Broad Global Partnership Formed to Rescue Troubled Oceans

"About 85 percent of the world's fish stocks are either seriously depleted or well on their way. We have over 400 dead zones where life has stopped - an area about the size of New Zealand."


SINGAPORE, February 24, 2012 (ENS) - The World Bank have announced the Global Partnership for Oceans, gathering governments, scientists, advocacy organizations, the private sector and international public institutions to confront the increasingly urgent issues of over-fishing, marine degradation, and habitat loss.


"Oceans are the lifeblood of our world," said World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick, announcing the new partnership in a keynote speech at "The Economist" magazine's World Oceans Summit in Singapore.

"They flow over more than 70 percent of our planet, and hold about 97 percent of its water. They absorb heat and carbon dioxide, generate oxygen, and shape the world's weather patterns. They provide about 15 percent of the animal protein for the world's population, the air that we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat," Zoellick said. "Whether we live inland or on coastlines, each one of us relies on healthy oceans."


"So for us as a development institution, it's also a core issue because about a billion people in the world depend on fish as their primary source of protein. It's a key source of jobs, whether for tourism or fisheries. There's hundreds of millions of jobs depending on this."


Read the rest of this article from Environment News Service - it all really sounds great, but words are easy - action is a very different other story, so it will be interesting to follow.......