The terrible cost of our oceans’ decline

The author highlights the critical decline of the world's oceans due to warming, acidification, and pollution, emphasizing that the high seas lack an effective governing body. He advocates for updating economic estimates of marine ecosystem losses and suggests adapting 'payment for ecosystem services' models, similar to those used in forestry, to reverse ocean degradation.

• The world's oceans are experiencing warming, acidification, and a drop in oxygen concentrations, alongside damage from pollution and destructive fishing.
• The high seas, which cover 45% of the earth's surface and two-thirds of the ocean's area, suffer from a lack of overall responsibility by any single official body and an outdated governance framework based on the 30-year-old United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• Previous economic estimates of ocean loss are outdated, including a 1997 valuation of marine ecosystem services at $21 trillion, annual illegal fishing costs of $10-23.5 billion, and fishery mismanagement costs of $50 billion.
• The author suggests that 'payment for ecosystem services'—a model used in countries like Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil to fight deforestation—could be adapted as an economically sensible solution for ocean restoration.

APA

Velasco, A. (2013). The terrible cost of our oceans’ decline. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-terrible-cost-of-our-oceans-decline/

Chicago

Velasco, Andrés. The terrible cost of our oceans’ decline. World Economic Forum, 2013. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-terrible-cost-of-our-oceans-decline/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Velasco |first1=Andrés |title=The terrible cost of our oceans’ decline |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=16 October 2013 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-terrible-cost-of-our-oceans-decline/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{velasco2013terrible, author = {Velasco, Andrés}, title = {{The terrible cost of our oceans’ decline}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2013}, month = oct, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-terrible-cost-of-our-oceans-decline/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }