Ocean

In 1992, an unusual event sparked global interest: a shipping container accidentally fell into the ocean, releasing 28,000 rubber duckies and other children’s bath toys. These small, yellow ducklings embarked on a journey across the world’s oceans, with some washing up on shores as far away as Alaska and Maine.

The oceans are warming nearly twice as rapidly as they did in 2005, according to a report from AFP. Over 20% of the world's ocean surface has faced severe heat waves in 2023, as noted by the European Climate Change Service, Copernicus.

Greece could mitigate the effects of overfishing and environmentally damaging activities and reap significant revenue by investing in marine parks, according to a report by the international organization Pristine Seas, delivered last month to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. 

The vicious cycle created by high seawater temperatures, deoxygenation and pollution has driven the Marmara Sea into a state of "coma," according to research led by the Middle East Technical University's (ODTÜ) Institute of Marine Sciences.

Researchers have long argued that regions deep in the Earth's oceans may harbor sites from which all terrestrial life sprung. In the Atlantic, they gave the name "Lost City" to a jagged landscape of eerie spires under which they proposed that the life-preceding chemistry may have churned.

Oceans: Not only do they regulate the Earth's climate but they also sustain life as we know it. Yet, despite their critical role, oceans are facing persistent degradation and destabilization worldwide.

The PAMEX Local Investment Finance Facility (PLIFF), together with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hellenic-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, successfully organized a side event at the Our Ocean Conference which took place in Athens last week, titled "Financing Ocean Economy and Political Mobilization within the Mediterranean Region."

In the debate about protecting the environment, we often forget that seven-tenths of the surface of our planet is covered by water - oceans, seas, rivers, lakes. There is also the fact that Greece, with its islands, has the 11th longest coastline in the world.

More than 40 new commitments will be made this week by the European Union in Athens at the international Our Oceans Conference corresponding to €3.5 billion, according to Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European commissioner for the environment, oceans and fisheries, in an interview with Kathimerini.

The island nation of Palau made history this week when it became the first country to ratify last year's historic United Nations treaty for the protection of the Earth's oceans.

The so-called High Seas Treaty was adopted by U.N. member states in June, after more than 15 years of discussions.