World Oceans Day – Responsibility to protect our waters

On World Oceans Day, people around the world celebrate and honour the oceans and seas which connects us all.

Planet Earth constitutes 71 percent of water, while 29 percent is landmass on which billions of humans and animals thrive.

We have been polluting the oceans which now pose a great public health risk. If things don’t change, by 2025 oceans will contain one metric ton of plastic for every three metric tons of fish. By 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

For this reason, World Oceans Day is being observed around the world.

World Oceans Day

The health of the ocean is intimately tied to our health. This is one of the multiple reasons why we should celebrate World Oceans Day: to remind everyone of the major role the oceans have in everyday life.

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 mobilise the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world’s oceans.

The theme of UN World Oceans Day 2020 is ‘Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean’. The World Oceans Day celebration this year will take place as a virtual event produced in partnership with Oceanic Global.

The event will shed light on innovations from around the globe in areas of need that are both promising and proven and ones that have demonstrated the ability to scale effectively.

It will also provide a platform to thought leaders of varied backgrounds, who are paving new paths forward for the health of our ocean and our planet.

This year’s theme is especially relevant in the lead-up to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which will run from 2021 to 2030.

Why Ocean matters

Oceans are considered the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe.  They absorb about 30 percent of carbon dioxide produced by humans, reducing the impacts of global warming.

They are a major source of food and medicine and a critical part of the biosphere. Oceans serve as the world’s largest source of protein, with more than 3 billion people depending on the oceans as their primary source of protein and on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods.

The world’s oceans – their temperature, composition, currents and life – drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind. Our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea.

Throughout history, oceans and seas have been vital conduits for trade and transportation. The careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future.

There is a continuous deterioration of coastal waters owing to pollution and ocean acidification, which has an adversarial effect on the functioning of ecosystems and biodiversity.

This is also negatively impacting small scale fisheries. Marine protected areas need to be effectively managed and well-resourced and regulations need to be put in place to reduce overfishing, marine pollution and ocean acidification.

Protect the oceans

Pakistan has huge 1050-kilometre long coasts which includes 700 kilometres In Balochistan and the rest in Sindh. This is the gateway for trade and commerce in the country while millions of people including in the megacity of Karachi are living along the coastline.

People need to know that they belong to something bigger than themselves. They deserve a better future and to survive and prosper, we need healthy oceans.

Whether you live on the coast or far from it, whether you eat seafood or not, our future depends on healthy oceans. We need to raise awareness and pledge that we will protect our oceans.