COP28: GIVE THE WHALE A SEAT AT UN CLIMATE TABLE - NR

NEWSROOM READY STORY:
HEADLINE: COP28: GIVE THE WHALE A SEAT AT THE CLIMATE TABLE
DURATION: 05:52
SOURCE: NATURE POSITIVE
RESTRICTIONS: ACCESS ALL PLATFORMS IN PERPETUITY; NO ARCHIVE RESALES

STORYLINE: 
The whale is so vital to efforts to restore ocean biodiversity and marine habitats that it must be given a seat at the United Nations table. That’s the contention of Maori and Pacific indigenous leaders who are calling on nation states at the COP28 climate summit to recognise the role whales play as ocean ecosystem engineers. They view the whale as an ancestor and a key part of a wider indigenous initiative to embrace nature as a viable solution to climate change. Supported by the Maori King, they want the whale to be granted legal “personhood” status so the giant of the seas will be better protected by legislation and its habitat secured.

Now a new indigenous-led, nature-based economic model, known as the Hinemoana Halo Ocean Fund, aims to provide investment opportunities for organisations or individuals looking to reduce their environmental impact. Those investments would  support work to restore biodiversity and create more protected oceanscapes.

The indigenous initiative has found an ally in former Assistant Director of the International Monetary Fund Dr Ralph Chami who is convinced whales are important to helping solve the climate crisis. 

He puts the value of an individual whale at $3m through the services they provide nature’s interconnected ecosystems.   He  believes the new $100m indigenous-led investment fund is a gamechanger.  

And it’s that sustainable approach which the fund creators believe will underpin success and be a model for others

With the ocean overheating at record levels, pressure is growing on COP leaders to embrace indigenous values by backing nature as a viable and sustainable solution before it’s too late for the whale and the world. 

SHOT LIST:
1. Sperm whales swimming, Dominica 2019
2. Whale’s Tale
3. Sperm whale swimming underwater shot, Dominica 2019
4. Pygmy Blue Whale surfacing, Timor Leste 2019
5. SOUNDBITE, APERHAMA EDWARDS,HINEMOANA HALO IWI AMBASSADOR (ENGLISH)

We are asking that a whale receive personhood recognition. First off to enable better protections for the whale. But in our world view, the whale being an ancient, the whale being an ancestor, we believe that the whale has manna, an authority, it has tapu, it has a sacredness, that needs to be revered.

6. SOUNDBITE, LISA UMAHAI, CO-CHAIR HINAMOANA HALO OCEAN FUND, (ENGLISH)

You can give personhood over something like the whale. It's a game changer in terms of our responsibilities as communities, as industries, as decision makers to ensure that they're protected within their environment.

7. Pygmy Blue Whale underwater, Timor Leste 2019
8. Mere Takoko and Dr Ralph Chami walking, London, November 2023
9. SOUNDBITE, DR RALPH CHAMI FORMER INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (ENGLISH):

If you want to drain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, you need nature. There's no other way to sequester carbon, to drain it from the atmosphere and put it back into the ground in a natural way, except through nature.

10. Mere Takoko and Dr Ralph Chami walking, London, November 2023
11.SOUNDBITE, DR RALPH CHAMI FORMER INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (ENGLISH):

In a market system, if you do not have a value, a dollar value, you're invisible. So when you say that the value of a living whale, just in the ecosystem services that I could account for, is $3 million, right away that sets it apart from the value of a dead whale, which we know very well, which is $40,000. So for countries that still eat whale meat, the whale maximum would fetch $40,000, whereas a living whale, frolicking freely in the ocean, is worth a minimum of $3 million in the ecosystem services that we account for. So it basically says a living whale is far more valuable to us than a dead whale.

12. Dr Ralph Chami and Mere Takoko talking, London, November 2023
13. SOUNDBITE, MERE TAKOKO, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (ENGLISH):

For the last 200 years, you know, we've been following industrial modes of development and that has not served the world well. It's the reason why we have the climate crisis that we're facing today. Our peoples have lived thousands of years in the spaces that we continue to inhabit and we've maintained our biodiversity. So we have a lot that we can teach the world in terms of how do you take those traditional ways of living, which are much more sustainable, into this new modern economy. And I think that's why nature markets are so important. It's an opportunity to inverse an economic system that's been highly destructive for people and for the planet and to realign ourselves back to value systems which are much more sustainable.

