'Severe' stress on oceans as rate of sea level rise doubles in 10 years, UN warns

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/08/un-world-ocean-assessment-severe-stress-sea-level-rise-doubles-pollution-fishing-climate

Global effort needed to limit effects of pollution, industrial fishing and climate crisis, World Ocean Assessment says

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The UN’s third World Ocean Assessment, which reflects the work of nearly 600 scientists from 86 countries, looked at the oceans’ health from 2021-25. The previous report, that covered up to 2018, found persistent degradation of the marine environment.

Five years on, scientists know more about the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the ocean, and the latest report shows just how much of the damage has been done in the past few years. The scientists’ key findings include:

• Sea levels continue to rise at an increasing rate, from 2mm a year prior to 2015 to 4.3mm a year in 2023.


• 16% of the increase in global ocean heat since 1955 occurred after 2018.


• The greatest relative warming has been observed in the Atlantic Ocean and the southern parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.


• Large gaps in knowledge persist – with only 27% of the ocean floor mapped by 2025, deep-sea ecosystems remain poorly understood.

António Guterrez, the UN secretary general, said: “We cannot keep treating the ocean as limitless. Urgent global collaboration is needed to protect marine ecosystems.

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https://www.un.org/regularprocess/woa3