Sustainability of the marine environment - Essay Example

? Sustainability of the marine environment Supervisor: May 9, Sustainability of the marine environment Environmental changes into adverse weather changes and increased rates and significance of natural calamities have raised awareness over interdependence between humans and their actions, and the environment. Researchers have argued that the realized unfavourable changes in the environment are a result of human actions that have been selfish to facilitate short-term utility at the expense of the environment. Consequences have included extreme emission of carbon monoxide gas among other green house gasses towards global warming and its secondary effects. Extinction of biotic factors has also been a significant factor in human actions. The marine environment has particularly realized diversified human activities such as marine transport and other economic activities like fishing that induce direct and indirect impacts on the environment. While responsible exploitation of the marine environment would ensure its sustainability, personal greed among economic stakeholders have identified threats to sustainability of the marine environment. I, in this paper, reflect on the current marine environment condition and achieved success in the environment’s sustainability. The marine environment is currently susceptible to diversifies sources of pollution that threatens its ecosystem. Human activities have continually polluted the marine environment, directly and indirectly, and the effects are significant to marine lives and derivable benefits from the biotic factors. Plastic debris is an example of significant pollutants in the environment and research indicates its role in killing the ecosystem’s fauna and flora. The litter that may be deposited in large masses through waste disposal or may accumulate over time affects marine animals by trapping them. This limits the animals’ survival potentials by hindering their locomotive potentials and reduces their ability to search for food and even defend themselves from predators in the ecosystem. The animas also suffer from intoxication when they ingest the litter that may be poisonous. Similarly, plastic debris may cause physical injury to the animals, and even plants, because of physical impacts as the debris are introduced into the environment. The plastic debris further has secondary effects as the primary death of plants and animals in the water masses further pollute the environment (Derraik 2002, p. 844- 850). Activities such as exploration of natural resources from marine base and chemical use on the water surface also identify current pollution of the environment. Oil spill that has been a significant problem in the past, with the Gulf of Mexico spill being the latest, together with oil leaks from vessels and machineries that operate on or below water surface have been major pollutants. Strong frameworks for preventing and managing further occurrence still lack and this demonstrate vulnerability of the environment and its habitats to future effects of the leaks and spills. Threats in oil spills affect marine habitats and hinder economic activities in the environment. It affects animals’ physiology and significant pollution levels may cause death. Chemical components of oil also impair cells in marine plants and animals and may force the biotic factors out of their shelters. These effects result in ecosystem imbalance and have consequences on resources from the marine environment. Such pollutants may also hinder economic activities in the environment such as transport and resource exploitation. The direct role of human activities in the pollutions means that these factors can be regulated by ensuring responsible application of resources in the marine environment (ITOPF n.d., p. 2; Xhelilaj and Sinanaj 2010, p. 20, 21). Many threats have also been associated with different marine ecosystems. While these threats may not have direct pollutant effects on the environment, they affect marine lives and threaten economic activities in the environment. High temperatures in the water bodies is the major identified threat and could be associated with global warming. Its significance is derived from biological properties of living things that allows optima operation of body cells and processes at given temperature ranges. High temperatures beyond the optimum levels are therefore unhealthy for the environment’s habitat, and may lead to deaths with adverse secondary consequences. Irresponsible economic activities such as fishing practices that are destructive to marine plants and animals or their habitat is another threat. Example of such activities may include application of chemicals for fishing or use of substandard equipments. Excess deposit of organic substances is another threat to the ecosystem. Offshore environments and factors such as “rocky reef, coral reef, bard shelf, and mangrove” are the most vulnerable to the threats (Halpern, Selkoe, Micheli and Kappel 2007, p. 1301). Another threat to the marine ecosystem is the lack of standard measure to evaluating real threats. Subjective approach has been relied upon to identify the most vulnerable marine ecosystems and significance of involved threats but the analytical