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We now know whats at the bottom of Belize’s Great Blue Hole and it’s depressing

Belize’s Blue Hole is an instantly recognisable wonder of the natural world. It’s the world’s largest sinkhole and is located on the Mesoamerican Reef – the second largest barrier reef network in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

We can restore marine health by 2050, finds study

The future for the world’s oceans often looks grim. Fisheries are set to collapse by 2048, according to one study, and 8 million tons of plastic pollute the ocean every year, causing considerable damage to delicate marine ecosystems. Yet a new study in Nature offers an alternative, and more opti ...

We can bring the world's oceans back to health by 2050, scientists conclude

The world’s oceans can be nursed back to health by 2050 if there is a concerted global effort to tackle climate change and restore marine habitats, a team of the world’s top ocean scientists has concluded.

We Finally Know Why Florida's Coral Reefs Are Dying, and It's Not Just Climate Change

Climate change is killing the world's coral reefs. But it's not the only factor turning them into white, dead husks.

Waters off French coast in winter may be a deadly trap for small, foraging turtles

The documented habitat boundaries of the loggerhead, Kemp's ridley and green turtles are questioned by a new study suggesting that stranded turtles rescued from European French Atlantic and Channel waters could be visiting the area to forage for food.

Water Resource Management using Internet of Things, Remote Sensing and Citizen Science (part 8) by UNESCO (16:00-17:30 CET, Paris, UCT/GMT+1)

16 March 2021, Online, Paris, France

Watching a coral reef die in a warming ocean

The Chagos Archipelago is one of the most remote, seemingly idyllic places on Earth. Coconut-covered sandy beaches with incredible bird life rim tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles from any continent. Just below the waves, coral reefs stretch for miles along an underwater mou ...

Warning over dolphins at risk of disturbance as people head to UK coast

Dolphins face an increasing risk of disturbance from people taking to the sea on boats, jetskis, paddleboards and kayaks as lockdown eases, campaigners have warned.

Warming and acidification form dual threat to corals

A quarter of the carbon emissions that are warming the Earth dissolve into oceans, making them more acidic. Carbon emissions and warming are also causing ocean heat waves, which in turn is bleaching the world's coral reefs.

Wales Biodiversity Week

7 - 15 June 2008

Waiting for Whale: How Airoli's Biodiversity Centre is Creating An Abode for Marine Creatures

The remains of one blue whale rest in the open ground of the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre in Airoli. The forest range officials of the biodiversity centre are trying hard to not only preserve the diverse history of marine life in this region but also building a museum that will give a ...

WWF: EU falling behind with sustainable fisheries policy implementation

Despite having had five years to implement measures in the latest version of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), European Union member states are still lagging behind and likely to miss important 2020 deadlines on biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries management, a new report from W ...

WWF recovery plan to save the world’s freshwaters from collapse

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has published an emergency recovery plan to prevent the collapse of biodiversity in the world’s freshwater rivers, lakes and wetlands. Freshwater covers approximately 1% of the earth’s surface but is home to around 10% of all species and they contain more fish than ...

W. Antarctica's crumbling ice sheet to redraw global coastline

The fate of the world's coastal regions and the hundreds of millions of people who inhabit them depend on a block of ice atop West Antarctica on track to lift global oceans by at least three metres.

Voluntary report on implementation of the Programme of work on marine and coastal biological diversity

Reference: SCBD/STTM/JM/JL/JG/64491 (2008-095)
To: CBD National Focal Points, relevant organizations

The purpose of this notification is to invite Parties and relevant organizations to provide information on (i) status and trends of, and threats to, marine and coastal biological diversity; and (ii) progress made in the implementation of the programme of work on marine and coastal biological div ...

Virtual Intersessional Workshop for the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) Global Dialogue with Regional Seas Organizations and Regional Fishery Bodies

29 September - 1 October 2021, Online

Video: Strange disease threatens Caribbean coral reef

Canczn, Mexico: The breathtaking reds, yellows and purples of the Mesoamerican Reef have been turning sickly white, leading researchers on a desperate hunt to understand and fight the mysterious disease killing the Caribbean's corals.

Video: Humpback whales spotted 'bubble-net feeding' for the first time in Australia

If you gaze at the ocean this winter, you might just be lucky enough to spot a whale migrating along Australia's coastline. This is the start of whale season, when the gentle giants breed in the warm northern waters off Australia after feeding in Antarctica.

Victorian Science’s Great Unsolved Murder Mystery

In the summer of 1893, an unusual volume appeared on the shelves of London booksellers. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: Its Products and Potentalities, published by

Very fishy: warming oceans linked to rise in tropical species in New Zealand water

Warming ocean temperatures have been blamed for luring tropical fish thousands of kilometres into New Zealand waters, threatening vulnerable native species as they compete for resources.

Venomous Snake Chasing You Through the Ocean Just Wants to Be Friends

Sea snakes are total nightmare fuel, but new research suggests their frequent “attacks” on scuba divers are in reality botched attempts to get lucky.

Valuing our marine resources

Our oceans are linked intrinsically to the health of our planet. The sea sequesters much of the carbon dioxide that we have released into the atmosphere, thereby slowing global warming.

Valuing and managing marine resources for human wellbeing

This session will examine the complexities of valuing and managing the oceans for human wellbeing. The importance of the oceans to people will be demonstrated by the first global economic valuation of marine ecosystem services, specifically shoreline protection, recreation and fisheries. The s ...

