The 8th June is officially World Oceans Day. It's time to celebrate, take action and raise awareness about the plight of our beautiful oceans. Lesley Rochart tells us more.
In the great thread of life every species counts. Yet world governments have failed to meet the 2010 targets set in 2002 under the Convention for Biological Diversity to halt biodiversity loss. Species extinction rates are between 100 – 1000 times those in pre-human times and expected to continue to accelerate into the future. There is virtual unanimity among scientists that we have entered a period of mass extinction not seen since the age of the dinosaurs, an emerging global crisis that could have disastrous effects on humanities survival.
We live on an ocean dominated planet, water covers over 70% of Earth’s surface, but less than 1% of the global ocean is protected and marine ecosystems are losing biodiversity at a much higher level than any other ecosystem on our planet. The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity and in line with this, World Oceans Day’s theme focuses on our oceans’ great diversity of life and how we can all help in its conservation.
Since 2003 the Ocean Project, working in partnership with the World Ocean Network, has been promoting World Oceans Day with its network of over 900 organizations and others throughout the world. AfriOceans Conservation Alliance, a homegrown non profit organization, well known for its Panda award winning Rethink the shark campaign, which the Wavescape Film Festival adopted as its theme in 2008, joined this group a few years ago to help build greater awareness about the crucial role of the oceans in our lives and the important ways people can help. As such World Oceans Day provides an opportunity to get directly involved in protecting our future through personal and community action and involvement.
This year the AfriOceans Warriors Environmental Education Programme, an initiative of the AfriOceans Conservation Alliance, has teamed up with the City of Cape Town’s ‘Operation Green’, a FIFA World Cup Green Goal project, and arranged a coastal clean-up. 150 young South African learners from eight schools will pick up litter along a 7 kilometer stretch of our coastline between Muizenberg Beach and Fish Hoek Beach. This activity will help to raise awareness about how litter is harming our ocean environment, but also how we can all make a difference in changing that.
The concept of World Oceans Day was first proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. As a result of a United Nations General Assembly resolution passed in December 2008, World Oceans Day is now officially observed every year on June 8. It marks an opportunity each year to celebrate our world oceans and our personal connection to the sea and remind us that the oceans are our life support system: apart from the endless inspiration and joy the oceans offer us, they generate most of the oxygen we breathe and they absorb carbon dioxide, they govern weather and climate, provide medicine and food for millions of people, and our precious fresh water sources come from the sea.
For many years we have taken our oceans for granted, but our oceans are slowly dying due to relentless negative human impact caused by pollution, climate change, habitat destruction and over fishing. We are suffering from incredible denial about how bad things really, and scientific reports warn us that if the current rate of exploitation of our marine resources continues then there will be no commercial fisheries left by the year 2050. Many animals are being driven to extinction due to overexploitation and large predatory species such as Atlantic blue fin tuna and numerous shark species have declined by 90%.
Added to this, global warming is having severe ramifications: human activity is producing too much carbon dioxide which is being absorbed by the ocean, causing it to become too acidic. Ocean temperatures are rising, threatening the fundamental building blocks of life in the ocean. Sea levels are rising as the ice melts, and deep sea currents are possibly changing, which will result in serious negative impacts for coastal communities around our planet. Everything in nature is connected and therefore other ocean life and ecosystems are being threatened. For example, due to warmer waters salmon populations are disappearing from their historical ranges, invasive species and diseases are spreading into new waters, and marine mammals such as polar bears are being driven to the brink of extinction as the ice melts and their food supplies continue to decrease.
Unless we find new ways to live gently on our planet and conserve the oceans’ resources, we will run out of them and the survival of many people, as well as that of many animals and plants will be threatened. It is no longer someone else’s problem, it is up to each one of us to help ensure that our oceans resources are protected and conserved for future generations. Our future depends on it. Take ACTION today and help make a difference.
Lesley Rochat is a freelance environmental writer and photographer and an award winning filmmaker and campaigner, as well as the founder of AfriOceans Conservation Alliance. Visit the websites: www.sharkwarrior.com or www.aoca.org.za to find out more or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it For more info on World Oceans Day go to http://www.theoceanproject.org/wod/.
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