Life below water

Goal 14: Life below water

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources

Advancing the sustainable use and conservation of the oceans continues to require effective strategies and management to combat the adverse effects of overfishing, growing ocean acidification and worsening coastal eutrophication. The expansion of protected areas for marine biodiversity, intensification of research capacity and increases in ocean science funding remain critically important to preserve marine resources.

Shapefile showing the location of protected areas in Africa as national parcs and natural reserves.

Daily Coral Bleaching Heat Stress Alert Area

Healthy coral reefs provide a home for millions of aquatic species and numerous ecosystemic services. Yet they are severely threatened. When stressed, corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues and become white (bleached) and vulnerable. The NOAA Coral Reef Watch daily global 5km...

Ocean temperature is related to ocean heat content (the energy absorbed by the ocean), an important topic in the study of global warming. Monitoring of sea surface temperature (SST) from earth-orbiting infrared radiometers has had a wide impact on oceanographic science. It provides fundamental...

Monitoring of sea surface temperature (SST) provides fundamental information on the global climate system and for the study of marine ecosystems. For example, it helps estimating heat stress conducive to coral bleaching, the process by which they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues and...

Chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chla) are an indicator of phytoplankton abundance and biomass in open waters. They can be an effective measure of trophic status and are commonly used to measure water quality. This layer compares the Chla value from the last full month with the long-term mean Chla. A...

This indicator refers to the stock status of marine fish. As the largest traded food commodity in the world, seafood provides sustenance to billions of people worldwide. More than 85% of the world's fisheries have been pushed to or beyond their biological limits. Overfishing occurs in areas that...

This indicator measures forest canopy loss. Land- and sea-use change is the major human influence on habitats. Habitat loss is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and is the number one reason species go extinct. Around half of the world's original forests have disappeared, and they are still...

This indicator measures the availability of natural and cultural resources. Some industries, such as tourism, real estate and education, can depend highly on the presence of touristic valuable land or seascapes or specific sites. Tourism is an engine for jobs and investment. The degradation or loss...

Water scarcity refers to the physical abundance or lack of freshwater resources. It can significantly impact business such as production/supply chain disruption, higher operating costs, and growth constraints. Water scarcity is human-driven, and can be aggravated by natural conditions (e.g., aridity...

This dataset shows the global distribution of coral reefs in tropical and subtropical regions. It is the most comprehensive global dataset of warm-water coral reefs to date, acting as a foundation baseline map for future, more detailed, work. This dataset was compiled from a number of sources by...

This indicator is based on nutrient, pesticide and air pollution. Pollution is an important driver of biodiversity and ecosystem change throughout all biomes. While terrestrial ecosystems have been affected by nitrogen-phosphorous fertilisers, these have had a far more pernicious effect on the...