These 5 amazing people are fighting to save our oceans

Jun 25, 2018

Tourists snorkel near a turtle as it looks for food amongst the coral in the lagoon at Lady Elliot Island north-east of the town of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, June 9, 2015. The lagoon, which is occupied by turtles during high tide, is only accessible for snorkelling during this time. UNESCO World Heritage delegates recently snorkelled on Australias Great Barrier Reef, thousands of coral reefs, which stretch over 2,000 km off the northeast coast. Surrounded by manta rays, dolphins and reef sharks, their mission was to check the health of the world's largest living ecosystem, which brings in billions of dollars a year in tourism. Some coral has been badly damaged and animal species, including dugong and large green turtles, are threatened. UNESCO will say on Wednesday whether it will place the reef on a list of endangered World Heritage sites, a move the Australian government wants to avoid at all costs, having lobbied hard overseas. Earlier this year, UNESCO said the reef's outlook was "poor". REUTERS/David GrayPICTURE 9 OF 23 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY "GREAT BARRIER REEF AT RISK"SEARCH "GRAY REEF" FOR ALL PICTURES - GF10000143346

'While only 5% of the ocean has been explored, evidence suggests the entire ocean ecosystem is seriously under threat' Image: REUTERS/David Gray

Mariah Levin

Executive Director, beVisioneers: The Mercedes Benz Fellowship

Share:

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Ocean is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Ocean

Image: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Gloria Fluxa Thienemann, Iberostar

Lara Setrakian, Oceans Deeply

Pawan Patil, World Bank

Hanli Prinsloo, I Am Water

Have you read?

Kerstin Forsberg beyond red-brick peruvian house

Kerstin Fosberg, Planeta Oceano Image: Rolex/ Francois Schaer

Nina Jensen, REV Ocean Image: Kjeli Ruben Strom

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:

Ocean Future of the Environment Climate Change

Share:

Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Ocean
See all

Why the tropical majority is key to creating effective ocean solutions at COP28, and beyond

Josheena Naggea, Alfredo Giron and Ana Spalding

November 29, 2023

How are rising sea temperatures affecting coral reefs in Indonesia?

Robby Irfany Maqoma

November 28, 2023

Dominica pioneers world's first sperm whale reserve

How COP28 can help accelerate research around the ocean's carbon removal potential

Sam Zak and Brad Ack

November 17, 2023

Global warming is shaking up the ocean, literally

Richard Aster

November 15, 2023

The world has lost 14% of its coral reefs since 2009. Investing in a blue economy gives us a shot at saving the rest

Francis Staub and Yabanex Batista

November 9, 2023