Opinion | In the wake of COP26, Asia’s troubled oceans must not be left high and dry
- Health of Earth’s seas, including Asia’s, played only minor role in Glasgow, despite the food and livelihoods they bring to so many people
- Urgent action is needed as continent’s economies, communities, ecosystems all depend on sustainable management of marine resources
Negotiations at the all-important summit focused on halting deforestation, reducing methane emissions, and mobilising trillions of dollars to finance climate-resilient adaptation strategies.
However, global ocean health played only a minor role at Glasgow with only a sentence devoted to it in the summary of the Pact, and, in particular, there was no obvious discussion about Asia’s seas.
Their marine ecosystems are, however, extremely significant; they generate more than 50 per cent of global annual fish catch and employ 85 per cent of the world’s fishers and aquaculture (fish farming) workers.
At the same time, parts of these waters are experiencing warming at a rate 10 times the global average, leaving key commercial fisheries at risk of collapse.
