Among the global stresses affecting reef-building corals, affecting their health and potentially leading to mass bleaching events, plastic pollution represents a major and growing threat: the amount of plastic waste found in seas and oceans could reach 29 million tons per year by 2040.

All life on Earth depends on a healthy ocean, but our marine world is in crisis, we’ve seen it firsthand. Since the first edition of The Ocean Race in 1973 teams in our round-the-world competition have sailed through garbage belts, spotted illegal fishing fleets and encountered less and less wildlife as they journey across the planet.

More than 20 million tons of plastic waste are dumped into the seas and oceans every year. This destructive scourge for marine biodiversity is also a proven risk for human health.

As ocean advocates continue to fight an uphill battle which is taking years to seek the designation of an increasing number of marine protected areas around the world, let alone their proper management, would it be worthwhile to explore another option that would consist in designating marine exploitable areas instead?

IHO and CIESM have renewed their Scientific Cooperation Agreement for the next 4 years. This will provide a framework for active cooperation between the two intergovernmental organizations dedicated to marine science, based in Monaco.

Monaco Ocean Week has just started with the 12th Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI) which brought together various stakeholders and decision-makers in the field of sustainable management and conservation of the Ocean, on Monday 22nd March, around the theme of the blue economy.

BeMed continues to support, through its call for micro-initiatives, projects that aim to reduce plastic use and find alternatives, improve waste collection, raise awareness, engage stakeholders and help implement regulations.

An online workshop of the Because the Ocean signatories took place on 23rd March 2021, kindly hosted as part of the Monaco Ocean Week.

The Mediterranean Sea is one of the richest natural areas in the world in terms of biodiversity.

Will 2021 be a super year for the ocean? Those working to protect marine biodiversity hope so, after the global pandemic led to the cancellation or postponement of a line-up of potentially game changing events in 2020.