Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Due to the existence of liquid water, our planet is often called the blue planet. The first forms of life originated in prehistoric seas and oceans, while today water surfaces are rich in living world, and in addition they have the role of a kind of regulator of various natural processes. Despite their size, today the water surfaces and life in them are under threat due to intensive human activities, which affect all environmental media, and thus the seas and oceans. In order to save life under water, it is necessary to react as soon as possible, and goal 14 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals can be a guideline on how to react.
Serbia is one of about forty countries in the world that has no access to the sea or ocean. Someone less informed could ask why we would take care of that world sea, if we have no benefit from it, and since we do not have a coast, we cannot even pollute it. In fact, the situation with the world's sea shows how all natural and social processes are connected and how it is not possible to remain isolated. As we were taught in geography classes, almost every river eventually finds its way to the sea, so the pollution produced on land ends up in the sea. In addition, going to the sea is one of the favorite summer activities of a large number of residents of Serbia, and there they directly contribute to the impact on marine ecosystems.
As we affect the world's sea, so it affects us. The world's oceans and their currents move the entire planet and ensure the survival of life as we know it. The rains in Serbia mostly come from the Atlantic Ocean, the sea regulates the global temperature and thanks to it the winters are not too cold and the summers are not too hot, also most of the fish served on the tables around the world come from the sea. The seas and oceans absorb about 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by man and thus slow down climate change at least a little.
Destruction of underwater ecosystems
The capacity of the world's oceans to maintain balance on the planet is enormous, but it also has its limits, and it seems that we are going to break those limits every day. Due to the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, caused by human activities, the oceans become acidic. Ocean acidity has risen by 26% since the start of industrialization, and has accelerated particularly in recent decades. Ocean acidification reduces the absorption capacity of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while this chemical change leads to various negative impacts on underwater ecosystems. Among the first to be hit are coral reefs, which are less and less regenerating and are threatened with extinction, and thus the rich ecosystem that lives on them.
The warming of the planet and the melting of polar glaciers also led to an increase in sea levels, the rise in sea levels between 1900 and 1990 was between 1.2 and 1.7 millimeters per year, and then accelerated sharply and after 2000 amounted to about 3.2 mm per year. Rising sea levels, as well as its warming, are bringing more and more natural disasters. Coastal cities are increasingly threatened, while small island states like Tuvalu may soon become uninhabitable.
The sudden expansion of the use of oil has brought the world almost free plastic, the use of which has spread to every part of the planet. After short-term use, plastic is discarded, but due to the long life of decomposition, it stays in ecosystems for too long. Marine ecosystems that have become giant landfills for plastic waste are especially endangered, while microplastics enter all natural pores. At least 8 million tons of plastic end up in the world's seas every year. Plastic has been found in more than 60% of all seabirds and 100% of sea turtles, which eat plastic by mixing it with food, and plastic pollution has been proven to affect over 700 underwater species from tiny plankton to giant whales.
With all the above mentioned problems, the fish stock of the world sea is rapidly decreasing. This reduction was contributed by pollution, but also by overfishing of certain species. Reducing fish yields can affect over 3 billion people living near water and who are dependent on marine and coastal biodiversity.
On the road to sustainable management of the seas and oceans as a common good
Within the systematization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 14 is focused on the conservation and sustainable useage of the oceans, seas and marine resources. This goal has seven, plus three targets, whose progress is monitored through 10 measurable indicators. The Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework for the sustainable management and protection of marine and coastal ecosystems from land-based pollution, as well as remedying the effects of ocean acidification. Better conservation and sustainable use of ocean resources in accordance with international law can help mitigate certain ocean challenges.
Goal 14 covers most of the dangers that the world's seas face today. From measuring and controlling eutrophication due to land pollution, floating plastic waste density, measuring sea acidity and actions to stop further acidification, regulating overfishing and stabilizing fish stocks, helping small island countries introduce sustainable fisheries, expanding protected marine areas, documents dealing with marine protection, but also greater investment in underwater scientific research.
By monitoring and measuring the degree of degradation of the world sea, we can best see how much progress has been made with work on this goal of sustainable development, and whether its targets are grounded in reality or are they just a list of good wishes?
From the UN report on progress in the field of sustainable development goals, we learn: that the level of acidification of the oceans is still increasing and that if this trend continues, coastal ecosystems may become highly endangered. Global trends indicate the continuous degradation of coastal waters due to pollution and eutrophication. Without concerted efforts, coastal eutrophication of large marine ecosystems is expected to increase by 20% by 2050.
In order to achieve the sustainability of fisheries, fish stocks must be at a biologically sustainable level. Analyzes reveal that the share of the world's marine fish stocks, which are within the biologically sustainable level, decreased from 90 percent in 1974 to 66.9 percent in 2015. Excessive and unregulated fishing, which is mainly carried out by large corporations, remains one of the biggest threats to sustainable fishing and the livelihoods of those who depend on marine ecosystems.
On the positive side, by December 2018, over 24 million km2 (17.2%) of water under national jurisdiction (0–200 nautical miles from the state border) is covered by protected areas, a significant increase from 12% in 2015. years and more than double compared to 2010.
In order to preserve the world sea that gives life to our blue planet, it is necessary to make even greater international efforts in the coming years. It is necessary to overcome selfish personal and national interests, because the world sea can and must be managed as a common good that everyone protects and from when everyone benefits, no matter how far away from the coast they are.
Predrag Momčilović
Photo source: Belgrade Open School