Global Cause
World Oceans Day 2024
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Waterways, pollution, and the ocean: an interconnected dilemma and solution
A healthy ocean provides oxygen, food, and stability for all life on Earth; an unhealthy ocean threatens all life. Globally, communities must pay increased attention to our oceans. We must reverse dangerous trends that pollute, degrade, and erode aquatic life and ecosystems, give rise to warmer temperatures, and threaten the air that we breathe. ...
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Why embracing the language of change is crucial to maritime sustainability
Focus on the positives and value of change for the benefit of our oceans and biodiversity, rather than emphasise fear and sustainability costs. Our oceans face unprecedented risks from human activities, and marine life is threatened like never before. To avoid disaster, we must not only think and act differently but also change how we...
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Blue resilience: the vital role of fisheries in large ocean states
In the shimmering waters that surround small island nations, fishing is not just an industry; it’s the heartbeat of blue resilience. For islanders, the ocean’s bounty is a tapestry woven into the fabric of their daily lives, providing reliable food security and nutrition, export revenue and jobs. Island states relying on the ocean’s resources Although...
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s Sponsored
Unprecedented satellite technology helps protect the ocean
Satellite technology is facilitating crucial steps to increase transparency of previously unmapped fishing and shipping activities to improve ocean governance. For years, Global Fishing Watch has catalogued vessel movements on its flagship map using satellite data and machine learning. It is now working with governments to use that information to help regulate coastal and international...
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Out of sight cannot be out of mind when it comes to coral reefs
The 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report counts extreme weather events and critical changes to Earth systems as the greatest concerns facing the world over the next decade. Global coral bleaching event In April, an announcement was made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and our UN Environment Programme partner, International Coral...
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Multiple benefits for people and the planet of the shared seas approach
Over 8 million metric tonnes of plastic enter the ocean every year while many industries continue using the ocean as a dumping ground for chemical and radioactive waste, trash and sewer sludge. Growing up in Tanzania, the ocean felt as vast as the eye could see. It seemed both omnipotent and omnipresent. Our language, Kiswahili,...
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On World Ocean Day, dare to imagine an ocean free of plastic pollution
With trillions of floating pieces of plastic in the open ocean today, it can be hard to recall life before the age of plastic waste. My home island, Hawaii, has some of the world’s dirtiest beaches, with fish eating plastic particles just days after being born — no surprise given that nearly two-thirds of all...
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Science informing action: how to secure the ocean’s future
Our ocean covers about 71% of the planet’s surface and houses over 80% of the Earth’s biodiversity. Yet, oceans face unprecedented challenges from climate change to habitat destruction. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), or ‘Ocean Decade,’ led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, aims to elevate science’s...