The facts alone should be startling enough to jolt the world leaders. With 90% of big fish populations depleted, and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, the world is on path to almost irrevocably damaging the immense source of life – the ocean.
That should not just be a reminder on the World Oceans Day being marked on June 8 but a realization that demands action-oriented policies throughout the year, around the world and on all levels of governance.
Although rot has been going on for a long time, it’s only recently and thanks to the mass and social media conversations that the world is waking up to the horror of oceanic loss.
The United Nations has described oceans as the lungs of the Planet and a major source of food and medicine and a critical part of the biosphere.
The theme for the Oceans Day 2025 “Wonder: Sustaining what sustains us” needs to be the theme of each day of the year.
“The purpose of the Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world’s oceans,” the world body said.
The UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, in partnership with the non-profit organization Oceanic Global, is celebrating the wonders of the ocean as a source of life that supports humanity and all other organisms on Earth.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the UN message on the World Oceans Day:
Covering over 70% of the planet, oceans support humanity’s sustenance and that of every other organism on earth.
The ocean produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen, it is home to most of earth’s biodiversity and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world.
The ocean is key to the world economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.
Up to 12 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year — the equivalent of a garbage truck every minute.
Over 60 per cent of marine ecosystems are degraded or unsustainably used.
Global fish stocks within safe biological limits have plunged from 90 per cent in the 1970s to just 62 per cent in 2021.
More than 3 billion people rely on marine biodiversity to survive.
“With 90% of big fish populations depleted, and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, we are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished.”