approach is subject to bias. An expert that specializes in an ecosystem may for example be more sensitive to that system and its threats and overlook other environments. While such a level of bias may blur accurate identification threats and vulnerable habitants within the marine environment, reliance on an independent body of experts with responsibility over the marine environment can ensure a comprehensive analysis and accurate information on threats to the environment (Halpern, Selkoe, Micheli and Kappel 2007, p. 1302- 1313). Policies for regulating marine environment also identify sustainability concerns. The policies have been formulated at different levels, regional, national, and international levels, for regulating application of marine resources and only some of them have been effective, especially at regional and national levels. Policies that govern economic activities in “the Northern Gulf of California” are examples of successful regional regulations and establishing and implementing such regulations at different marine zones would ensure responsibility towards a sustainable environment (Ainsworth et al. 2012, p. 63). A review of impacts of the regional policy reported increased protection of plant and animal species in the marine zone and improved sustainability of the environment (Ainsworth et al. 2012, p. 46- 49). Regulatory policies and bodies at international levels however have many weaknesses that hinder effective management of the marine environment for sustainability. Treaties such as “UNCLOS” and “CBD,” laws such as “Agenda 21,” “Rio Declaration,” and “WSSD Johannesburg Plan Of Implementation,” and international organizations exist but the weaknesses undermine their effectiveness (Gjerde 2008, 7). Some of the weaknesses to effective regulation are lack of specific rules and power to ensure regulations, and lack of effective bodies to enforce established regulations or develop better regulations and frameworks for managing the aquatic environment (Gjerde 2008, p. 8, 12). Many challenges also hinder objectives towards a sustainable marine environment. There have been incompatibility issues between scopes of developed strategies for attaining sustainability and the existing problems to be resolved towards sustainability and this has undermined effectiveness and efficiency of the applied strategies. The global aspect of the marine environment also requires a global approach to resolving the problems. Regional regulatory bodies that portray effectiveness in resolving the environment’s problems lack jurisdiction in the global environment while global frameworks such as international treaties and international organizations for environmental issues suffer significant weaknesses. Differences between theory and reality to resolving the problems have also undermined sustainability (Jabbour et al. 2012, p. 11- 22). The proportion of the marine environment that is currently protected is also too small to identify progress in sustainability. While less than two percent of the global marine environment was protected by the year 2008, only 0.2 percent being under regional control, and a poor annual rate of increase in protected portions, success in marine sustainability is still very poor (Fish and Pauly 2008, p. 342- 349). Sustainability of the marine environment therefore remains a global challenge. While it faces pollution challenges and is vulnerable to threats such as high temperatures and irresponsible human activities, weak frameworks exist for regulating the environment towards sustainability. Statistics also indicate poor sustainability achievements. A centralized global framework should therefore be established to facilitate measures for a sustainable global marine environment. Reference list Ainsworth, C et al. 2012, ‘Full compliance with harvest regulations yields ecological benefits: North gulf of California case study,’ Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 49, pp 63-72. Derraik, J 2002, ‘The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: A review,’ Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 44, No. 9, pp. 842-852. Fish, W and Pauly, D 2008, ‘Assessing progress towards global marine protection targets: Shortfalls in information and actions,’ Fauna and Flora International, vol. 42, no. 3, pp 340-351. Gjerde, K 2008, Regulatory and governance gaps in the international regime for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, International Union of Conservation Nature, Viewed on May 8, 2013, . Halpern, B 2007, ‘Evaluation and ranking the vulnerability of global marine ecosystems to anthropogenic threats,’ Conservation Biology, vol. 21, no. 5, pp 1301-1315. ITOPF n.d., Effects of oil pollution on the marine environment, The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited, viewed on May 9, 2013, < http://www.itopf.com/information-services/publications/documents/TIP13EffectsofOilPollutionontheMarineEnvironment.pdf >. Jabbour, J et al. 2012, ‘Internationally agreed environmental goals: A critical evaluation of progress,’ Environmental Development, vol. 3, July, pp 5-24. Xhelilaj, E and Sinanaj, S 2010, ‘The behaviour and effects of oil pollution into marine environment and oceans.’ Scientific Journal of Marine Research, vol. 21, no. 1, pp 19-26. Read More