Speech on the Ocean
2014-2015

2010-2011
2012-2013

2014-2015

2016-2017
2018-2019
see the speeches of the year 2020

Year 2014

(Click on the white bubbles to access the speeches of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco)

February 25, 2014

– San
Francisco
San Francisco, United States

Sustainable strategies for the ocean – World Ocean Summit

As the great American zoologist and pioneer in ecology Rachel Carson wrote in the introduction to her magnificent book The Sea Around Us, “the sea has always challenged the minds and imagination of men and even today it remains the last great frontier of Earth.
February 25, 2014
4 March 2014

– Monaco

Pristine Seas Meeting

Science, Awareness and Power: These, dear friends, are the elements we need today in order to save the pristine seas. They are goals which must bring us together and spur us into taking action together and I wish to thank you for your efforts. The future of us all depends on these efforts. As the former US President Bill Clinton said, “We know that when we protect our oceans we are protecting our future.
4 March 2014
16 June 2014

– Washington, USA

“Our Ocean” U.S. Department of State Conference

It is well known that the state of the oceans continues to deteriorate and that the areas most affected are the coastal areas. The Mediterranean, on whose shores we stand, is very vulnerable, made more fragile by climate change. More than a coastal State, Monaco is, by historical and cultural tradition, a State turned towards the sea. It is therefore quite natural that I have placed the protection of the seas and oceans at the heart of the Principality’s foreign policy, and my Government is working daily in this direction.
16 June 2014
2 July 2014

– Santiago, Chile

Monaco Blue Initiative

It is up to us, in this century, to create this world. This is what we are all doing here, through our research, our actions and our initiatives. This is what many of our contemporaries around the world are doing, working every day to develop green growth, ushering in a new approach to economic and social development built on sustainable foundations.
2 July 2014
21 September 2014

– New York, USA

Ocean Elders Dinner

I hope that as a team and individually, through the exchanges we have and meetings we take part in this week, we will spread these messages loud and clear, and at last make the voice of the sea heard in negotiations about the future of the planet. This voice is the voice of life, the life that has sprung from the ocean depths and which now, more than ever, needs the ocean in order to continue developing.
21 September 2014
23 September 2014

– New York, USA

Climate Summit

Finally, I would like to say a word about an issue that is too often neglected and yet directly linked to climate change, namely, the situation of the oceans. These indispensable planetary thermal regulators are also victims of our greenhouse gas emissions, which are causing their worrying acidification. To better protect them, we need to cooperate more widely, whether it is through the opening of negotiations for the sustainable management of the high seas under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or through the adoption of a sustainable development goal for the world ocean.
23 September 2014
16 October 2014

– Brest, France

Responsible development and use of deep-sea resources

The issue of the oceans is one that concerns us all and must bring us together. Politicians, researchers, NGOs and entrepreneurs, it is up to all of us to act now, before it is too late, to save our oceans and establish a new mode of development.
16 October 2014
2 December 2014

– Monaco

Global Ocean Commission

As I mentioned my great great grandfather a few moments ago, I would like to conclude by invoking his memory and by once again quoting his words: “The time has come, he wrote, for global consideration of the key issues faced by the Ocean and which Humanity needs to embrace using the best means available because they will provide us with the progress that will enable us to vanquish our barbarism more quickly. This was a century ago and sadly things have not changed as much as he had hoped… It is my wish that in one hundred years’ time when our great great grandchildren turn their attention to the oceans, it will at last be to commend themselves for having saved them.
2 December 2014

Year 2015

(Click on the white bubbles to access the Prince’s speech)

January 13, 2015

– Monaco

3rd international workshop “Economic valuation of ocean acidification

However we choose to take action, whether it be through the development of science, political undertaking, economic initiatives or through our own individual choices, we are all part of the same world, governed by common laws, but we often struggle to see the true consequences. This is the power of the economic approach that has brought us together today: to demonstrate this convergence in a concrete manner and, at the same time, highlighting its urgency. But it is the responsibility of all of us to learn from this experience. Archimedes said that with a place to stand and a lever he could move the Earth. The objective, scientific and economic approach that has brought us together today provides this. It is up to us to bring the levers – all the levers – available to us into play!
January 13, 2015
January 18, 2015

