World Ocean Radio
WOR is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays on a wide range of ocean issues hosted by W2O's own Peter Neill. Available for RSS feed (bottom of page), podcast, and syndicated use at no cost by community radio stations worldwide.
Jul 06, 2012
The reports on Rio+20 are in, and they are not good for the ocean. Many experts and activists from around the globe worked hard to formulate serious policy recommendations and priorities, and went to Rio to advocate for inclusion of ocean sustainability in the final report. Many of these hard working individuals and groups left Rio disappointed.
In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will suggest ways in which we might move beyond Rio+20 and will invite us to mobilize as...
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Jun 29, 2012
For the UN Rio+20 Conference in June, ocean leaders published a declaration intended to inform delegates and to advocate for ocean issues to be included in the conference outcome and the global development agenda for the next two decades. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will outline the seven action items of the declaration in order to share the scope and limits of the concerns being addressed by experts and agencies working on these issues every day.
[07-03-12]...
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Jun 22, 2012
Life's firsts set the standard for our experience and help to define the things that we value and determine what we wish to conserve and sustain. Many of us across the globe have opportunities to derive reward, solace and peace from the ocean: a first sail of the season aboard a small boat, visiting a crowded beach, pilgrims submersed in a sacred river--the ocean provides a source of renewal, quiet reward and communion with Nature. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will...
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Jun 14, 2012
In Colonial times, the commons was a central portion of land set aside and shared by all for agriculture, animals, and general well-being. Today, the ocean is the greatest commons of all, as more than 90% of its volume lies outside of national interest. The most important geopolitical question we now face is, "How do we govern and manage the ocean outside national jurisdiction to use it responsibly, sustain its value, and assure its potential forever for the benefit of all mankind?...
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Jun 07, 2012
The ocean is an inclusive and essential system that combines and connects us all. It serves the world to such an important degree that it cuts across and includes all securities and represents a value not to be squandered or lost. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, Peter Neill will assert that our security is synergistically linked to natural security and that the ocean will provide us with true security when we invariably turn to it in order to solve our problems for required fresh...
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May 31, 2012
On June 8 we celebrate World Oceans Day to recognize our relationship with the ocean through global connection. A recent survey conducted by The Ocean Project indicates that public awareness of ocean issues in the United States has not advanced at all over a ten-year period, despite consistent efforts by conservation, ocean, and other environmental organizations to inform and educate. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will ask, "What is Ocean Day meant to do?" and...
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May 24, 2012
Communications move at astonishing speed along a global network (much of it underwater) owned wholly or in partnership by Tata Communications, one of the largest telecommunications businesses in the world and a model company for globalization. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will discuss the company's structure, reach, profits, philanthropy and value--measures of worth that are impressive, dynamic and worthy of closer examination as an illustration of a corporate...
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May 18, 2012
The U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to destroy the program that has enabled the recovery of six endangered species through a successful regulatory scheme called “catch shares” by which regional fish councils set overall limits on annual harvest and then apportion the catch among individual fishermen. And by the same action, the House voted against a long-overdue and publicly supported National Ocean Policy that would address other problems that lie at the core of the...
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May 12, 2012
Today we are concerned with the rising cost of gasoline at the pump while we struggle with the implications of our demand, argue for or against more drilling, and despair over clean-up costs and restoration in fragile marine environments. Hidden in this situation is a cost beyond our control: the effect of speculators who inflate the cost of oil as they bid up the price in pursuit of financial gain. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will share a recent article written by...
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May 04, 2012
International climate meetings take place; world leaders converge to address the degradation of our land and sea environment; panels gather to review lack of progress of conservation goals. Yet the work of policy makers, the United Nations and NGOs is seemingly swallowed up by our consumption-based reality. While many countries are at work analyzing the challenges for conservation and management, international and national governance of ocean issues has mostly failed, either directly or by...
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Apr 27, 2012
Beneath almost every environmental challenge we face today lie various conflicts of interest. In the context of the ocean there are examples everywhere: subversion of international fishing quotas to gratify voters with a taste for sushi; oil companies' flagrant disregard for the environment, acceptance of subsidies, and record profits; overfishing worldwide.
In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will discuss the relationship of fisherman and customer; market pressure and the...
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Apr 20, 2012
Today, one of the most startling manifestations of waste is the vast accumulation of petroleum-plastic thought to be no longer useful enough to even be recycled. Our landfills and beaches are littered with plastic, a material designed to last forever yet used each day for products and packaging that have no value at the end of their short life cycle. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will discuss the seemingly endless life of this swirling, slowly dissolving petrol-detritus...
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Apr 13, 2012
We are a society organized around apparently insatiable consumption of natural resources and products derived from such resources. This drive has created stress on our terrestrial and marine environments. How do we begin to shift our priorities? Change our behaviors? Alter our patterns of consumption? Make different decisions so as to sustain the resources that remain, and assure our future survival? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will suggest that we must begin thinking...
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Apr 06, 2012
As population continues to grow, the requirements to sustain such numbers of us are enormous. Fresh water demand will increase 70% to satisfy basic water needs, and where will all this water come from? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will discuss outcomes and solutions from the World Water Forum which took place in Marseilles, France in March and will assert that we perhaps need look no further than the ocean as the major contributor to the fresh water cycle and ask that...
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Mar 31, 2012
The concepts of water harvesting and management are not new. In communities where water scarcity is a fact of life, the techniques are essential. How do we envision a hydraulic society with a growing world population which has enormous impacts on climate, watersheds, coastal areas and the deep ocean? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will have us look no further than New York City and the Green Infrastructure Plan as a real and compelling example for sustainability and...
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Mar 22, 2012
How do we protect the ocean? Perhaps the most popular tactic in play today is the marine protected area, a growing number of places around the globe designated and structured to shelter pristine ocean space. But if we are to look for a primary strategy for ocean protection, we must look beyond these distant places and focus closer to home to the mega-cities that are the true point source of the most dangerous and deadly contributors to the ongoing pollution of the world ocean.
In this episode...
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Ocean Health Index
A weekly feature to highlight, by country, the goals and components of the Ocean Health Index which measures and scores ocean health from 0-100.
Country of the Week:
Qatar
Goal of the Week:
Artisinal Fishing Opportunities
Ensuring Access to Artisinal Fishing for Local Communities
Score: 49
Global Rank: 122
