The inextricable ties between national security, natural security and our oceans

My parents came to this country 90 years ago in pursuit of the American Dream, the enduring idea of wanting a better life for one’s children and grandchildren. When they arrived in Monterey, Calif., the ocean felt like home.

My grandfather would fish for sardines off Cannery Row, back when everyone thought the ocean’s bounty was limitless. Surely, we could take what we wanted from an ocean that covers more than 70 percent of the planet. 

In just the span of my lifetime, we have come to learn that the ocean has limits. And that we are exceeding them. We can only take so much from it, while also using it as a dumping ground for our pollution and waste. And now we know the ocean is taking the heat from climate change, absorbing about 90 percent of the heat and a third of the carbon dioxide we’ve put into the atmosphere.

The ocean that makes life on Earth possible is now struggling, getting warmer, more acidic, with huge dead zones appearing that have little if any sea life.

President Biden has called for a new relationship with our ocean as part of his America the Beautiful initiative. It calls for the conservation of at least 30 percent of our ocean and land by 2030 as part of a global push to protect nature and the benefits it provides for us and future generations. The report highlights what is increasingly clear: We need to increase our ambition and build momentum to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, support thriving coastal communities and ensure that everyone has access to and benefits from nature conservation. The public comment period for the initiative is now open and runs through Dec. 28. 

While serving as secretary of Defense, I saw firsthand that natural security is national security. A foundation of strong, healthy natural resources, equitably distributed, supports Americans’ health, livelihoods and wellbeing. This reduces vulnerability to conflict and instability, which couldn’t be more important in a time when we’re already seeing disruptions related to a changing climate. 

When you add up the area of ocean off the East and West Coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and around the islands and atolls in the Pacific, our ocean in the U.S. is slightly larger in area than our land. Put another way, more than half of the United States is ocean.

And what a beautiful place our ocean is. It ranges from the tropics to the Arctic, from Big Sur to Cape Cod and is home to everything from tiny plankton to mighty blue whales. Our ocean feeds us, soothes us, inspires us. It is in the words of President John Kennedy, it is the “salt in our veins.”

For centuries we have depended on the ocean. Today, our ocean needs us.

Thirty years ago, I led the effort to create the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and prohibit offshore oil and gas development. This marine protected area, or MPA, was one of several marine sanctuaries created at the time off the coasts of Massachusetts, Florida, Washington and Hawaii. Since then, the United States has become a world leader in creating MPAs, with important ocean places set aside by Democratic and Republican presidents alike.

President Biden wants to build on this bipartisan legacy as part of an effort to build a new relationship with nature. For too long the debate over ocean protection came down to fishermen versus conservationists. It turns out this was and is a false choice.  

We have long valued the idea of setting aside certain places on land as national parks or wilderness areas. We now know that when you protect the places fish and whales and turtles need to grow and thrive, the entire ocean is healthier. This also helps us in the fight against climate change.

The choice is not between fishing or protection. We need both. We need strong fisheries management and effective MPAs.

So how do we achieve this vision of a healthy ocean? An effort by leading marine scientists and other experts, including Dr. Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State who is now serving as White House climate and environment science advisor, provides the roadmap.

This new tool, called The MPA Guide, shows how different levels of protection in different types of MPAs clearly lead to different outcomes for nature and the people who depend on it. These links are grounded in decades of scientific research and local knowledge, and the evidence is clear — it shows that we must have places that are protected if we are to have sustainable ocean resources. We need these types of MPAs to protect and conserve coastal ecosystems and support biodiversity and fisheries.

The idea of the American Dream is as old as America itself. We want the best for our children and grandchildren. It’s time to come together, rethink our relationship with the natural world, and recommit to an America that is beautiful, on land and in the ocean.

Leon Panetta served as secretary of Defense in the Obama administration.