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United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

logo fourteen life below water

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution; Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels.

More than 3 billion people rely on the oceans for their livelihoods, and more than 80 per cent of world merchandise trade by volume is carried by sea. The oceans, seas and marine resources are under constant threat from pollution, warming and acidification that are disrupting marine ecosystems and the communities they support. These changes have long-term repercussions that require the world to urgently scale up the protection of marine environments, investment in ocean science, support for small-scale fishery communities, and the sustainable management of the oceans.

While efforts to reduce nutrient inputs into coastal zones are showing success in some regions, algal blooms indicate that coastal eutrophication continues to be a challenge. Globally, anomalies of chlorophyll-a (the pigment responsible for photosynthesis in all plants and algae) in national exclusive economic zones decreased by 20 per cent from 2018 to 2020.

Peter Thomson: SDG and Climate

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Oceans

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