Laudato Si' Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity
                                                                     Laudato Si'            Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity                                                          

Protecting the Oceans

LS 174. Let us also mention the system of governance of the oceans. International and regional conventions do exist, but fragmentation and the lack of strict mechanisms of regulation, control and penalization end up undermining these efforts. The growing problem of marine waste and the protection of the open seas represent particular challenges. What is needed, in effect, is an agreement on systems of governance for the whole range of so-called “global commons”.

 

OUR OCEAN, AN OCEAN FOR LIFE -Pope Francis
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
SIGNED BY THE CARDINAL SECRETARY OF STATE, TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE FOURTH HIGH LEVEL CONFERENCE ON "OUR OCEAN, AN OCEAN FOR LIFE"
OUR OCEAN, AN OCEAN FOR LIFE -Pope Franc[...]
PDF-Dokument [68.7 KB]

LS 40. Oceans not only contain the bulk of our planet’s water supply, but also most of the immense variety of living creatures, many of them still unknown to us and threatened for various reasons. What is more, marine life in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, which feeds a great part of the world’s population, is affected by uncontrolled fishing, leading to a drastic depletion of certain species. Selective forms of fishing which discard much of what they collect continue unabated. Particularly threatened are marine organisms which we tend to overlook, like some forms of plankton; they represent a significant element in the ocean food chain, and species used for our food ultimately depend on them.

 

41. In tropical and subtropical seas, we find coral reefs comparable to the great forests on dry land, for they shelter approximately a million species, including fish, crabs, molluscs, sponges and algae. Many of the world’s coral reefs are already barren or in a state of constant decline. “Who turned the wonderworld of the seas into underwater cemeteries bereft of colour and life?”[25] This phenomenon is due largely to pollution which reaches the sea as the result of deforestation, agricultural monocultures, industrial waste and destructive fishing methods, especially those using cyanide and dynamite. It is aggravated by the rise in temperature of the oceans. All of this helps us to see that every intervention in nature can have consequences which are not immediately evident, and that certain ways of exploiting resources prove costly in terms of degradation which ultimately reaches the ocean bed itself.

Francis of Assisi Academy for Planetary Health

Note: Enlarge screen to 125 or 150% for optimal viewing

Druckversion | Sitemap
© Francis of Assisi Academy for Planetary Health 2023