– Tromsø, Norway

Arctic Frontiers Conference

Finally, the future of the Arctic raises the question of the international status of this region which must be considered a common heritage of humankind. Ideally we need to establish a treaty in line with the Antarctic Treaty, which has proven its worth for over fifty years – even though the Arctic has a far more complex geography which we need to take into account.
January 18, 2015
22 January 2015

– Davos, Switzerland

Lunch on the Oceans

Each and every one of us is responsible for this because the main enemy of the oceans is humankind. If we are the source of the problem, we can also be the solution, provided that we know how to act with lucidity, unity and rapidity
22 January 2015
22 January 2015

– Davos, Switzerland

Ocean Matters

The ocean maintains a balance on our fragile planet, in particular with regard to the climate. Oceans are vital for our communication and travel, for our leisure activities and lifestyle. More importantly, the ocean is essential to ensure our livelihood, which requires ever-increasing resources, some of them can be provided by it, if managed sustainably.
22 January 2015
29 January 2015

– Paris, France

Sea and Oceans Club – French Senate

We can only preserve the seas and promote their responsible use by exploring and understanding them better. However, as a great French scientist recently pointed out, we know much more about the relief of the Moon or Mars than we do about the seabed.
29 January 2015
11 March 2015

– Monaco

Plastic in the Mediterranean – International Conference

The seas are the cradle of our life, they condition the world’s major biological balances, they carry most of the world’s economic exchanges, they offer irreplaceable sources of food, and they also have considerable energy, food and health potential. Humanity needs living seas. Our food, our health, our climate, our environment and our future depend on it.
11 March 2015
17 March 2015

– Paris, France

The Arctic, an advanced sentinel of global warming

The whole world needs the Arctic, a living Arctic, rich in the people who live there and safe from the dangers that lurk there. This is why our duty is to invent a new mode of development in the Arctic, an economy that respects people and nature.
17 March 2015
31 March 2015

– Monaco

Euromediterranean Energy Efficiency Forum

Innovation is not merely a solution among others to the major risk of climate change. As far as I see it, it is the only solution possible. Because innovation is not a tool, but a mindset that should guide us in every sector.
31 March 2015
May 2015

– Washigton, USA

Ocean leadership forum: the ocean in 2050

It is extremely difficult to predict, thirty five years ahead, the situation of such a vast, complex and diverse entity as the one formed by the oceans. We need only look back a few decades to appreciate the magnitude of the changes that have affected the world. Focusing solely on the topic that concerns us today, who could have predicted thirty five years ago that the environmental issue would become a key challenge of our world? Who could have imagined that the oceans which we had always believed to be powerful and immutable, would appear as fragile entities which need to be protected?
May 2015
June 8, 2015

– Paris, France

World Ocean Day – UNESCO

While the seas cover more than 70% of the earth’s surface, while they shelter a biological wealth that is as incomparable as it is indispensable, it is time for humanity to become aware of all that it owes them.
June 8, 2015
21 July 2015

– Paris, France

Climate Summit of Conscience

“It is the worst of times,” wrote my friend, the great oceanographer Sylvia Earle, before adding, “but it is the best of times, because we still have a chance. Yes, we still have a chance to stop the programmed disruption of our climate. This is the challenge of our generation.
21 July 2015
26 September 2015

70th UNGA – Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit

By establishing the Sustainable Development Goals, we are restoring the link to our origins, our cultures and our humanity. As children of the same land and ocean – the ocean from which the first forms of life sprang – we embrace once again our common destiny.
26 September 2015
27 September 2015

– Cascais, Portugal

The Riviera Ball

But we must do more to preserve our shared resources. The principles to be implemented are well known and are subject to widespread consensus. They also offer, once more, prospects that I believe are particularly fruitful, which contribute much more broadly to improving the functioning of this world.
27 September 2015
1 October 2015

