Mangroves and salt marshes pump out methane – but soak up carbon dioxide. Overall, the world’s coasts are a net greenhouse sink – and we must preserve them
Nations must work with their neighbours to manage and protect species and human rights. An international environmental deal called the Escazú Agreement shows what’s possible.
Corals are made of hundreds to thousands of tiny living polyps.
Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
During a 2015 heat wave, scientists watched as a coral reef died before their eyes. By the end of the century, almost all the world’s corals will be gone if climate change continues at this pace.
Bajau fishermen on Hoga Island, Wakatobi National Park.
Photo by Chloe King
Chloe King, The University of Edinburgh y Wa Iba, Universitas Halu Oleo
Tourism development should support local communities to increase their skills and knowledge to better equip them to be resilient to crises and economic shocks.
Mobile traders, or pedagang along-along, in Langkat, Sumatra, were able to continue selling fish despite COVID-19 disruptions.
Sharon K. Suri
Traditional fishers are one of the most economically vulnerable professions in Indonesia. But, my research found that they are happier than those in other professions.
Seagrass meadow in Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia. Seagrass is an important nursery for many juvenile reef fish.
Ethan Daniels/shutterstock
Andri Irawan, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
Although less well known than its cousins, coral reefs and mangroves, seagrass plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation.
Indonesia announced ‘war against marine plastic debris’ in 2016 as a recent study dubbed the country as the second largest waste producer in the world.
www.shutterstock.com
Indonesia is struggling to keep its waste from the oceans. The government has announced ambitious plan to curb plastic waste. However, lack of research to support the policy.
Destructive fishing, bombing and poisoning were banned in Indonesia in 2004 but enforcement is weak.
www.shutterstock.com
Our study found that some individuals who previously participated in destructive fishing practices can transform into inspiring leaders and influence others to protect coral reefs.
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation; Jordan Fermanis, The Conversation; Justin Bergman, The Conversation y Dilpreet Kaur, The Conversation
Food fraud, the centuries-old problem that won’t go away
The Conversation55,8 MB(download)
Dairy farmers used to put sheep brains and chalk in skim milk to make it look frothier and whiter. Coffee, honey and wine have also been past targets of food fraudsters. Can the law ever keep up?
The famous “faceless fish”, which garnered worldwide headlines when it was collected by the expedition.
Rob Zugaro
Surveying the bottom of the ocean turns out to be far from easy. But there was something wonderful about seeing animals we have only read about in old books.
The researchers found nearly 38 million pieces of plastic rubbish on Henderson Island, in one of the remotest parts of the ocean.
Jennifer Lavers
Plastics pose a major threat to seabirds and other animals, and most don’t ever break down - they just break up. Every piece of petrochemical-derived plastic ever made still exists on the planet.
A bloom of phytoplankton in the Barents Sea: the milky blue colour strongly suggests it contains coccolithopores.
Wikimedia/NASA Earth Observatory