Why We Should Care
For many coastal communities, the survival of marine and coastal
ecosystems and biodiversity is essential to their nutritional,
spiritual, societal and religious well-being. But even for the many
millions of people who may not think that they have any strong reliance
on the ocean, marine ecosystems and wildlife provide all kinds of
benefits.
Many coastal environments provide protection for those farther inland
from the ravages of the sea. Coral reefs buffer land from waves and
storms and prevent beach erosion. Dune systems on beaches stabilize
shorelines from erosion and encroachment. Mangroves, mudflats and deltas
trap sediment, preventing the land behind it from sliding ever-seaward.
The ocean world is in all our daily lives. For example, sponges from the
Mediterranean have been used for painting, cooking, cleaning and even
contraception for at least 5,000 years. Substances derived from seaweeds
stabilize and thicken creams, sauces, and pastes, are mixed into paint
and used to make paper and even in skin lotion and toothpaste.
Many marine plants and animals also contain a multitude of substances
already being used, or identified as being of potential use, in
medicines. Each of the 700 known species of cone snail produces a unique
cocktail of 100 to 200 toxins, some of which have already been
developed into pain killers: one, which has been on the market since
2004, is more than 100 times more powerful than morphine. A 2010 study
predicted the existence of between 250,000 and close to 600,000
chemicals in the marine environment, approximately 92 percent of which
remained undiscovered; those chemicals, the study’s authors estimated,
might yield up to 214 new anti-cancer drugs, worth anywhere from US $563
billion to $5.69 trillion.
Most importantly of all, tiny marine plants called phytoplankton produce
energy, like plants on land, through photosynthesis. As a result of
that photosynthesis, they release oxygen. In fact, phytoplankton release
half of all oxygen in the atmosphere.
Without life in the ocean, there would be no life on Earth.
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