‘Blue Nature Alliance’ for Conservation of Oceans
A new global maritime initiative called ‘Blue Nature Alliance’ has been launched to ensure conservation of important aquatic areas and oceans in the coming five years.
The “Blue Nature Alliance” initiative has been launched in collaboration with various philanthropic organizations, national governments, local communities, indigenous people, scientists and academics.
Key Facts:
- The Blue Nature Alliance aims to protect 5% of the world ocean area over five years. Under this, the alliance will target seven ocean locations, including Antarctica, Seychelles, Canada, Palau, the western Indian Ocean, Fiji, Tristan da Cunha, and an island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
- The ‘Blue Nature Alliance’ will initially cover three seas of Fiji’s Lau Seascape, Antarctica’s Southern Ocean and Tristan da Cunha Island, initially covering an area of 8 million square kilometers (1.9 million sq mile) as part of its conservation work.
- The primary objective of this initiative is to work closely with the local communities most affected by climate change and thus this initiative can be helpful in marine conservation as well as increase ecosystem resilience.
- Oceans on more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface significantly affect human life and are especially important for the livelihood of communities living in coastal or small island areas. According to the Marine Conservation Atlas, more than 7% of the world’s oceans are designated as “protected areas”. However, in reality only 7% are “fully protected”.
Marine Protection Atlas
- It was launched in 2012 by the Marine Conservation Institute. This atlas is designed to provide the best available information on maritime security worldwide. This will help marine conservation communities to work together and protect at least 30% of the world ocean by It is built on the basis of the world database on protected areas.
World Database on Protected Areas
- It maintains a database on terrestrial and marine protected areas. It is a joint project between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Source – The Hindu
