NEW YORK- A new alliance of 23 NGOs dealing with ocean issues and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced the formation of a powerful partnership called the High Seas Alliance, which will build a "strong common voice and constituency for high seas conservation."

Dr. Julia Marton-Lefevre, Director General of IUCN, introduced the session that was held in the North Lawn Building on Tuesday night.

The Director-General, who was attending a meeting of the Global Compact Board of Directors, said that she had to be at the launch. She stated that IUCN has 1057 members, 890 of which are NGOs. She also reminded the large turnout of about 100 persons that 71 % of the planet is water, and that both Dr. Sylvia Earle and Sir Arthur C. Clarke were correct in their famous reclassification of Planet Earth as Planet Ocean.

IUCN had pushed in Nagoya for a large percentage of both terrestrial and ocean protected areas.

Professor Alex Rogers, Lecturer in Conservation Biology and Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford University, was showing no impact of his series of interviews over 4 hours in dawn hours this morning with major news networks via a Skype connection in his hotel room. The day had begun with ZainVerjee on CNN's World 1 program at 5:15 AM.

His message tonight was no different than this morning with the major media: while ocean species are resilient, there will be some type of mass extinction unless humanity changes its ways over the next 10-20 years. His message of alarm and deep concern was tempered with hope: "We are not there...YET."

Immediate action to mitigate the pressure on oceans, on marine protected areas, on fisheries, is needed, and perhaps a global commission of some type might be needed to turn back the clock leading to an irreversible loss of marine life.

A set of easy-to-read releases was distributed, and the highly organized, short and effective presentations added to the gravitas of the state of marine environment.

Watch more from this newly-minted alliance of organizations as they all raise the same "state flag": Planet Ocean is in Danger.