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According to a scientific study, only 13.2% of the world's oceans could be considered wild. These spaces could completely disappear within 50 years.
An international team of researchers badyzed human impacts on marine habitat, between runoff and increased shipping. According to them, only 13.2% of the world's oceans (around 55 million km2) could be considered wild, as a result of increased sea freight, pollution and overfishing. According to their study, the wild spaces of the remaining oceans are likely to disappear within 50 years.
Scientists, led by Kendall Jones of the University of Queensland, mapped underwater areas considered "intact" as well as ecosystems "free from human disturbance". According to their study published by Current Biology most of the wilderness is found in the Antarctic, the Arctic and near the remote Pacific islands.
Coastal areas close to human activities are those with the least flourishing marine life. "Marine areas that can be considered intact are becoming increasingly scarce as commercial and fishing fleets expand to nearly all the world's oceans and sediment run-offs are burying many areas of the world's oceans. Kendall Jones, adding that "the improvement of maritime transport technologies means that the most remote and wild areas could be threatened in the future, including areas once covered by ice now accessible because of of climate change. "
" These areas decline catastrophically "
According to the study, only 4.9% of areas considered intact are in protected areas. The rest is therefore all the more vulnerable and likely to disappear quickly. "We know that these areas are decreasing catastrophically. Their protection must become the goal of multilateral environmental agreements. Otherwise, they will likely disappear within 50 years, "said James Watson of the Australian Wildlife Conservation Society. Researchers therefore call for strengthening international cooperation to protect the oceans, fight against overfishing, limit underwater mining and reduce polluting runoff.
»READ ALSO – The study reveals the ravages Industrial Overfishing
In 2016, the UN began work on an international agreement that would govern and protect the high seas. "This agreement would have the power to protect large areas on the high seas and could represent our best chance to protect the last wild marine life, "said Kendall Jones.
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