The world’s oceans and the multiple threats they face, from climate change and pollution to overfishing and mining, will be the focus of a global conference in Panama this week.
Some 600 leaders of government, the business sector, green groups and academics will gather in the Central American country on Thursday and Friday to discuss expanding marine protected areas (MPAs), assuring a sustainable ocean-derived “blue economy”, and reducing stressors on an invaluable but at-risk resource.
Covering three-quarters of Earth, the oceans are home to 80 percent of all life on the planet, and provide nourishment for more than three billion people as well as a crucial avenue for global trade.
“We cannot commit to saving our ocean ecosystems without limiting human activities within them,” states the website for the eighth edition of the international Our Ocean conference.
“This vital asset is in danger fromĀ global warming, unsustainable practices, illegal fishing, reckless pollution, and the loss of marine habitats,” it added.
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