The United Nations on Wednesday warned that the world is at risk of losing many of the benefits of the ocean due to pressures from many human activities.
Speaking ahead of Earth Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said greater understanding of the ocean is important if the world is to recover better from the coronavirus pandemic and achieve agreed targets on sustainable development and climate action.
“Better understanding of the ocean is essential,” the UN chief said at the launch of the study on Wednesday. “As the assessment makes clear, ocean sustainability depends on us all working together - including through joint research, capacity development and the sharing of data, information and technology.”
The second World Ocean Assessment (WOA II) involved hundreds of scientists around the world and follows an initial report published in 2015.
In WOA I released in 2015, the UN had warned that many areas of the ocean had been seriously degraded due to the failure to deal with the pressures caused by human activities, including fishing, aquaculture, shipping, oil and gas exploitation, pollution, and the release of greenhouse gases.
The latest assessment noted that the situation has not improved and that many of the benefits that the ocean provides to people such as oxygen, food, jobs, medicine and climate regulation are increasingly being undermined by human activities.
Guterres said pressures from many human activities continue to degrade the ocean and destroy essential habitats, such as mangrove forests and coral reefs, that hinder their capacity to help address climate change impacts.
The assessment has also called for an integrated sustainable management of coasts and the ocean, driven by science, technology, and innovation.
It stressed that despite improvements in the understanding of the state of the world’s ocean and its marine life in recent years, there are still significant gaps in scientific knowledge and capacity needed to ensure responsive policies that can help restore and sustain ocean health.
The UN reported that the number of ‘dead zones’ in the ocean has nearly doubled, increasing from more than 400 globally in 2008 to about 700 in 2019.
Around 90 percent of mangrove, seagrass, and marsh plant species, as well as more than 30 percent of seabird species, are also facing the threat of extinction, it added.
“We have only seen about ten percent of the ocean. So much of the ocean is yet to be explored and understood,” said Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and president of Mission Blue. “This is the time to step back and dive in to really look at the problem; look at the solutions to see how the interests of humankind are so connected to the ocean.”
“The ocean is in trouble. We need the ocean and the ocean now needs us to take care of the systems that make our existence possible.”