UNESCO State Of Ocean Report 2024:
UNESCO’s ‘State of Ocean Report, 2024’ provides crucial insights into the current state of global oceans, emphasising the challenges posed by climate change and human activities.
The key finding of the report:
- The upper 2,000 meters of the oceans have experienced significant warming, with the rate increasing from 0.32 ± 0.03 watt per square meter (W/m²) from 1960 to 2023 to 0.66 ± 0.10 W/m² in the last two decades.
- Oceans are absorbing about 90% of the Earth’s excess energy, causing increased deoxygenation and threatening marine ecosystems and human economies dependent on them.
- Ocean acidification is on the rise globally, particularly in the open ocean, with a noted pH decline since the late 1980s; more comprehensive data from coastal areas is needed.
- Sea levels have risen consistently since 1993, necessitating improved monitoring systems at all scales.
- There’s growing interest in marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies, but their ecological impacts and effectiveness remain uncertain.
