Good morning. The oceans are – according to the UN – “the world’s greatest ally against climate change”. While many of us now understand the urgent need to take the climate crisis seriously, the focus is still very much on the land and the air. Oceans cover more than 70% of the surface of the planet, generate 50% of the oxygen we breathe, absorb 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions and capture 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions.
Perhaps it is time we stopped to think a bit more about our seas, consider the dangers they face and look at what we can do to help. Lisa Bachelor, who edits the Guardian’s Seascape series about the state of our oceans, has – if not all the answers – quite a few of them. She joins us after the headlines.
Five big stories
US politics | Joe Biden took the stage at the Democratic national convention Monday to deliver a reflective and optimistic address, telling the crowd: “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.” Earlier, Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance to thank Biden for his “lifetime of service”.
Italy | UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were missing, along with Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and three others, after their yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. The British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people when it was hit by a tornado.
Care workers | The number of foreign social care workers reporting that they are trapped in exploitative contracts has risen sixfold in the last three years, in the latest evidence of widespread abuse of migrants in the British care system.
Israel-Gaza war | The current round of ceasefire talks is “maybe the last opportunity” to broker a truce and a hostage and prisoner swap, the US secretary of state has said during a visit to Israel. After a three-hour one-on-one with Benjamin Netanyahu, Anthony Blinken said that the Israeli prime minister “supports” the ceasefire proposal.
Ukraine | Ukrainian forces destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in Russia’s Kursk region as part of an apparent attempt to expand what Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described as a military “buffer zone” against attacks. It was the last major crossing on this part of the front.
In depth: ‘There is a realisation that oceans are a way to try and control the climate crisis’
“The oceans have been very much the poor cousin compared to the land when it comes to reporting on the climate crisis, and we are trying to address this with dedicated coverage of oceans,” Lisa says. “There is a growing realisation that oceans are a massive carbon sink and a way for humanity to try and control the climate crisis. At the same time, oceans are under unprecedented threat – and this matters to both the wildlife and the people who rely on the sea.”
Despite the importance of our oceans – which provide half of the world’s oxygen, represent 95% of the planet’s biosphere and act as Earth’s largest carbon sink – they have very little, if any, legal protection.
Almost two-thirds of the world’s oceans lie outside national boundaries. These are the “high seas”, which had been essentially lawless until a treaty was signed at the UN last year in a “once in a lifetime” chance to at last protect the oceans. The new high seas treaty could also curb illegal and unregulated fishing. This widespread global activity depletes fish stocks, robs coastal communities of a vital food source and affects livelihoods, leading in some cases to human rights abuses.
When after almost two decades of talks the treaty was finally signed late on a Saturday night in 2023 at the UN headquarters in New York, Karen McVeigh, a Guardian Seascape reporter, was the only journalist in the room.
The historic treaty is crucial for enforcing the 30x30 pledge made by countries at a UN biodiversity conference, to protect a third of the sea (and land) by 2030. Without a treaty, this target would certainly fail, as until now no legal mechanism existed to set up marine protected areas on the high seas.
“The high seas treaty has been described as the most important treaty no one has ever heard of,” Lisa says. “And it should give protection to marine life and biodiversity for generations to come.”
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The threats to our seas
While the treaty is good news, oceans are still threatened by pollution, plastics and the looming prospect of deep sea mining (pictured above). This is what it sounds like: mining ocean floor at depths greater than 200 metres for minerals, particularly those required for the batteries of electric cars.
“Vast areas of this unexplored abyss, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, are littered with polymetallic nodules, rich in manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt and other trace minerals. Minerals are also found near hydrothermal vents and within seamounts (underwater mountains),” Karen writes in this helpful explainer.
The surging demand for these minerals – and thus the need to mine the oceans – has been created by the rush to cut carbon emissions. In 2040, the world’s need for many of these metals– used for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and wind turbines – will be twice what it is today, according to the International Energy Agency.
Supporters of deep sea mining argue that a huge expansion of mining on land would cause further environmental havoc: mining the sea floor is less destructive, they say. Critics say on-land mining will carry on and that deep sea mining will cause “irreversible harm” to marine life and systems.
Last year, the UK, Sweden and Ireland joined countries calling for a moratorium, pause or ban on commercial deep-sea mining. The 27 states involved include Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama, Palau, Fiji and the Federated States of Micronesia. Norway has approved deep-sea mining in its national waters.
