We are living on a blue planet. Around 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and 97% of this is ocean. Our global oceans are the support system for all life on earth. They regulate our climate and produce almost half the oxygen we breathe. They are life-giving and they are in deep trouble. Industrial fishing, pollution, oil drilling and the climate emergency are hitting marine life hard.
In March 2023, after decades of campaigning from multiple environmental groups around the world, the Global Ocean Treaty was signed – a legal framework for creating ocean sanctuaries, free from harmful human activity. The Global Ocean Treaty needs to be ratified. 80 Governments around the world, including the UK, have signed the treaty, but it needs to become domestic law if we are to protect 30% of oceans by 2030, which is the agreed scientific requirement to enable marine life to recover from devastating loss and damage. Only seven have done that at the moment and time is running out.
The UN Oceans Conference in June 2025 is now widely accepted as the date by which governments around the world need to make the treaty a reality; to have proposals for the first ocean sanctuaries ready to go. The framework was agreed after huge international support and campaigning, not just by environmental organisations, but by ordinary people like you and I, who cared enough to stand up for our precious marine habitats. Everything starts somewhere small. The moment is now, and we must seize the day.
At Dorset Wildlife Trust, we are dedicated to protecting our oceans through our conservation work at sea. We run marine-themed events and volunteering opportunities throughout the year at our marine centres, which you can visit, learn more about marine life and help us conserve our oceans. You can read all about our work with Marine Protection Areas and learn how these are vital to link a wider network of protected habitats and species.
Changing habits and doing small things at home can, and will, make a difference. More and more of us are turning away from using certain cleaning brands that harm the environment and wildlife to those that don’t. Check the labels. Many products have superior cleaning power yet don’t contain harsh chemicals that get flushed down our drains, into the rivers and out to our oceans. Learn more about cosmetics, soaps, washing-up liquids and cleaning products and what not to wash away here.
In January 2018, plastic microbeads were finally banned in the UK from being included in cosmetics and personal care products. Huge, consistent campaign pressure from national and international environmental organisations around the world, together with iconic imagery of marine life being strangled, deformed and poisoned, brought about this momentous legislation. However, pollution, which includes microbeads and larger plastics, contributes to the death of more than 100,000 marine mammals like whales, dolphins and seabirds every year.
However, the microbead ban is not enough. Plastic microbeads are still allowed in cleaning products, sunscreen, paint. Around 210,000 tonnes of plastic from paint on our roads and buildings end up in the ocean every year. It is difficult to get away from using plastic, but there are small things we can do to limit our reliance on them. Again, it’s about buying alternatives to plastics wherever possible, checking labels; PE, PP, PET, PMMA, PA are all plastics which break down into microbeads in our fragile marine environment. Beach cleans are a great way to do something practical and often sociable.
Take cloth bags to the supermarket, store food in reusable boxes, use refillable bottles, don’t buy water in plastic bottles. Even certain brands of teabags have plastic fibres woven into them. Plastic is everywhere, but if we could all become a little more aware and do a few small things, our collective actions could mean the difference between the rapidly declining health of our oceans and marine species to protecting and nurturing our blue planet.
The work of the Wilder Communities team has been supported by South Western Railway's Customer Community Improvement Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund
