Oceans, seas and marine resources

Asia-Pacific Needs Transformative Change Towards a Sustainable Future

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is United Nations-Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The COVID-19 crisis poses an unprecedented threat to development in the Asia-Pacific region that could reverse much of the hard-earned progress made in recent years. The good news is we know how to tackle this challenge. Recovery from the pandemic and our global efforts to deliver the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 must go hand-in-hand. The Goals provide a compass to navigate this crisis, faster and greener, everywhere and for everyone.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 March 2021

Photo credit: International Seabed Authority.

Donations for International Seabed Authority to Support Programmes in the Developing States

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Three countries – Norway, France and Mexico – have reaffirmed their commitment to support, through three separate grants, the implementation by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) of capacity development programmes and activities targeted at developing States members of ISA and to improve their integrated participation in the work of the organization based in Kingston, Jamaica.

: Caroline Mwanga; SUSTAINABILITY; Oceans, seas and marine resources; 29 January 2021

Ocean Threatened by Loss of Coral Reefs

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad *

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – With a recent report titled “Projections of Future Coral Bleaching Conditions,” published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in November, Leticia Carvalho—head of the Marine and Freshwater Branch of UNEP—said on December 21 that coral reefs are the “canary in the coalmine for climate’s impact on oceans.”

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 January 2021

Pacific SIDS Champion Oceans and Blue Economy Preparing for COP 26

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – On December 10, 2020, marking five years since adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Heads of Government and Leaders of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) deemed it fit to convene a High-Level Roundtable on Urgent Climate Change Action in Tuvalu.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; OPINION; 13 December 2020

Photo: Antarctic ocean waters are warming dramatically. Credit: Ceridwen Fraser [author provided]

The Southern Ocean an Ocean Like No Other

By Ceridwen Fraser, Christina Hulbe, Craig Stevens and Huw Griffiths*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the fifth article in the series which looks into the Southern Ocean’s ecological richness and significance for global climate. Click here for the previous article.

DUNEDIN | AUCKLAND | CAMBRIDGE (IDN) – In 2018, a map named after an oceanographer went viral.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 December 2020

Photo: Picture of Arctic sea ice with melt ponds. Credit: David Mark on Pixabay

Effects of Global Warming Dramatic in the Arctic

By Jørgen Berge, Carlos Duarte, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Kimberly Howland and Philippe Archambault*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the fourth article in the series which looks at the Arctic where warming is two to three times faster than any other place on Earth. Click here for the previous article.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 December 2020

Photo: Atlantic Ocean currents influence the weather and sea levels. Credit: John Spade/Flickr

Disrupting the Atlantic’s Ecosystem Can Have Far-Reaching Effects

By Suzanne OConnell and Pascal Le Floc’h*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the third article in the series which looks at the Atlantic Ocean, the driving force behind ocean circulation. Click here for the previous article.

MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut | BREST (IDN) – “Did the Atlantic close and then reopen?” That was the question posed in a 1966 paper by Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 December 2020

Photo: Plastic waste on a beach in Hawaii. Credit: NOAA

Pacific Ocean’s Delicate Ecology Under Threat

By Jodie L Rummer, Bridie JM Allan, Charitha Pattiaratchi, Ian A Bouyoucos, Irfan Yulianto and Mirjam van der Mheen*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the second article in the series which looks at the Pacific Ocean, an ocean so vast that it may seem invincible. Click here for the first article on the series.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 09 December 2020

Photo: The Indian Ocean could play a major role in future climate change. Credit: Earth.com

The Rich Historical Archive That Is the Indian Ocean

By Isabel Hofmeyr and Charne Lavery*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the first article in the series which looks into ancient Indian Ocean trade networks.

JOHANNESBURG | PRETORIA (IDN) – On many beaches around the Indian Ocean, keen observers may spot bits of broken pottery. Washed smooth by the ocean, these shards are in all likelihood hundreds of years old, from centres of ceramic production like the Middle Eastern Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Ming dynasty.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 09 December 2020

Image credit: The US NOAA's nautical charts provide the baseline that marks the inner limit of the territorial sea and the outer limit of internal waters. This determines where U.S. territorial waters begin for purposes of international law.

Time Overdue for the US to Ratify Law of The Sea Treaty

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Russia, China, Ukraine, the European Union, the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, the defence budget, climate change, Iran, Afghanistan, Poland, Hungary, India Iraq, Taiwan, Japan, Cuba are all items that have surfaced in the press as reporters ponder on the issues that President-elect Joe Biden will confront in his foreign policy. It seems everyone has forgotten the important Law of the Sea treaty (United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) that remains unratified by the US.