World Oceans Day 2021

The 8th of June marked the 12th “World Oceans Day” — this time it ran under a special motto: 2021 is also the start of the Unit­ed Nations’ “Decade of Ocean Research for Sustain­able Devel­op­ment” … Reason enough for us to dedi­cate the first Valdivia Special to this topic.

The world’s oceans — Life’s Foun­da­tion and Climate Saviour

When German research vessel Valdivia set sail on 31 July 1898, the Unit­ed Nations was but a distant dream. Yet, even then, scien­tists like expe­di­tion leader Carl Chun (1852 — 1914, born in Höchst, today Frank­furt am Main) were convinced that the world’s oceans were of immense impor­tance to humankind. And right he was: Today, the oceans are an impor­tant source of food, ener­gy, raw mate­ri­als, active ingre­di­ents for medi­cines and, last but not least, a space for sport and recreation.

After going very much unno­ticed in the past, anoth­er capac­i­ty of the ocean is current­ly gain­ing in impor­tance: the water of the oceans also absorbs a consid­er­able amount of carbon diox­ide (CO2) from the atmos­phere, about 2.6 billion tonnes every year, corre­spond­ing to approx. 31 percent of man-made CO2 emis­sions. Howev­er, it is unclear how long the oceans are oing to be able to absorb this amount. CO2 dissolved in water also increas­es the acid­i­ty of the water – with poten­tial­ly severe conse­quences for many sea crea­tures, as any aquar­ist can confirm.

The UN Decade of Ocean Exploration

The Unit­ed Nations has set up a frame­work for co-ordi­nat­ing a wide vari­ety of research projects in the decade from now until 2030. In addi­tion to biolog­i­cal, mete­o­ro­log­i­cal and other clas­sic tasks, econom­ic and social aspects are impact­ing ocean research more and more: the ship­ping indus­try, fish­eries, aqua­cul­tures as well as coastal resi­dents and the tourism indus­try all bene­fit from the results. When the first World Ocean Assess­ment was published in 2016, signif­i­cant changes and loss­es in the struc­ture, func­tion, and bene­fits of the oceans were already being observed. There­fore, science-based measures to miti­gate and adapt to glob­al change are urgent­ly need­ed in the coming decades.

The goal of the UN Decade is first to coor­di­nate exist­ing know-how, make better use of it and feed it into polit­i­cal deci­sions. To be more precise, this means that digi­tal scenar­ios and models are to be devel­oped which, through improved predic­tions, will help deci­sion-makers in poli­tics and busi­ness to select the best, future-proof and sustain­able measures in each case. Long-term goals include the elim­i­na­tion of ocean pollu­tion, a more accu­rate under­stand­ing of climate impacts, and a sustain­able Blue Econ­o­my in which use, under­stand­ing and respon­si­bil­i­ty go hand in hand.