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HMankind’s curiosity about what’s up in space has long outstripped his interest in what lies beneath the surface of Earth’s oceans. The difference is so great that scientists today have more accurate maps of the surface of Mars than of the bottom of the ocean. In fact, more people have visited the moon than are at the bottom of the sea.
But people would do well to learn more about what lies in the depths of the ocean – if only to gain a better understanding of what is almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, most of which remains unexplored. That was the case put forward by experts and industry leaders on Wednesday at the 54th annual World Economic Forum in Davos. The “Live from the Sea” panel, moderated by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, discussed the potential of existing technologies not only to reveal the ocean’s unknowns but also to address many of the man-made challenges that have a negative impact on Earth. waters and the communities that depend on them today.
Read more: One Man’s Effort to Save the Oceans – And Maybe Save the World
Our understanding of the oceans is so limited that “we’ve only described about 10% of the species in the deep sea – as far as we know, because of course we don’t know how many species there are,” said David Obura . , director of Coastal Ocean Research and Development in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa, an organization that researches and monitors Indian Ocean coral reefs. Because of the role the ocean plays in managing the Earth’s climate – both in the production of oxygen and the absorption of carbon dioxide – he said “we really need to understand the sensitivity and wonder of the ocean to deal with the challenges we face . ‘ forward through climate change and [in] trying to feed and sustain our planet for years to come.”
The ocean represents “humanity’s greatest legacy,” said Andrew Forrest, chairman and founder of mining and green energy firm Fortescue—a legacy he fears will not be passed on, at least to future generations. in its current form. “I want to see the big explorers like it [French oceanographer] Jacques Cousteau … let there be a beautiful, urgent ocean to explore,” he said, “and the industrial world does not destroy it for lack of knowledge.”
There is already ample evidence of this destruction in the form of pollution, overfishing, and oceanic heat waves fueled by climate change. But part of the challenge in addressing this destruction is understanding its extent – something Jennifer Morris, CEO of the environmental organization The Nature Conservancy, says existing technology can help with. . “If we could see what we are doing on the ocean, we would be able to measure and value it in a much better way,” she explained, noting that the wider use of electronic monitors on board vessels can fishing help tracking — and, ultimately. , to reduce—issues such as overfishing and forced labor practices. She said that while some businesses and countries are committed to this type of tracking, “it’s not happening fast enough. … We have the technology, but we have to have the will to do it.”
Read more: Why We Need to Reimagine Our Oceans
Because humans are a land-based species, it’s a challenge to get them to connect more closely with the ocean and care about what they can’t easily see. But here too, technology plays a vital role. During the panel, in one of the few live broadcasts with crew from the deep sea, attendees were able to hear from Caribbean marine biologist and explorer Diva Amon, who joined the live chat from a submerged almost 350 meters below the surface of the An Indian Ocean at the Aldabra Atoll, where she is examining the health of Mesophotic coral reefs off the coast of Seychelles. The maps generated and data collected from the ocean depths are transmitted to the OceanXplorer, a 286-foot rig-turned-oil research vessel that has the technological capability to reach and study the Earth’s ocean floors using submerged and remotely operated vehicles. able to explore up to 6,000 meters deep.
Amon compared this broadcast to the 1969 broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing nearly 400,000 kilometers from Earth. “Fast forward 54 years later, and here we are coming to you about half a kilometer below the surface of the ocean,” she says. “What we hope will happen is that, just as in the last century space exploration has pushed people to be great in space, we hope that ocean exploration – coming to you and sharing the last frontier this is for our planet, the deep ocean – it will really inspire a new generation to take care of the ocean.”
Investor Ray Dalio, founder of non-profit ocean exploration initiative OceanX, says the ability to see the ocean this way has already had a demonstrable effect. Release of BBC documentary Blue Planet II, about 40% of which was shot from the OceanX vessel, prompted the British government to introduce changes to its laws on plastic pollution. “I believe that doing the science and then being able to show it and inspire people so that people care and then demand the things that we say we need to do is an important path,” Dalio said. .
Write to Yasmeen Serhan at yasmeen.serhan@time.com.
