critical
tipping points.
Yet these important stories are but a blip on the screen in mainstream media.
What we need is a constant drumbeat about these tragedies unfolding before our very
eyes and more attention towards the solutions that exist to avert them.
Most importantly, what we need is action, sustained activism, and courageous political
leadership.
We cannot afford to be bystanders in this pre-apocalyptic scenario.
We have to become the protagonists in the story of our own planet's salvation.
We need to step up now.
Now the good news is we can do this together.
As we've seen and heard in this conference, solutions exist all around us, but they will
remain one-off projects or just ideas on paper until we commit to act on them on a global
scale together.
I'm standing here today as a concerned citizen of this planet who believes that this is the
most important issue of our time.
My foundation, as Secretary Kerry recently announced, gave a $3 million grant to the
organization, Oceana, to support their efforts to support sharks, marine mammals, and key
ocean habitat in the Eastern Pacific.
Today I am here to commit even more of my foundation's resources to this cause.
I'm pledging an additional $7 million to meaningful ocean conservation projects over the next
two years.
(Applause.)
But none of this can be implemented without proper worldwide leadership.
This is our moment to move forward to protect our oceans, which is our lifeblood.
Now working together, we can create and strengthen existing marine reserves that benefit coastal
communities as well as the health of the world's oceans and its life-giving resources.
Through my foundation, I'm committed to funding organizations, communities, and governments
that are establishing meaningful marine reserves.
My partners and I, including Oceans 5, Pristine Seas, and Oceana, are prepared to provide
significant resources to help design, establish, and implement reserves that are globally real
and significant.
Two years ago I learned an exciting opportunity in Antarctica, a magical place that is home
to some of the world's largest populations of fish, penguins, seals, whales, and seabirds.
I learned that many progressive governments were working to create large reserves in the
Southern Ocean, and I wanted to help.
My foundation became a proud supporter of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, an international
coalition of organizations working in partnership with Australia, New Zealand, and the European
Union, and the United States.
Mr. Secretary, I remain excited and very optimistic about the prospects of a successful outcome.
If there's anything we can do to help, please let us know.
I was tremendously thankful for the response of over 1 million people around the world
who expressed support for action in Antarctica.
My foundation and our partners have also helped protect some of the 100 million sharks who
are being killed each year due to overfishing, primarily for their fins.
Last spring, as a result of the efforts of several governments and an array of dedicated
organizations, the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species approved proposals to protect
several vulnerable shark species.
It was a great example of success through collaboration, and together, it's time to
create more of these examples on a global scale.
We know we cannot do it alone.
The only way to address problems of this scale is through smart collaboration between governments,
communities, organizations, and scientists.
So I stand here today to challenge all of you to step up, to utilize your positions
of authority, to ensure the health of the oceans that are so vital to people's lives
all around the world.
Together we can solve this problem, but it will not be easy.
It will take courage, sacrifice, and true leadership.
As it happens, we have here with us today many of you who have already shown leadership
on this issue and are capable of doing much, much more.
My ask is straightforward: Step up.
Mr. President, Secretary Kerry, all of you here today, we urge you, we're imploring you,
we're cheering you on, we're watching you, and we need you to do the right thing.
We'll be here to support you every step of the way, including right now with our actions
in this conference, but you are the leaders we are looking towards to deliver the protection
that our oceans deserve and require.
We know you will make us proud.
Right now we're launching an ambitious mission to protect the world's oceans, but we have
a long, long road ahead of us.
We must push ourselves to step up every chance we can get.
Thank you very much from me, from the wildlife in our ocean that has no voice, from the billions
who depend on the abundance that the ocean must continue to provide, and from all of
us and from the generations to come whom I hope will experience just as we have the beauty
and abundance of our oceans.
Thank you.
(Applause.)