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What individuals can do
Beyond writing to politicians and signing petitions, there is not much we as individuals can do to make our views heard on deep sea mining. But there are other things we can do to help the oceans. “Sometimes it can feel overwhelming,” says Lisa. “But it’s not all grim news, and it’s not all out of our hands.”
Seascape has a series of articles on the British seaside and small things each of us can consider doing to play our part. You could join the Big Seaweed Search and help monitor seaweed biodiversity along the UK coastlines. There are also beach-cleaning operations across the country you can volunteer with, including Great Nurdle Hunters, who comb beaches for tiny bits of plastic, called nurdles.
When cooking, you could swap out cod and salmon for more unusual and sustainable seafoods (Pysk Fishmongers in Falmouth, pictured above, supply catch from local, small boats).
It is even possible to eat your way to improving biodiversity. In Sicily, people are being encouraged to eat invasive blue crabs. These crabs, with their striking blue claws and olive-green shells, are creating a crisis for Italy. Originating from the western Atlantic Ocean, they have no natural predators in the Mediterranean and feed on young clams, disrupting traditional shellfish harvests and affecting Italy’s position as one of the top clam producers in the world.
Francesco Tiralongo, a marine biologist at the University of Catania who has documented the explosive population growth of the blue crab, says in this piece: “Changing fish consumption habits in Sicily to include alien species like the blue crab is a necessary response to climate change and current ecological challenges.”
Editing Seascape has led Lisa to change her diet. “There is a huge feeling of guilt,” she says. “I am really cutting back on fish and seafood, and I am considering going back to being a vegetarian.”
Working on the series has also opened her eyes to a whole range of issues she hadn’t thought about before. “But the more I learn about the seas, the more positive I have become, because I have met and spoken to so many people who are completely dedicated to the future of our oceans.”
What else we’ve been reading
Sport
Football | Jamie Vardy (above) rescued a point for Leicester City against Tottenham in their first match back in the Premier League after promotion from the Championship. After a one-sided first half in which Pedro Porro put Spurs ahead, Leicester forced their way back into the match and could have snatched victory at the end.
Cricket | England have put their faith in a five-man bowling attack for the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford this week, handing Matthew Potts a recall and asking Chris Woakes to play as a designated all-rounder in the absence of Ben Stokes.
Cycling | After Kasia Niewiadoma won the Tour de France Femmes by the narrowest margin of victory in the history of Grand Tour racing, Jeremy Whittle writes that “the dramatic denouement will build [the race’s] global reputation, even if there are still issues to be resolved”. One key factor is prize money, with the winner taking home about a tenth of the men’s champion.
The front pages
“British tech boss among missing after superyacht sinks off Sicily” says the Guardian this morning, while the Daily Express has “Tycoon and daughter missing in yacht tragedy”. “Hero mum saves baby in sea hell” – that’s the Daily Mirror, while the Sun runs with “I saved my baby as yacht sank in dark” and the Times splashes on “Millionaires in yacht tragedy”. In the Metro it’s “Tycoon missing in yacht horror”, while the Financial Times’ take is “Vindicated tech baron Lynch missing after luxury yacht goes down off Sicily”. The Daily Telegraph’s headline is “Tech tycoon feared dead in family superyacht tragedy”.
There’s a puff about the yacht accident on the i’s front, pointing to the report inside, while the splash is “Crime suspects left on streets under ‘one-on, one-out’ prison crowding plan”. In the Daily Mail, the accident is also mentioned but the top story is a “Royal exclusive”: “Queen said Trump was ‘very rude’”.
Today in Focus
Racism in the army: the soldier who took the UK military to court
Former soldier Kerry-Ann Knight describes the racism she faced in the British military and how she went from being the face of an army recruitment drive to a painful employment tribunal
Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
There is fresh hope for people living with Parkinson’s thanks to a therapy that helps control the worst of its symptoms. Deep brain stimulation is already mainstream treatment, helping with stiffness, slowness and tremors. But the stimulation is set at a constant level, resulting in under or overstimulation.
Now the technique has been improved by allowing the level of stimulation to be automatically adjusted to a person’s needs, based on signals from the brain. A small pilot study found that people spent 50% less of their waking time dealing with their most difficult symptoms when they received what is known as “adaptive” DBS, compared with traditional DBS, and they reported better quality of life.
The team working on the technology want to do further trials to confirm the results of the study and the effectiveness and safety of the therapy, but adaptive DBS could become widely available in the future.
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