The FINANCIAL — A study led by the University of Liverpool that catalogued all of the links between marine biodiversity and the different ways we rely on the sea found more than 30 ways it supports well-being including providing a source of nutrition, supplying raw materials and supporting recreational activities.
A team of researchers explored the different ways that European seas including North East Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea support and link to human wellbeing.
It is known that marine biodiversity supports human wellbeing in many ways and that people benefit from links between the flora and fauna of the sea and the ‘ecosystem services’. However, such an extensive catalogue of the links between marine ecosystems and human wellbeing has not previously existed.
The study found 31 different ecosystem services including providing a source of nutrition through supply of seafood, providing raw materials, for example marine plants used in cosmetics, producing oxygen (the sea is estimated to produce half of the oxygen we breathe), providing natural flood defences and also providing opportunities for recreation, artistic inspiration and enhancement of spiritual wellbeing.
Some of these, like seafood, have significant economic value and others enrich our lives in other essential and non-essential ways.
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