A Swedish astrophysicist, Erik Zackrisson, found that – according to our knowledge of the universe – there are some 70 quintillion planets in our universe. That is seven followed by 20 zeroes! However, in spite of the mega abundance of planets, another life-supporting planet such as ours may actually be very rare to find.
Earth is the only planet in the universe as we know it that supports life.
What distinguishes our life-supporting planet from all the other known lifeless planets is the presence of a blue, salty mass of water we call our ocean, covering over two-thirds of our planet. Imagine the earth without the ocean; it will be just another mass of matter as the rest of the quintillions of lifeless planets forming our universe.
If this is not an enough reason to celebrate our ocean, then I do not know what is. June 8 is World Ocean Day, which was proposed for the first time at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 by Canada. Since then, World Ocean Day was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008 and is now annually celebrated globally.
The UN’s objective for celebrating World Ocean Day and the role of the ocean in our everyday life is mainly to inspire action to protect the ocean and to use marine resources sustainably.
As in all previous years, World Ocean Day 2022 carries a theme and this year’s is ‘Revitalisation: collective action for the ocean’ as a means of conserving our life support system, its wonderful ecosystem and marine resources and all the essential ocean services for future generations. The theme’s goal is to shed light on the communities and promote ideas and solutions that are working together to protect and revitalise the ocean and everything it sustains as well as building climate change resiliency.
The ocean’s value to our planet is inestimable and our own existence is totally dependent on it and its health. Our planet as we know it without the ocean is unimaginable but our planet with a sick, polluted, and unproductive ocean is equally inconceivable.
And, yet, mankind is still not grasping the fact that threatening the ocean is threatening our own existence. The dire fact is that we cannot outlive the ocean but the ocean can and will outlive us. In fact, without us the ocean will fare even better. We still have to come to terms that if we treat nature well, nature will treat us better. If we treat nature badly, it will treat us worse.
The ocean is our life support and, yet, it is continuously being mistreated and subjected to relentless pressures and exploitation with severe and desperate consequences which, at times, have been largely ignored and neglected.
Our ocean is showing serious signs of sickness and its health, together with the well-being of all that depends on it, is at a point of no return. As past experience has shown us, we need collective action to create a more sustainable relationship with the ocean that revitalises rather than diminishes its resources.
The ocean’s value to our planet is inestimable- Karmenu Vella
The UN’s chosen theme for World Ocean Day 2022 is a call for action for the ocean and for our own sake. During the last decades, scientists, communities, governments and organisations have worked together with some very positive results. Yet, we all have to upscale our efforts because growing pressures on our ocean are moving faster and results are not keeping up. Consequential problems are moving ahead of remedial solutions.
We need more preventive than remedial action.
In this respect, the European Union, realising that our ocean is in peril, has done and is still putting a lot of effort to address this issue. The EU recognises the fact that a revitalised ocean is the most effective nature-based solution to fight the climate change and biodiversity crises. A healthy ocean can be the best ally and the main protagonist to help address the most challenging global issues that present and future generations must face.
In 2020, six of the leading ocean protecting organisations published the Blue Manifesto with a number of milestones for the EU to achieve a healthy ocean by 2030. Progress on this ‘rescue plan’, which was supported by more than 100 NGOs, had to be assessed annually. In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, some progress has been achieved. I am certain that the EU will be scaling up its efforts to continue to deliver on its objectives.
Although World Ocean Day happens annually on June 8 it is important for all to understand that each and every day of the year is a critical day for the ocean. The ocean and the phenomenal role it plays in sustaining life on our planet deserves nothing less.
Happy World Ocean Day.
Karmenu Vella, Former EU commissioner for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries