“The urgency is to stop plastic from entering the ocean”, calls the former president of the National Museum of Natural History

“Tomorrow there will be more plastic than plankton in the ocean”denounced Gilles Bœuf, professor of biology and biodiversity at the Sorbonne, former president of the National Museum of Natural History, guest Friday February 11 of franceinfo. “We need to change our mentality”he summarized, on the last day of the One Ocean Summit, the summit of the ocean which ends in Brest.

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“The ocean is a trash can today, it’s appalling, when it represents the largest ecosystem in the earth system”lamented the professor who recalled that there is “not only plastic, even if it is very visible, there are also endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, issues of overfishing and exploitation of the deep sea”. “There are no oceans but an ocean” because there is “no barrier in the ocean” and “this ocean, it is sick”, regretted Gilles Bœuf. According to him, “only a healthy ocean can fulfill this role of climate regulator, of nourishing mother”.

He thus invited to remember that the ocean, “it is the origin of life”than “everyone should feel concerned” face “to this gigantic common good of humanity”.

“We all have a little ocean within everyone, watch your blood tests next time, sodium, chloride, what is it? It’s the ocean.”

Gilles Bœuf, former president of the National Museum of Natural History

at franceinfo

“Human blood, the brain, tell of the appearance of life in the ocean”, he explained with fervor. The teacher described a phenomenon “extremely worrying for human populations”with “an ocean that is rising, warming up, getting dirty in places, oxygen is decreasing”. “Our enemy is excess”particularly vis-à-vis plastic, said Gilles Bœuf, “not the car, not the plane”.

It is necessary, according to him, “Tackling the problem to ensure that plastic never makes it to the ocean”. He suggested using plastic “which is recyclable, reusable” and “to stop using the ocean as a garbage can”. “Collecting plastic is good, but the urgency is to stop it from entering the ocean”insisted the professor. “What I would like, as a scientist, is that we are finally listened to, politicians must take into account the state of scientific knowledge to make their decisions”, concluded Gilles Boeuf.