why do oceans matter

A healthy ocean is essential for keeping our climate balanced and protect the habitats and wildlife that lives in the world’s oceans throughout the planet. The planet’s oceans are of paramount importance in our daily actions, covering more than 70% of the planet and producing at least 50% of earth’s oxygen.

The oceans have absorbed about 90% of the warming that our planet has experienced in the past 50 years. From phytoplankton, coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass to whales and sharks, marine organisms trap and store atmospheric carbon and ultimately transport it via food webs to the deep sea for long-term storage. Marine ecosystems are natural climate regulators, but industrial levels of fishing, climate inaction, and other anthropogenic actions are seeing society using up the ocean’s resources at a faster rate than they can naturally recover.

Local communities have the greatest connection to the unique biodiversity and ecosystems which exists in their areas to sustain us and future generations. The detrimental effects on the natural world, resulting from the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems, are most felt by communities whose livelihoods depend on the health of the natural world. Marine biodiversity is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world, with three billion people are dependent on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods.

The planet’s oceans are excellent carbon sinks, and their health is vital in tackling the current climate crisis. Ocean protection is a worthy cause: they provide habitat for a range of species, furnish local communities with nutrition, and provide cultural and spiritual significance to indigenous groups. By promoting the protection and sustainable management of our oceans, we can advance necessary actions on nature loss, climate change, and maritime pollution. Large-scale policy efforts are needed to reduce illegal fishing and overfishing, and strengthen governance to enforce sustainable regulation of maritime industrial practices.

Implementing ocean rewilding and marine conservation projects are examples of extremely important climate action measures that can be undertaken to turn back the tide of extinction to unique ecosystems, biodiversity and wildlife throughout the planet. Communities can become the driving force towards maintaining the health of the natural world around them. The blue economy is a vital industry in the economy of many island nations, those with large fisheries and tourism sectors, and other ocean economy activities.