Relevance: GS-3: Environmental pollution & degradation

Key phrases: ocean sustainability, economy, climate, life below water, SDG14, climate change, corals.

Why in News?

• The global economy depends on the sustainable use of oceans.

What is Ocean sustainability?

• Ocean sustainability is all about approaching ocean management in a way that protects it and the services it provides. The oceans are essential to planet earth, and the coastal areas, in particular, contain a wide range of different habitats and ecosystems.

Why are the oceans important?

The oceans are extremely important for many reasons, with three main categories being : the climate, earth’s ecosystems, and our economies and livelihoods.

• Climate: The warming of the ocean is a large contributor to climate change, but we’re going to delve into some more detail on this topic. The ocean has absorbing properties, comparable to a sponge, meaning that it can absorb excess heat in the climate system. Temperature changes can affect the distribution and movement of marine life, including fish, shellfish and turtles, which can, in turn, affect fish stocks in certain areas.
  The ocean is responsible for extreme weather patterns, including monsoons, cyclones, and El Nino. Over the years, we’ve started to experience more harmful extreme weather events, which reflects the change in ocean temperatures.
• Ecosystems: The Ocean is an essential ecosystem, and any changes to its natural state can result in wildlife disruptions. These disruptions mean that wildlife may move to more favourable environments, especially large mobile species such as dolphins and sharks. Additionally, certain marine life may see boosts or drops in population size, which can cause disputes in different fisheries.
• Economies and livelihoods: Seeing as the ocean surrounds us, it’s unsurprising that it’s such an important part of our economy and livelihoods. This importance is amplified even more in coastal areas. In fact, nearly half of the world’s population rely on fish for 20% of their daily protein intake, with this rising to beyond 70% for some coastal communities.
  Thinking more about the economy, the market value of marine and coastal resources and industries is estimated to be $3 trillion per year, which is roughly 5% of global GDP. This is hugely significant and demonstrates how the ocean contributes to poverty eradication by creating jobs and sustainable livelihoods for communities and individuals.

Current issues affecting oceans and its sustainability:

There are several significant issues affecting the ocean right now. Some of the most pressing issues facing our waters are:

• Overfishing: overfishing is a big issue the oceans are facing. The FAO of the UN stated that the amount of overfished stocks has tripled globally over the past half a century, and one-third of assessed fisheries in the world are being pushed beyond their biological capacity.
• Chemical pollution: Another big threat to our ocean comes in the form of chemical pollution. Some waste is dumped directly into the ocean, whether this waste is from an oil spill or sewage disposal. Although the ocean is huge, and lots of waste will disperse evenly across the ocean, some chemicals are hydrophobic. This means they might bind to the ocean floor and remain for centuries.
• Some waste include pesticides and herbicides running off of land into the sea or runoff water from floods getting into the ocean.
• Carbon levels: The amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean is increasing as we release more and more Co2 into the atmosphere. This is because the ocean absorbs 30% of Co2 in the atmosphere, so the more we burn fossil fuels and allow deforestation, the more carbon the ocean will absorb. An increase of carbon in the ocean results in an increase of hydrogen ions and a lower ph. This process is called ocean acidification and has many negative repercussions on marine life.
• Habitat loss and damage: We’ve already explored how some habitats, such as coral reefs, are suffering due to the way we treat the ocean, but this is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg.

Way forward:

To achieve a transparent and sustainable blue economy, we need to:

• Develop tools, policies, and legal frameworks to standardize data sharing for ocean industries.
• Link this data with other relevant ocean data for deeper insight and understanding of impact.
• Develop automated reporting tools that permit the collection and analysis of this operational data in a concise and consistent way enabling owners, customers, and society to influence a sustainable exploitation of the ocean.
• To ensure both sustainable and correct reporting are linked to the actual conditions of the economic activity, reporting should be as quantitative and standardized as possible, based on recognized metrics, tools, and policies. Access to such quantified data on ocean use and impact is central to a larger movement known as the democratization of data.

Source: The Print.in

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the contribution of oceans in Indian Economy ? Does the global economy depend on the sustainable use of oceans? Illustrate.