The DBU Highlights the Importance of the Oceans for Climate, Biodiversity and Food Supply - Seite 2

A ground-breaking step for better living conditions for local populations 

This is also due, in part, to the fact that 80 to 90 per cent of wastewater in developing countries is discharged untreated directly into rivers, lakes and the oceans. The DBU has called the implementation a functioning, manageable, low-maintenance, cost- and energy-efficient sanitation sector in these countries a ground-breaking step in terms of improving the lives of the people currently living these countries, as well as the lives of their children and their children's children. At the same time, there is still so much we do not know about the oceans' ecosystems, and it is vital that we close these gaps in our knowledge in order to understand the connection between microbial diversity in the deep sea and global shifts such as climate change. According to the DBU, we must first understand these processes in order to understand the global climate cycle and act on these findings.

Demonstrating the impact of deep-sea bacteria on the global climate  

Antje Boetius, deep-sea and polar researcher and Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute's Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, was lauded as an outstanding scientist with an extraordinary talent for understanding systemic processes in the world's oceans from an interdisciplinary perspective and for conveying the relationships between them. Through her research, she has demonstrated the impact of deep-sea bacteria on the global climate: these bacteria ensure that only part of the harmful methane gas trapped in the ocean can escape into the atmosphere, thus preventing the planet from heating even faster. The marine biologist, ecosystem researcher and science communicator has repeatedly proven that human activity can be detected in the farthest reaches of the Earth.

Protecting a yet-unexplored world against destructive deep-sea mining practices  

In Boetius' view, along with climate change, the global fishing industry has already seriously altered the world's oceans. Her aim is to ensure that the yet-unexplored world of the deep sea does not fall victim to destructive deep-sea mining practices required to mine raw materials such as manganese, iron, cobalt and rare metals. Our oceans must be understood as part of our planet and of our society as a whole, and thus as a crucial aspect of the sustainability aims of the United Nations. The biological diversity in our oceans and polar regions are also an important resource for our future and must therefore be protected.