By Femi Akinola
”It is safe to say we put the oceans through a lot. And it takes bold action to counteract these harsh effects. Yet, there is still hope for the oceans and our planet’s future.”
These are the words of Ted Danson, an actor and environmentalist when he was speaking on the need to save the oceans across the globe and the planet as a whole.
He said almost ten years ago, precisely in 2014, he stood with the former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, and they discussed an issue that both of them hold dear: The state of the world’s oceans.
Oceans supply not only much of the food we eat but also many ingridients we need to have to make medicine for healthcare.
Checks revealed that our oceans generates more than half the world’s oxygen, and they absorb carbon emissions from human activity.
In addition to that, oceans regulate world’s climate. But, according to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in 2022, ”We have taken our oceans for granted and today we face what I would call an ‘Ocean Emergency’.”
The world’s oceans are overburdened and they are being threatened. The climate change threatens coral reefs, shellfish, and other marine life to an extent that scientists have predicted that almost all reefs which support at least a quarter of all known life in the sea could be at risk of dying within the next 30 years.
In addition, experts estimated that up to 90% of sea birds may have eaten plastic, and ocean plastic is thought to kill millions of sea animals every year.
Nearly 33 billion pounds (15 billion kilogrammes) of plastic pollution are reported to enter the oceans every year – equivalent to dumping two garbage trucks full of plastic into the oceans every minute.
Apart from that, there are different kinds of unreported illegal and unregulated fishing going on in the world’s oceans.
Checks showed that half of global fisheries are overfished and another 40% have been fished to maximum level.
This is a direct assault on oceans that depletes ocean resources, destroy habitats, and have even been tied to forced labour and other human right abuses.
According to Danson, the oceans have also borne the brunt of climate change, absorbing over 90% of all the excess heat trapped on earth, contributing to a slew of impacts like coral bleaching, warming ocean temperatures, and sea level rise.
He said, ”It is safe to say we put the oceans through a lot. And it takes bold action to counteract these harsh effects. From plastics to overfishing, our-to-do is grim and long.”
The best way to curb overburdening the world’s oceans according to Danson, is first, world leaders must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by stopping the expansion of new offshore drilling and transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Additionally, corporate polluters need to be held accountable for the pollution they create and the havoc it wreaks on the oceans. That means reducing the production and use of unnecessary single – use plastics.