EJD participated to the Ocean 22 Conference in California (Esalen, Track II: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy)
From the 16th to the 21st of October, Track Two -an Institute for Citizen Diplomacy, with more than 40 years of history- and the Esalen Institute -established in 1962 to be the epicenter of the Human Potential Movement- organized the Ocean 22 Conference in Big Sur, San Francisco (California).
The Conference convened experts from across the globe to discuss how best resolve conflicts that are preventing cooperation on Ocean protection. The convenings helped experts establish common ground and friendships that can positively impact negotiations on sensitive marine systems, focusing on a proposed network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.
Geneviève Pons, and Pascal Lamy were both invited as participants and speakers to this event. They opened the Oceans 22 discussion with a description of a new, tangible, and evocative framework for multi-lateral ocean protection by presenting Mission Starfish 2050 , a concept launched in Bizerte, inspired by the European Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030 (Mission Starfish)
They presented the Antarctica 2020 coalition, a group of influencers from the world of sport, politics, business, media and science that are building support for the full and effective protection of the Southern Ocean, and its effort to advance in the creation of new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), necessary to safeguard the unique Antarctic environment which is crucial for the health of the planet.
They discussed with other participants, notably with Claire Christian from ASOC and Evan Bloom from the Wilson Center, options available to unblock ongoing discussions in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources CCALMR, for the creation of three vast MPAs, overcoming the opposition of Russia and China, and made proposals that were then transmitted to American and French negotiators.
