An Ocean of Potential 9th Our Ocean Conference Greece 2024 The ocean plays a key role in human existence; it is essential for our survival, well-being and prosperity. It provides food, regulates our climate, and generates most of the oxygen we breathe. It also serves much of the world’s economy, supporting sectors from tourism to fisheries and to international shipping while it is connected to our culture and is a major source of inspiration. However, the health of seas and the ocean, and of marine ecosystems in particular, is threatened by unsustainable practices such as discharges of wastewater and marine litter,...
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How Climate Change affects coastal zones
Over the past two decades, coastal zones have become focal points of concern as climate change exerts its influence on vulnerable ecosystems. Rising sea levels, intensified storm activities, coastal erosion, and ocean acidification stand out as primary manifestations of this phenomenon. These alterations pose multiple challenges to both the ecological equilibrium and human settlements along coastlines, threatening various economic activities such as fishing, tourism, and agriculture. Nevertheless, a repertoire of mitigation strategies exists, spanning from human-engineered interventions to nature-based solutions, offering avenues for confronting these adversities effectively. Impacts of Climate Change on Coastal Zones: Sea Level Rise: Over the past...
More than 170 trillion plastic particles found in the ocean as pollution reaches ‘unprecedented’ levels
By Laura Paddison, CNN The world’s oceans are polluted by a “plastic smog” made up of an estimated 171 trillion plastic particles that if gathered would weigharound 2.3 million tons, according to a new study. A team of international scientists analyzed global data collected between 1979 and 2019 from nearly 12,000 sampling points in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. They found a “rapid and unprecedented” increase in ocean plastic pollution since 2005, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. “It is much higher than previous estimates,” Lisa Erdle, director of research...
Coastal Erosion worsening, experts warn
Coastal erosion has wreaked a significant impact on nearly a third of Greek beaches, according to data made public on Wednesday at a seminar inAthens organized by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) which alsoreported problems at river estuaries. Specifically, the TEE’s investigation found that 28.6 percent of Greece’scoastline has a problem with erosion with some areas particularly hard hit. On Crete, for instance, 65.8 percent of beaches – or 756 kilometers out of its total of 1,148 kilometers – are eroded. In central Macedonia, 371 kilometersout of its 821 kilometers of coastline have also suffered from erosion. According to...
