Marine Biodiversity is the theme for this year's International
Day for Biological Diversity (IDB). Designation of IDB 2012 on the theme
of marine ecosystems provides Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) and everyone interested in marine life, the opportunity
to raise awareness of the issue and increase practical action.
The ocean covers 71 percent of the surface area of the globe, and
constitutes over 90 percent of the habitable space on the planet. It
contains the blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth,
and billions upon billions of the tiniest: there are more
microorganisms in the sea than there are stars in the Universe.
From sandy shores to the darkest depths of the sea, the ocean and coasts
support a rich tapestry of life, from kelp forests that sway beneath
the waves, to vents on the sea bed through which super-heated water and
gases erupt, supporting a unique ecosystem that few humans have ever
seen; from polar bears that stalk seals across the sea ice of the
Arctic, to tiny photosynthesizing plants called phytoplankton that
provide 50 percent of all the oxygen on Earth.
People have lived near and fished from the ocean for thousands of years;
today, an estimated 41 percent of the world’s population lives within
100 km of the coast, and fisheries provide over 15 percent of the
dietary intake of animal protein.
However, although humanity has frequently benefited from the bounty of
the ocean and the wildlife it contains, the ocean and the marine
wildlife have not always benefited from the attentions of humanity. Some
species, such as the great auk and the sea mink, are extinct; others,
notably the great whales, have been hunted to fractions of their
original populations. Commercial overexploitation of the world’s fish
stocks is so severe that it has been estimated that up to 13 percent of
global fisheries have ‘collapsed.’ Between 30 and 35 percent of the
global extent of critical marine habitats such as seagrasses, mangroves
and coral reefs are estimated to have been destroyed. The burning of
fossil fuels is causing the ocean to become warmer and more acidic, with
consequences we are only beginning to grasp.
But there is hope. Around the world, species and populations are
recovering with effort and intervention from communities and
governments; large areas are being established as protected areas; and
the Convention on Biological Diversity has established a series of
specific targets that require stakeholders at all levels to work
together to protect the biodiversity that lives in the ocean, for its
own sake and for the benefits it brings to people worldwide.
From
2000 to 2010, an unprecedented worldwide collaboration by scientists
around the world set out to try and determine how much life is in the
sea.
Dubbed the ‘Census of Marine Life’, the effort involved 2,700 scientists
from over 80 nations, who participated in 540 expeditions around the
world. They studied surface seawater and probed the deepest, darkest
depths of the ocean, sailed tropical seas and explored ice-strewn oceans
in the Arctic and Antarctic.
By the time the Census ended, it had added 1,200 species to the known
roster of life in the sea; scientists are still working their way
through another 5,000 specimens to determine whether they are also
newly-discovered species. The estimate of the number of known marine
species - the species that have been identified and the ones that have
been documented but await classification - has increased as a direct
result of the Census efforts, and is now around 250,000. (This total
does not include some microbial life forms such as marine viruses.) In
its final report, the Census team suggested it could be at least a
million. Some think the figure could be twice as high.
Marine and Coastal Biodiversity
The ocean covers 71 percent of the surface area of the globe, and
constitutes over 90 percent of the habitable space on the planet. It
contains the blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth,
and billions upon billions of the tiniest: there are more
microorganisms in the sea than there are stars in the Universe.
From sandy shores to the darkest depths of the sea, the ocean and coasts
support a rich tapestry of life, from kelp forests that sway beneath
the waves, to vents on the sea bed through which super-heated water and
gases erupt, supporting a unique ecosystem that few humans have ever
seen; from polar bears that stalk seals across the sea ice of the
Arctic, to tiny photosynthesizing plants called phytoplankton that
provide 50 percent of all the oxygen on Earth.
People have lived near and fished from the ocean for thousands of years;
today, an estimated 41 percent of the world’s population lives within
100 km of the coast, and fisheries provide over 15 percent of the
dietary intake of animal protein.
However, although humanity has frequently benefited from the bounty of
the ocean and the wildlife it contains, the ocean and the marine
wildlife have not always benefited from the attentions of humanity. Some
species, such as the great auk and the sea mink, are extinct; others,
notably the great whales, have been hunted to fractions of their
original populations. Commercial overexploitation of the world’s fish
stocks is so severe that it has been estimated that up to 13 percent of
global fisheries have ‘collapsed.’ Between 30 and 35 percent of the
global extent of critical marine habitats such as seagrasses, mangroves
and coral reefs are estimated to have been destroyed. The burning of
fossil fuels is causing the ocean to become warmer and more acidic, with
consequences we are only beginning to grasp.
But there is hope. Around the world, species and populations are
recovering with effort and intervention from communities and
governments; large areas are being established as protected areas; and
the Convention on Biological Diversity has established a series of
specific targets that require stakeholders at all levels to work
together to protect the biodiversity that lives in the ocean, for its
own sake and for the benefits it brings to people worldwide.
How Much Life Is in the Sea?
From
2000 to 2010, an unprecedented worldwide collaboration by scientists
around the world set out to try and determine how much life is in the
sea.
Dubbed the ‘Census of Marine Life’, the effort involved 2,700 scientists
from over 80 nations, who participated in 540 expeditions around the
world. They studied surface seawater and probed the deepest, darkest
depths of the ocean, sailed tropical seas and explored ice-strewn oceans
in the Arctic and Antarctic.
By the time the Census ended, it had added 1,200 species to the known
roster of life in the sea; scientists are still working their way
through another 5,000 specimens to determine whether they are also
newly-discovered species. The estimate of the number of known marine
species - the species that have been identified and the ones that have
been documented but await classification - has increased as a direct
result of the Census efforts, and is now around 250,000. (This total
does not include some microbial life forms such as marine viruses.) In
its final report, the Census team suggested it could be at least a
million. Some think the figure could be twice as high.
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