Did you know that 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons (326 million trillion gallons
) of water can be found on Earth? That’s a great deal of water!
Oceans occupy about 70% of the earth’s surface and hold about 97% of the world’s water. Home to a rich diversity of marine species and ecosystems, oceans sustain our need for food, minerals, oil, medicines, climate regulation, and recreation. Fish, coral reefs, dolphins, algae all play a role in our daily lives though we may not recognize it. For instance, the 90 million tonnes of fish captured each year provide jobs to about 36 million people and a main source of animal protein to over a billion people in developing countries.1 One of the amazing wonders of the oceans – the coral reefs- not only form some of the most diverse ecosystems on earth, but also deliver services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection.2
Although oceans may dominate the earth’s surface, it is the streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater that fulfills our demand for freshwater. Freshwater sources support our daily water consumption and a large vibrant economy based on fisheries, agriculture and trade in goods and services.3
However, freshwater sources, coral reefs and fisheries are in trouble worldwide due to pollution, overfishing and rising sea temperatures. If we don’t change the way we value our oceans and freshwater, we stand to lose the valuable services they offer, plus a staggering combined amount of about US$ 7 trillion per year. In this section, we present stories backed by economic data, which highlight the flow of water on Earth and into our lives.
- Rogers, A.D. (2009) International commission for Land Use change and Ecosystems: The oceans, Zoological society of London, presentation given at rome G8+5 Legislators forum, Italian chamber of Deputies, 12- 13 June 2009.in TEEB for National and International Policy Makers. Chapter 1, page 11. [↩]
- UNEP. 2006. Marine and Coastal Ecosystems & Human Well-being: A synthesis report based on the findings of the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. UNEP.76 pp. [↩]
- TEEB for National and International Policy Makers, chapter 9, page 13 . Source: Micklin, P. and Aladin, N. V. (2008) Reclaiming the Aral Sea. Scientific American 298: 64-71. World Bank (2009a) The sea is coming back. (last access Nov 20,2009). [↩]
