Black areas show the least biologically productive parts of the world’s oceans. These so-called ocean deserts are expanding much faster than previously predicted. The UNEP warns that by 2050 productivity will have decreased in nearly all areas and with it fish catches. It also says that the continuing decline in marine biodiversity will compromise the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems to the impacts of climate change, as well as their ability to mitigate its effects.

Plastic waste on the Azores Islands in Portugal. The UNEP says marine litter poses a ‘dire, vast and growing threat’ to the marine and coastal environment. Most marine litter consists of material that degrades slowly, if at all, so a continuous input of large quantities of these items results in a gradual build-up

Nine other issues and pictures:

Marine ecosystems at risk from pollution