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

Sorry, most of the news are only available in French language for the moment.

JAPAN - TOKYO - Le Japon, principal consommateur de thon rouge de l'Atlantique, a prévenu jeudi qu'il s'opposerait à...

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - LOS ANGELES - Un restaurant de la ville de Santa Monica, à l'ouest de Los Angeles, est poursuivi par la justice...

FRANCE - PARIS - Le mécanisme d'action de deux toxines libérées par certaines micro-algues, qui avaient notamment provoqué la...

Univers GoodPlanet par Netvibes

DEBATES

The Nitrogen Fix: Breaking a Costly Addiction

Fred Pearce

A single patent a century ago changed the world, and now, in the 21st century, Homo sapiens and the world we dominate have an...

Why Japan's whaling activities are not research

Only Japan holds a special permit. Its current research...

Ghost nets – an underestimated danger

Large amounts of fishing gear lost at sea or abandoned by...

FOCUS

Extinctions

Polar bears will not be the only ones to disappear because of global warming. Many other – less visible or less symbolic – species will also be threatened. For them, global warming will be the last straw as man...

VIDEOS

11/03/2010	There's some scary creatures in the ocean... none more scary than plastic....	07/01/2010	Une autre vidéo du choc entre le navire baleinier et celui des militants...
06/01/2010	Des images du choc qui a conduit au naufrage du bateau Ady Gil de Sea...	23/12/2009	Jean-Pierre Quignard, professor in Ichtyology, tells us about the...

GREEN TIPS

The survival of Tuvalu

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

INDICATORS

Protected areas
Biocapacity
Threatened ecosystems
National biodiversity index

CHECK OUT THE STATE OF THE WORLD ON OUR 3D GLOBE