Oceans in Deepening Crisis, Latest Evidence Reveals
The oceans are in a “deepening crisis”, a UN report has warned, demanding urgent global action. In research conducted by 600 international scientists across 1,352 pages, ocean temperatures are warming and rising faster. Ice sheets are also shrinking, and marine ecosystems are under increasing pressure.
“The ocean is the foundation of life on Earth,” said the UN’s World Ocean Assessment (WOA) III. “But its health is at serious risk as ecosystems and habitats approach or exceed tipping points. The crisis is deepening, because climate change, pollution, overfishing, and biodiversity loss are placing severe strain on marine systems.”
The report, which largely covers the period between 2018 and 2023, paints a bleak picture of the state of the oceans. About 16% of the total increase in ocean heat content recorded since 1955 has occurred since 2018 alone. The oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat and 30% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels.
As water warms, it expands, helping drive sea-level rise alongside meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets. “Sea levels continue to rise at an accelerating rate,” the report stated, more than doubling from less than 2.0 millimetres per year before 2015 to 4.3 mm in 2023.
“Although millimetres might seem small, the numbers are increasing very rapidly,” said Ian Butler, an Australia-based marine ecologist and co-coordinator of the WOA expert group. The researchers therefore demanded urgent action through stronger multilateral cooperation.
“We cannot continue to treat the ocean as something infinite,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “We must build a new relationship with the ocean: based on science, framed by international law, and built on shared responsibility.”
Deep-Sea Mining
The report highlighted growing concerns about deep-sea mining and called for a coordinated international response. Although exploration for deep-sea mining is well advanced, no company or country has yet begun commercial-scale production. Critics worry it would suffocate marine life with waste, whilst the noise from heavy machinery would disrupt ocean migration.