BLOOMBERG • March 12, 2023
The ocean is the earth’s biggest carbon sink. 3 billion people depend on its ecosystems for food and economic security. It has helped to mitigate climate change, absorbing 93% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases and about 30% of the carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels so far. In return, humankind has polluted the oceans with oil, sewage and plastic. We’ve plundered our waters, harvesting fish stocks to depletion, tearing up the seabed with trawl nets and mining deep-sea mineral deposits. Noisy and polluting shipping vessels plough across waters and into marine creatures. Less than 7% of the ocean is protected. Of the waters 200 nautical miles beyond national jurisdictions, just 1%. On Saturday, UN member states struck a deal for a framework to protect and restore the ocean’s biodiversity. However, the treaty is just the beginning. Protecting ocean biodiversity will require the dedication and focus of governments for years to come. ~ Lara Williams