Marine expertise

Statista's report on the impact of climate change on the resilience and sustainability of the world's ocean.

Supported by a great and competent team of scientific advisors, we have worked together with Statista to create an exciting report that provides a comprehensive overview and relevant data to understand the largest ecosystem on our planet, which absorbs 30% of the CO2 caused by humans. We are pleased to be make this ocean report available free of charge.

Rising sea levels, damaged oil platforms, growing garbage patches and overfishing: the ocean is under threat. In order to protect this sensitive ecosystem, it is important to have a better understanding of the links between human activity and changes to the marine habitat.

"The Ocean Book" provides a complete picture of the interaction between humans and the ocean in 45 vivid information graphics, documenting the threat to this fascinating habitat and making the connections easy to understand.

What action should we take for the effective mitigation of climate change? Measures to avoid greenhouse gas emissions are surely the main priority – but the truth is that in the coming decades, we will also have to remove large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it securely. Can – indeed, should – the ocean aid us in this task? The new World Ocean Review (WOR 8) explores this issue with reference to the oceans' role in the Earth's carbon cycle and looks at the benefits, risks and knowledge gaps around the main marine carbon dioxide removal techniques.

The seventh edition of the »World Ocean Review« focuses on the effects of climate change on the physics of the ocean and on its biotic communities; the consequences of fishing, shipping, resource extraction, energy production, and marine pollution; and the questions of how active substances from the ocean can be used and how the ocean can be managed in the future in such a way that both its protection and the participation of as many people as possible in its services and goods are ensured.

This sixth World Ocean Review (WOR) focuses on the Arctic and the Antarctic – two regions which are, in a very real sense, polar opposites, with some of the world’s most extreme conditions. Besides presenting a wealth of facts and figures about the history and exploration of the polar regions, WOR 6 builds a deeper awareness of their key role for life on our planet. It highlights the changes that can be observed in their flora and fauna and analyses the already dramatic impacts of global warming on these extremely fragile regions.

The fifth World Ocean Review (WOR) explores the coastal habitat and the diverse expectations upon this habitat. It provides a glimpse into millions of years of history, elucidates the theory of continental drift and discusses the many ways in which coasts have changed. It also illustrates how the diverse ecosystem services rendered by the coasts are being subjected to increasing pressure, and profiles measures that will be necessary in the future to respond effectively to the threats from both climate change and natural disasters.

The fourth edition of the World Ocean Review (WOR) focuses on sustainability and explores how that concept can guide the management of our marine environment. WOR 4 explains the key ecosystem services supplied by our seas and identifies the main threats to them. It offers an overview of current marine policy at regional and transnational level and shows how conservation and sustainable use of our oceans can be reconciled in future.

The third issue of the World Ocean Review, WOR 3, is devoted to marine resources – metals and energy – and their utilization. It gives the facts about the extraction of known oil and gas deposits below the ocean floor and examines the impacts upon flora and fauna. It explains how gas hydrates form on continental shelves and what potential they hold. The review further explores in detail the opportunities and risks presented and posed by extracting mineral resources from the seabed: manganese nodules, cobalt crusts and massive sulphides.

WOR 1 provided a panoptic overview. The following report (WOR 2), the second in the series, focuses on the future of fish and their exploitation. Fish have always been a vital source of life for mankind – not only as a food. Fish continue to be essential to the daily diet of people in most regions of the world. At the same time fisheries provide a livelihood to entire coastal regions and still have great economic clout. All this, however, is in jeopardy and is coming under close scrutiny. Fish stocks are declining worldwide, entire marine regions are overfished and some species are already red-listed.

This first “World Ocean Review” is published in 2010 and will be followed by periodic updates in the future. The result is a comprehensive, detailed and unique report about the state of the world’s oceans and their interplay with ecological, economic and sociopolitical conditions. Its aim is to increase public awareness of the interconnected nature of the diverse aspects of the marine environment and thus to boost marine conservation.