Peter Thompson

$1bn to save the ocean

Sir David Attenborough, Dr Suzanne Lockhart, Doug McCauley, Finn, Peter Thompson

*The Economist* convened five leading ocean thinkers to propose strategic allocations of a hypothetical one billion dollars, revealing distinct approaches from Sir David Attenborough's focus on high-seas treaty enforcement to Zafar Kizilkaya's investment in satellite monitoring and deep-sea research by Dr. Suzanne Lockhart. While Professor Doug McCauley advocates for battery innovation to halt deep-sea mining and Finn McCauley targets the immediate survival of the vaquita porpoise, UN Special Envoy Peter Thompson emphasizes that bridging the gap between scientific data and public understanding is a prerequisite for global action. Ultimately, the panel concludes that a single funding sum cannot resolve systemic issues, asserting instead that long-term ocean preservation requires reshaping human behavior through international collaboration and heightened visibility.