Climate researcher Latif sounds the alarm ahead of the UN Ocean Conference

Kiel – Ahead of World Oceans Day this Sunday and the UN Ocean Conference starting Monday in Nice, climate researcher Mojib Latif described the state of the world's oceans as "worrying." "The oceans were simply forgotten for a long time," Latif told the newspapers of the Mediengruppe Bayern (Saturday editions). "Only in recent years has their deplorable condition come to the fore." The trend of ocean warming cannot be stopped in the short term. He is "rather skeptical" about any tangible results from the UN conference. Latif sounds the alarm about the lack of international cooperation. "We currently have probably the worst possible conditions we've ever had for environmental protection," he said. More than ever, the pursuit of profit is paramount. "This is primarily due to the fact that we have recently experienced a change in the political landscape, with the advance of autocratic systems, as is now the case in the USA," he explained. "International cooperation isn't exactly the pinnacle of global politics at the moment." When it comes to the problem of increasing plastic waste in the world's oceans, the climate researcher advocates bans. "In my opinion, the huge plastic problem can only be tackled with bans," he said. "But this is opposed by powerful lobby interests, not least the powerful oil industry, and the countries concerned. After all, the raw material for plastic is crude oil."