- At the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France (June 2025), Secretary-General António Guterres noted that, “Our ocean is a system in crisis. But the ocean of our ancestors—teeming with life & diversity—can be more than a legend. It can be our legacy.”
In 2025, scientists confirmed that ocean acidification has officially breached its planetary boundary, making it the seventh Earth system process now outside the “safe operating space” for humanity.
The Planetary Boundaries framework, developed in 2009 by Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and colleagues, identifies nine critical processes that keep Earth stable.
Seven of them have been breached: climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, freshwater use, nutrient pollution, plastics and chemicals, and now ocean acidification. Only ozone depletion and aerosol loading remain within safe limits.
Ocean acidification is particularly alarming. As oceans absorb excess CO₂, their chemistry shifts, lowering pH and dissolving calcium carbonate, the very building block of corals, shellfish, and plankton.
These are the foundation of marine food webs. Without them, coral reefs collapse, fisheries dwindle, and billions of people especially in coastal regions like East Africa—face food insecurity.
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Economically, the projected losses to fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism could run into billions annually. Worse still, oceans currently absorb about 25% of human CO₂ emissions, but acidification weakens this capacity, undermining one of our planet’s most vital climate buffers.
At the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France (June 2025), Secretary-General António Guterres noted that, “Our ocean is a system in crisis. But the ocean of our ancestors—teeming with life & diversity—can be more than a legend. It can be our legacy.”
And yet, amid the gloom of 2025, a glimmer of hope rises in 2026. The High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement), entering into force this January, is a step toward saving the oceans.
Covering nearly two-thirds of waters beyond national borders, it establishes marine protected areas, requires environmental impact assessments for activities like deep-sea mining, and regulates exploitation of marine genetic resources.
It creates a framework for global cooperation, capacity building, and technology transfer ensuring that developing nations are not left behind.
In simple terms, the treaty transforms the high seas from a “free-for-all” into a shared responsibility. It offers a legal mechanism to preserve marine ecosystems, protect food security, and maintain the ocean’s role as a climate regulator.
2025 showed us how fragile Earth’s systems have become. 2026 gives us a chance to act differently. The breaches are real, but so are the solutions—if humanity chooses legacy over legend.
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