Oceans

ISSUES

Oceans: Approaching the Point of No Return

The oceans and seas of the world, which cover 71% of the earth’s surface, still remain the least known territories. Only 10% of deep ocean cartography has been indexed and to date, only 2% of the ocean floor has been explored. According to scientific estimations, these ecosystems provide a habitat for 90% of the biomass and 80% of the biodiversity in the world – of which, as yet only 5% are known (274 000 marine species).
In addition to their ecological importance, oceans feed 3.5 billion human beings. The fishing and aquaculture industries employ 35 million people in the world, and the produce of the sea makes up at least half of mineral provisions and animal proteins for Africa and South Asia. Marine territories also provide support and resources for human activities: transport, tourism, minerals (bromine, magnesium etc.) and energy (gas, petrol, oil, tides, currents, etc). 30% of petrol production in the world is extracted fr...

NEWS

Warm ocean water melting Antarctic ice from bottom

Don't call it mud: Life found deep beneath ocean floor

Pressure on N. Zealand to save world's rarest dolphin

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DEBATES

A giant step for protecting ocean life

Alistair Gammell

On the first of April, the UK Government took a decision to declare the islands, coral reefs and surrounding seas of the Chagos...

CITES Summit, Doha: What Went Wrong?

The 175 nation UN Convention on International Trade and...

The Nitrogen Fix: Breaking a Costly Addiction

Over the last century, the intensive use of chemical...

FOCUS

Nobel Price of ecology

Designed to recognize grassroots environmental heroes, the Goldman Environmental Prize, founded by Richard and Rhoda Goldman in 1989 In San Francisco, is awarded annually to individuals from the six inhabited continental regions for sustained and significant efforts to...

VIDEOS

09/01/2013	The Ecologist Film Unit investigates claims that mining for tin for use in...	08/10/2012	Meet Norman. He's not your everyday housecat. Little by little he's...
02/10/2012	Sharks are rapidly disappearing from the world's oceans, primarily as a...	26/09/2012	The Catlin Seaview Survey will be taking thousands of 360 degree panoramas...

GREEN TIPS

The survival of Tuvalu

Under the impetus of Liliane Le Gallic and her program « Small is Beautiful», two biogas installations, a...

INDICATORS

Biocapacity
National biodiversity index
Threatened ecosystems
Protected areas

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