1. Healthy oceans provide a wide range of nutritious seafood for people including salmon, halibut, crab, and shellfish and many others.
2. Healthy oceans maintain global climate stability. Oceans absorb and store large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to reduce the impacts of climate change.
3. Healthy oceans provide a variety of medicinal compounds. Marine organisms are the source of many of the active ingredients used in modern pharmaceuticals, including painkillers and cancer treatments.
4. Healthy oceans are home to a wealth of biodiversity, providing habitats for plants, animals, and microscopic organisms. This biodiversity helps to ensure that our environment can continue to heal itself.
5. Healthy oceans are essential for maintaining healthy air quality. Oceans produce more than 50% of the oxygen that we breathe. And absorb large amounts of air pollutants, helping to protect us from hazardous air quality.
6. Healthy oceans provide a variety of recreational activities, from swimming, surfing, and snorkeling, fishing, and whale watching. This helps to promote physical activity and emotional wellbeing.
7. Healthy ocean ecosystems protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Healthy coral reefs and mangroves act as natural barriers, protecting people from extreme weather and rising sea levels.
We live on a majestic ocean planet. The oceans and seas make one global ocean that connects us all. The ocean is vast and covers nearly 72% of the planet. Our survival relies on a healthy ocean environment. The ocean provides us with oxygen to breath, fresh water to drink, seafood, pharmaceutical drugs – for chemotherapy & anesthesia, global transportation, emotional wellbeing, and recreational activities.
Take action and do what you can for a more sustainable future.