– Paris, France

Oceans House Symposium

The sea has always been a world apart. For a long time, it appeared too large to need regulation. Today, we are discovering that the ocean provides even more important services than marine resources: it absorbs a quarter of the CO2 we emit and provides half of the oxygen we breathe. Absorb also 90% of the heat generated by this invisible greenhouse that we have built for ourselves.
1 October 2015
5 October 2015

– Valparaiso, Chile

Our Ocean – Panel on marine protected areas

Today, marine protected areas represent the only long-term, universally viable, ecologically responsible and financially appropriate solution. This is why we need to develop them, and quickly – before it is too late.
5 October 2015
5 October 2015

– Valparaiso, Chile

Our Ocean – Panel on ocean acidification

Understand, act and anticipate: these are the demands that ocean acidification makes of us. I believe that they can also be extremely useful on a much broader scale.
5 October 2015
5 October 2015

– Valparaiso, Chile

Our Ocean – Panel on plastic pollution

I would like to emphasize what, for me, is the only definitive solution to the plastic problem: the development of technological solutions capable of offering alternatives to this material. This is an industrial challenge, requiring the cooperation of scientists, businesses and governments. More broadly, this is also about developing a low-carbon economy.

5 October 2015
5 October 2015

– Valparaiso, Chile

Our Ocean – High Level Segment

In this respect, saving the oceans will open up a path which all of us must learn to follow for now and for their future. As the great poet Pablo Neruda wrote, “I need the sea because it teaches me” (“Necesito del mar porque me enseña”). I may we will all listen to this great thinkest teacher.

5 October 2015
6 October 2015

– Valparaiso, Chile

Our Ocean – Panel on the law of the sea

Let us not forget that the tools exist, however imperfect they may be. But while it is interesting to reflect on how they can be improved, this should not detract us from local initiatives or voluntary agreements between countries and regional organisations dedicated to the sea.
6 October 2015
10 October 2015

– Kiribati, Oceania

International conference on climate refugees

It is a challenge which is undoubtedly the greatest of this century: to reconcile humanity with the environment so that every human-being has the right to live on a sustainable planet. So that we do not leave our children, countries and continents part of whose heritage has been destroyed. So that future generations have the chance to live in a not hostile world but in a sustainable world.
10 October 2015
16 October 2015

– Reykjavik, Iceland

Arctic Circle Assembly

I hope that all together we will rise to this challenge of creative imagination, profitable to our Planet. This is one of the greatest challenges we have to face. It is also one of the most urgent.
16 October 2015
29 October 2015

– Plymouth, England

Opening of the marine station at Plymouth University

At a time when we have no choice but to advance in a universal way, science is the most concrete, most solid foundation of this universality. It is through your work that we will be able to make our contemporaries understand ocean-related issues. It is thanks to you that we will be able to offer them effective solutions and it is with you that we will make them want to apply them.
29 October 2015
November 30, 2015

– Paris, France

Opening of COP21

The decarbonised economy that we can, that we must build today, will be the source of a different kind of growth. It will make it possible to find new resources, to develop clean energies, to conceive a different future for all humanity. It is the only solution. This is the challenge of this century that we must face together today.
November 30, 2015
December 4, 2015

– Le Bourget, France

Oceans Day – Rio Conventions Pavilion

Even though progress has been made over the past few years, even though the issue of the oceans is increasingly being taken into account, this persistent misunderstanding is the main enemy of the oceans, our main enemy.
December 4, 2015
7 December 2015

– Paris, France

European Climate Foundation

How can we do this? How can we get the people and populations of this world involved in this century’s great adventure? How can we prompt and develop innovation? How can we mobilize good will? How can we collect and disseminate good practice? These are the many questions we are facing today.
7 December 2015
9 December 2015

– Paris, France

The Pacific Rising

The world must know that the tragedies of our globalized civilization never stay contained. There is no border or continent that can stop such phenomena. And, if the weakest or most exposed are the first victims, there is no doubt that the whole planet will soon be hit.
9 December 2015