Updated scientific synthesis on the impacts of ocean acidification on marine and coastal biodiversity

This event will provide the details of the updated scientific synthesis on the impacts of ocean acidification on marine and coastal biodiversity, as requested by COP 11 (decision XI/18).

Updated Information and Extension of Deadline: Sustainable Ocean Initiative Capacity-Building Workshop for the Wider Caribbean and Central America on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures in the Marine Fishery Sector, 20-21 April and 27-28 April 2022, virtual

Reference: SCBD/SSSF/ML/SK/JA/JMQ/89932 (2022-015)
To: CBD National Focal Points in Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Venezuela, indigenous peoples and local communities, and relevant global and regional organizations/initiatives

Upcoming webinars to support discussions at the resumed sessions of SBSTTA-24, SBI-3 and WG2020-3

Reference: SCBD/IMS/JMF/JC/MC/90056 (2022-001)
To: CBD National Focal Points, SBSTTA National Focal Points, ABS Focal Points, Cartagena Protocol Focal Points, indigenous peoples and local communities and relevant organizations

Unveiling the implementation toolbox: support tools and methodologies to achieve objectives of the CBD

This group of global NGOs will jointly showcase the wealth of instrumental material they have been long developing to contribute on the implementation of the CBD. A variety of valuable policy support tools and methodologies have been developed by the CBD, its Parties and its partners, to help i ...

Unprecedented number of warm-water species moved northward during marine heatwave

During the marine heatwave of 2014-16, scientists from the University of California, Davis, noticed creatures typically seen only in places like Baja California, Mexico, showing up outside the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. These included warm-water species of jellyfish, crabs, nudibranchs, ...

United Nations “Ocean emergency” conference opens in Lisbon

With climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution exacting a devastating toll on the world’s ocean — critical to food security, economic growth, and the environment — the 2022 UN Ocean Conference opened in Lisbon, Portugal with a call for a new chapter of ocean action driven by science, techn ...

United Nations General Assembly resolutions highlight contribution of the Convention on Biological Diversity for oceans agenda and implementation of Rio + 20 outcomes

Montreal 21 December 2012. The 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly has recognized the importance of recent decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including those dealing with implementation of the global oceans agen ...

Underwater gardeners restore seagrass meadows to keep oceans healthy

A group of researchers is preparing to dive into the shallow waters of Dale Bay in Wales. They’re on a mission to monitor the restoration of the local species of seagrass, Zostera marina, also known as eelgrass, as part of a program spearheaded in 2014 by Project Seagrass, a U.K.-based charity t ...

Underwater ancient cypress forest offers clues to the past

When saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths and giant sloths roamed North America during the last Ice Age about 18,000 to 80,000 years ago, the Gulf Coast's climate was only slightly cooler, more similar to regions to the north like Missouri and North Carolina's climate today.

Underwater Arctic forests are expanding with rapid warming

Lush underwater forests of large brown seaweeds (kelps) are particularly striking in the Arctic, especially in contrast to the land where ice scour (scraping of sea ice against the sea floor) and harsh climates leave the ground barren with little vegetation.

Understanding Material Movement in the Ocean’s Upper Layer

The upper layer of the ocean is known as the “ocean mixed layer” (OML). Although usually just a few tens of meters deep, it’s very influential in mediating the exchange of gases, momentum, and energy between the interior of the ocean and the atmosphere.

Undersea volcanoes are home to more life than we know

Bill Chadwick has seen things you wouldn’t believe. He’s observed an undersea volcano oozing carbon dioxide, which turned into an eerie, milky liquid under the intense water pressure. “That was crazy,” Chadwick tells Vox. He witnessed another eject a toxic plume that was killing and stunning fis ...

UNESCO conference emphasizes need for sustainable water security

PARIS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The first UNESCO International Water Conference, which aims to present innovative solutions to problems related to the governance and management of water, opened here on Monday.

UNEP/CBD/WS-Sustainable Use/3/4

Integrated resource management for sustainable island fish production

UNEP/CBD/WS-Sustainable Use/3/3

Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem

UNEP/CBD/SOIWS/2015/5/2

Report of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative National Capacity Development Workshop for Samoa

UNEP/CBD/SOIWS/2015/2/2

Report of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative Training of Trainers Workshop

UNEP/CBD/SOI/WS/2016/5/2

Report of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative National Capacity Development Workshop for Vanuatu

UNEP/CBD/SOI/WS/2015/3/2

Report of Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) National Capacity Development Workshop for Namibia

UNEP/CBD/SOI/WS/2015/1/2

Report of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative Capacity-Building Workshop for South America

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/INF/25

Methods for rapid assessment of marine and coastal biological diversity

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/INF/23

Achieving sustainable management of tropical marine ecosystems: The action statement from the second International Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management Symposium (ITMEMS 2) and its relevance to the Convention on Biological Diversity

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/14/ADD3/CORR1

Outcome-oriented targets for the implementation of the elaborated programme of work on marine and coastal biological diversity<br>Corrigendum

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/14/ADD3

Outcome-oriented targets for the implementation of the elaborated programme of work on marine and coastal biological diversity

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/8/INF/7

Report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Marine and Coastal Protected Areas

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/8/INF/6

Report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Mariculture

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/8/INF/3/REV1

Study of the relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea with regard to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources on the deep seabed (decision II/10 of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biolo ...