On its travels through South Africa the Climate Train has been creating unique spaces for community members - notables and ordinary people alike- to engage in meaningful discussions around climate change and the lively Pretoria was certainly no exception.

Oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, yet less than 1% of these critical systems are under any form of legal protection. The Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) indicates that the world's marine ecosystems are in peril.

Millions of people living along the coast and elsewhere in rural Africa are dependent upon natural resources from which they harvest unsustainably. Some coastal communities are amongst the poorest in the world and are extremely vulnerable to the potential negative effects of climate change. They have no choice but to con­tinue to use the diminishing resources upon which they depend, or face starvation.

'The maximum potential from the world's oceans ... has probably been reached.' So reads the FAO World Fisheries Report for 2008. 76% of the world's ocean fish stocks, including South African line fish, are exploited at or above sustainable levels.