UN@80: Guatemalan journalist calls for global action to protect coastal barriers

As the United Nations celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2025, CGTN is collaborating with global content creators to launch the "One Home: Shared Future" visual storytelling campaign – encouraging young people worldwide to share their hopes for humanity's future. 

In this episode, Guatemalan journalist Jorge Rodriguez shares what over two decades of fieldwork across Latin America and the Caribbean taught him about coastal barriers – documenting vulnerable mangrove forests and fragile coral reefs that sustain traditional fishing communities.

These vital marine habitats are "barriers of life" for fish and human populations alike, he says. They now face complex and interconnected threat posed by rising sea levels, pollution and overfishing. Rodriguez calls for global attention to coastline conservation and urges action to safeguard our shared future.