Oceans could recover by 2050

🔎 What’s going on?

According to a major study published in Nature journal, oceans and, it’s marine life could recover by 2050. 

🐠 Awesome, let’s break it down...

The researchers came to this conclusion after looking at how previous conservation policies have affected wildlife populations across the globe. They found that after government intervention, marine life shows positive signs of recovery over a period of 30 years or so. 🙌 

Other clear indications that a recovery is possible, including the fact marine protected areas have increased from 0.9% of the ocean in 2000 to 7.4% in 2020. This means that coastal habitats such as mangrove swamps, salt marshes and oyster beds have been restored at scale.  

❓Why should I care?

The ocean currently provides jobs for an estimated 260 million people around the world and contains between 500,000 to 10 million marine wildlife. A special type of microscopic ocean plant called phytoplankton produces 50% of the oxygen on Earth. However, we are causing three big problems: 

1. We are massively over-fishing and reducing fish stocks faster than they can be naturally renewed
2. Polluting the ocean with plastics and fertilisers, creating ocean “dead zones”
3. Heating up the ocean meaning coral reefs can’t survive 

But as this study shows, we know exactly which actions to take and if we take those actions - we can also reverse the damage to our oceans. 

🚦Where do we need to be?

In very simple terms, by 2050, we should aim to reverse current ocean damage. 

There are plenty of solutions to help reverse the destruction we have caused, for example: 

1. Restoring oyster beds can reduce water pollution because oysters can naturally clean huge amounts of water.
2. Protecting coastal habitats, such as mangroves and salt marshes can then help provide a buffer against flooding for coastal lands. The extra bit of land with plants actually reduces the full impact of floods on people by absorbing water and binding soil. 
3. Use sustainable methods of fishing to reduce the by-catch (i.e. the unwanted fish caught by industrial fishing nets). 

👤 What can I do about it? #theblueplanetposttips

 As an individual, there is plenty we can all do: 

1. Do your bit to stop plastics reaching the oceans. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle where possible.
2. Switch to organic produce where possible. This reduces chemical pesticides from running into the oceans. 
3. Opt for eating sustainable fish where possible - look for the blue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) mark on fish products when you buy them. Buying sustainable fish means you are buying fishes that are at healthy stock levels.

Governments all over the world have tremendous power to do more. Countries can submit a Blue Carbon Strategy as part of their plan to achieve the Paris targets (i.e. through their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)). Here’s a great guide on how to include blue carbon into NDCs.