UN Urges International Community To Invest In Science As Ocean ‘Suffocate’ From Record Breaking Temperature

ocean temperature — Getty Images/Christopher Furlong

The United Nations encouraged the international community to invest in scientific research to protect the world's oceans, which are increasingly threatened by pollution and global warming.

Ocean Is Suffocated

Audrey Azoulay, director general of the United Nations' educational, scientific, and cultural organization UNESCO, stressed the importance of science in addressing the global problems in the ocean.

The UN official warned that the oceans were "suffocating" as new temperature records were established on a regular basis.

"We have key objectives to achieve. Much has been done for the oceans, but much remains to be done and can be done," she added.

When the ocean's average surface temperature reached a new record high in March 2023, scientists were alarmed, but few projected that ocean temperatures would continue to rise.

The average sea surface temperature has established a new daily record every day for the past 12 months, and it is now breaking records set in March.

In the short term, the most noticeable effect has been coral bleaching, which is the loss of photosynthetic algae that lives (and grows) on coral reefs.

The iconic Great Barrier Reef in Australia is currently experiencing a severe bleaching episode, and the corals of the Florida Keys were subjected to unprecedented bleaching conditions last year.

Oceans cover 70% of the earth and have maintained the Earth's surface habitability by absorbing 90% of the excess heat produced by human-caused carbon pollution since the beginning of the industrial age.

Hotter oceans produce more moisture in the atmosphere, resulting in more irregular weather, such as high winds and heavy rain.

Ocean Decade Conference

The UN holds a three-day meeting in Barcelona dedicated to ocean conservation.

During the event, UNESCO and 13 cities announced the formation of the "Cities with the Ocean" platform, a new alliance between the UN agency and coastal cities and ports that would supplement the work already underway with its 194 member states.

Seventy-five percent of the world's megacities are located in coastal locations, placing their populations among the most vulnerable to natural and man-made maritime dangers such as tsunamis, ocean pollution, and the consequences of climate change.

UNESCO renewed its support for these communities by implementing projects tailored to their requirements, such as enhancing the organization's tsunami-ready Ready Recognition Programme, teaching urban planners to anticipate coastal erosion concerns, and gathering critical scientific data.

Next year, a first international symposium will bring this network together in Qingdao, one of China's major coastal cities. This effort will also be presented in Nice, France, during the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025.

"Some may think that our century is experiencing more serious, more urgent and more profound crises than those affecting the ocean ecosystem, but what brings us together here today is crucial for our future," said Monaco's Prince Albert II.

Following 15 years of negotiations, UN member states adopted a convention last year to protect the world's oceans and undo the harm done to vulnerable marine environments by pollution, overfishing, and other human activities.