08th June 2006

The World Ocean Day presents an opportunity for all of us to learn more about our ocean, to think about and appreciate its services and to help make a difference for ourselves and our future generations.

The oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface, and over 90% of the world’s living biomass is found in it. The invaluable services provided by the oceans are often taken for granted. The oceans regulate the climate, temperature, generate most of the world’s oxygen and provide food, medicine, water, etc.

According to the United Nations, approximately three billion or nearly a half of the world’s population live within 125 miles of a coastline. With just over 10,000 km of coastline, the South Asian region with a population of nearly 1.5 billion or 22% of the world’s population is directly or indirectly dependent upon a very narrow coastal region. For instance the most populous cities of the region are located on the coast, Mumbai, Karachi, Chennai, Chittagong, Kolkata, and Colombo.

The coastal areas support fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, industrial and other developments, ports and other service related infrastructures, while facilitating many essential services and provisions and act as a key factor in sustainable development. However, these services, provisions and benefits are increasingly under threat. Fisheries are in decline, pollution and development are choking essential coastal habitats, increasing eutrophication from excessive nutrient inputs are reducing the productivity of many coastal areas.

Worldwide, nearly 1000 million people depend on fish for their primary source of protein, and demand for food fish is projected to increase from about 75 million tonnes in 1994/95 to 110-120 million tonnes in 2010. The Asia Pacific region has the highest fish catch in the world. However, in the Bay of Bengal fish catch has declined drastically by 41% since 1970.

The economic and livelihood loss, the increased vulnerability of our coasts to short and longer term, local, and global environmental perturbations are consequences beyond any calculable costs. For instance coral reefs are the most productive ecosystem, which cover 15% of the world’s coastline, and is home to about 30 - 40% of the world’s bony fishes. Scientists estimate that 20% of the world’s reefs have been effectively eliminated and a research undertaken in 2004 indicated that 24% of coral reefs are under imminent risk of collapse, while an additional 26% are under a long-term threat of collapse. 

Furthermore, natural disasters such as the Orissa super cyclone (1999) and the tsunami incident (2004) is wrecking havoc on millions of lives and the coastal region in South Asia. In addition, with the transit of large amounts of crude oil through the South Asian seas region, an unprecedented oil spill or the accidental introduction of an invasive alien species into the coastal waters can have devastating consequences on the already threatened and stressed coastal systems.  

Increasingly, large quantities of wastes, nutrients, detergents, pesticides and other polluting substances enter the seas directly or through coastal watersheds, rivers and precipitation from polluted air. Increasing bioaccumulation of pesticides and heavy metals in fish and shellfish is both an environmental as well as a health concern and with severe economic and social consequences. Incidents of algal blooms, increased eutrophication, and choking of water bodies from alien weeds and plants are rising rapidly as a result of population growth, urbanization, unsustainable and unwise industrial and urban developments in the coastal regions.

On a much broader scale the impacts and consequences of global warming, sea level rise, and increased ultraviolet radiation, all combine to further degrade, debilitate or destroy the already burdened and stressed ecosystems and the resources within them.

It is therefore time to seriously think about the critical importance of the coastal systems in the region, the priceless services they perform, and the resources they provide for our livelihoods and, for our sustainable development, and the urgency to protect and preserve the systems and resources, for our future generations. It is time to reflect on these crucial issues, act now to make a change and to live up to our responsibilities.