14. Adult and baby humpback whale swimming, Tonga 2019
15. Adult and baby humpback whale swimming, Tonga 2019
16. Whale swimming, underwater landscape
17. SOUNDBITE, DR RALPH CHAMI FORMER INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (ENGLISH):

The Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative is a project that is envisaged, controlled delivered by the Maori, for the Maori. But the success of it means the success for the rest of the world.

18. SOUNDBITE, APERHAMA EDWARDS,HINEMOANA HALO IWI AMBASSADOR (ENGLISH):

If the whale were to go to COP, the whale would share with the world its values and principles around the measure of its worth, the measure of wealth. If we look to nature, nature gives freely, the whale gives freely. The whale requests very little in return.

19. SOUNDBITE, MERE TAKOKO, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (ENGLISH):

The whale's message to the world, as an ambassador to the world, is simply, "Respect me. I'm still here. I've been here for thousands of years. Without me, you could never survive. Remember me 20.Adult and baby humpback whale swimming, Tonga 2019 21.Drone adult and baby whale swimming.

SOUNDBITES:

Aperahama Edwards, Hinemoana Halo Iwi Ambassador: 

We are asking that a whale receive personhood recognition first off to enable better protections for the whale but in our world view, the whale being an ancient, the whale being an ancestor, we believe that the whale has manna, an authority, it has tapu, it has a sacredness that needs to be revered Lisa Tumahai - Co-Chair of Hinamoana Halo Ocean Fund You can give personhood over something like the whale. It's a game changer in terms of our responsibilities as communities, as industries, as decision makers to ensure that they're protected within their environment. Now a new indigenous-led, nature-based economic model, known as the Hinemoana Halo Ocean Fund, aims to provide investment opportunities for organisations or individuals looking to reduce their environmental impact. Those investments would support work to restore biodiversity and create more protected oceanscapes. 

SOUNDBITE Dr Ralph Chami, Former International Monetary Fund Assistant Director:

If you want to drain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, you need nature. There's no other way to sequester carbon, to drain it from the atmosphere and put it back into the ground in a natural way, except through nature. He puts the value of an individual whale at $3m through the services they provide nature’s interconnected ecosystems. He believes the new $100m indigenous-led investment fund is a gamechanger.

SOUNDBITE Dr Ralph Chami, Former International Monetary Fund Assistant Director:

In a market system, if you do not have value, a dollar value, you're invisible. So when you say that the value of a living whale, just in the ecosystem services that I could account for, is $3 million, right away that sets it apart from the value of a dead whale, which we know very well, which is $40,000. So for countries that still eat whale meat, the whale maximum would fetch $40,000, whereas a living whale, frolicking freely in the ocean, is worth a minimum of $3 million in the ecosystem services that we account for. So it basically says a living whale is far more valuable to us than a dead whale. Mere Takoko, Vice President, Conservation International, Aotearoa For the last 200 years, you know, we've been following industrial modes of development and that has not served the world well. It's the reason why we have the climate crisis that we're facing today. Our peoples have lived thousands of years in the spaces that we continue to inhabit and we've maintained our biodiversity. So we have a lot that we can teach the world in terms of how do you take those traditional ways of living, which are much more sustainable, into this new modern economy. And I think that's why nature markets are so important. It's an opportunity to inverse an economic system that's been highly destructive for people and for the planet and to realign ourselves back to value systems which are much more sustainable. And it’s that sustainable approach which the fund creators believe will underpin success and be a model for others

SOUNDBITE Dr Ralph Chami, Former International Monetary Fund Assistant Director:

The Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative is a project that is led by the Maori, envisioned by the Maori, for the Maori. But the success of it means the success for the rest of the world Aperahama Edwards, Hinemoana Halo Fund Ambassador If the whale were to go to COP, the whale would share with the world its values and principles around the measure of its worth, the measure of wealth. If we look to nature, nature gives freely, the whale gives freely. The whale requests very little in return. Mere Takoko Vice President, Conservation International, Aotearoa The whale's message to the world, as an ambassador to the world, is simply, "Respect me. I'm still here. I've been here for thousands of years. Without me, you could never survive.