Fisheries contribute to food security, livelihoods, and human health across the globe. Regrettably, the history of fisheries management worldwide is dotted with more failures than successes (Sarkar et al., 2018). Literature on fisheries management points out case examples of many inefficiencies than successful escapades.
Wetlands are natural regulators of the quantity and quality of water. The common wetlands across the globe include flood plains, freshwater swamps, open coasts, swamp forests, lakes, and peatlands. According to Wu et al. (2018), wetlands are the most diverse and productive ecosystems on the earth; thus, sources of diverse biological communities of invertebrates, birds, and other vertebrates.
The ocean ecosystem is an enormous economic asset and source of livelihood for many people across the globe. Hundreds of millions of people work in mariculture ports, tourism, shipping, offshore energy, and cosmetics, among many other sub-economies supported by the ocean (Stuchtey et al., 2020). Data shows that 90% of the world’s goods are traded across the ocean (Sumaila et al., 2020).
Deforestation is a topic that most of us have heard about, if not directly. We see evidence of deforestation—from tree stumps to starkly empty ground—as we travel or walk across the world today. Urban and rural areas as well as jungles and mountains are all affected by deforestation. Taking trees from a forest for purposes other than their health or quality is known as deforestation.
Water covers two-thirds of the world, but only 1% of it is suitable for human use. On Earth, there are 326 million trillion gallons of water. The remaining 97 per cent is saltwater, which is unfit to drink. Freshwater makes up 2.5 per cent of the total, but most of it is locked in the poles or deep below. This leaves us with about 0.4 per cent to distribute among the 7 billion people on the planet.
Climatic changes resulting from ominous human activities and excessive use of freshwater resources have adversely affected the quality and the quantity of the groundwater reserves. Access to potable water is getting limited globally, specifically across the Middle East and North Africa. Moreover, due to the presence of toxic pollutants freshwater shortage is also felt in Central and Western European countries and Latin America (Bundschuh et al., 2021). The population boom has exacerbated the water deficiency to a further dwindling level of below 1500 m3 per year (per person availability), which is far below the minimum essential standards.
The solutions are there. All! All over!
The fight against climate change does not depend on the availability of solutions, but on the willingness and political will to identify and implement new solutions.