Prepared by – Suzanne Abou Said Daou
“Inaction is not an option” the concluding statement of the article written by the director of WWF International Marine Program, John Tanzer, summarizing the troubling report, “The Our Living Blue Planet report, species, habitats and human well being” that was released earlier this month by the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature and the Zoological Society of London, with a comprehensive look at the state of life in the sea.
The report found that the amount of wildlife in our oceans has fallen by half in 45 years; so that the facts and data and trends shown in this report present a compelling case for action to restore our ocean to health and to take a more decisive step towards the environmental issues concerning the wildlife, especially our blue patches of water surrounding us, as a part of human well being.
John Tanzer, in his article urged the governments to take action in the COP 21 stating that: “At the end of 2015, governments will meet in Paris to try to reach a binding and universal agreement on tackling climate change. This is of the utmost importance, as current international commitments fall far short of the action we need to stop levels of warming and acidification that would prove catastrophic to ocean ecosystems and the people who depend upon them”.
WWF, which enjoys over 5 million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries, with their main head quarters in Switzerland; is one of the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations.
WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
While the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) founded in 1826, with its head quarters in London is an international scientific, conservation and educational organization. Its mission is to achieve and promote the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.
The director General, WWF International Marco Lambertini stated in his article introducing the report, that “the marine Living Planet Index (LPI) presented in the report is in line with the global LPI, which measures trends in 10,380 populations of 3,038 vertebrate species, that showed a 52 per cent decline in vertebrate populations since 1970. That alone should set off alarm bells. But it’s what’s hidden in the overall marine LPI which showed a decline of 49 per cent between 1970 and 2012 that foretells an impending social and economic crisis”.
He pointed that ““In the space of a single generation, human activity has severely damaged the ocean by catching fish faster than they can reproduce. Profound changes are needed to ensure abundant ocean life for future generations”.
Lambertini, offered some solutions to the crisis including, “smart fishing practices that eliminate bycatch, waste and overfishing; getting rid of harmful subsidies and unregulated fishing; protecting key habitats and a large enough portion of the ocean to enable the regeneration of its living resources while conserving iconic species and inspirational places; cutting CO2 emissions that threaten a potentially catastrophic acidification of the ocean”. And assuring that “the ocean has another great advantage: it is a dynamic, interconnected global ecosystem that can bounce back relatively quickly if the pressures are dealt with effectively”.
The report also goes into particularity in dissecting the impending catastrophe citing declines in not only in fish but most marine organisms in steep decline, as well as large swathes of mangroves and sea grasses, have died off or been hacked away. This includes half of all coral, which has already disappeared.
The report states that while over-exploitation is identified as the major threat to ocean biodiversity, the study finds that climate change is causing the ocean to change more rapidly than at any other point in millions of years. Rising temperatures and increasing acidity levels caused by carbon dioxide are further weakening a system that is already severely degraded through overfishing, habitat degradation and pollution. And that the protected global ocean area, currently about 3.4 percent, must be tripled by 2020.
Lambertini reaches the conclusion that, we in “greenarea” support “humanity is collectively mismanaging the ocean to the brink of collapse”.
Sources: WWF, ZSL, The Our Living Blue Planet report”, etc…
