essay on underwater world

WSDF 2020, Mar 5-7 | Durango, Mexico

The Ocean: Life Below Water and Why it Matters

Key questions >>>

• Why does the ocean matter? How is the ocean important for sustainable development?
• What does the sustainable blue economy offer us?
• What are the ocean knowledge gaps?
• How do we need to develop a multidisciplinary ocean science?

The ocean covers around three-quarters of the earth's surface and contains more than 90% of living species on our planet. The ocean is also the single largest ecosystem in the world, and it provides food for billions of people worldwide, as well as maritime transport, renewable energies, and other goods and services like regulating, cultural and supporting services. 

Nevertheless, the ocean is not indestructible, and our footprint is very large. Overfishing, toxic pollution, invasive species, nutrient over-enrichment, habitat degradation and destruction, biodiversity loss, dependence of a growing global population on its goods and services, and coastal development, all threaten the sustainability of coastal ocean ecosystems ( Vanderweerd in Sherman and McGovern, 2011). Ocean acidification is also a growing threat that may be more important than warming, pollution and overfishing (Roberts, 2011).

Why Does the Ocean Matter?

Oceans mean different things for different people: life, passion or wonderment; vastly important; a very important source of life and energy; an incredible source of food and amazing source of biodiversity; it's wild, exciting, terrifying and exhilarating; means a lot to me, if something happens I will not have the fun I’m used to; it's a livelihood, it's been there for generations and hopefully will be there for generations to come.’ (Adapted from video excerpt, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, 2011, in Muñoz-Sevilla and Le Bail 2017).

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the ocean is currently valued at $24 trillion dollars. The goods and services from marine environments add up to an additional $2.5 trillion yearly. This means the ocean would have the seventh-largest GDP in the world.  However, the value of the ocean relies on its current output, which in turn depends on its conditions. Climate change, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, pollution and overfishing are endangering the ocean and threatening its value and the security and livelihood of the three billion people who depend on it. Most of these people live in Small Island Developing States, they are among the ones who contribute least to these issues, but they are the ones at most risk, as they’re already vulnerable. ( Hoegh-Guldberg 2015)

Agenda 2030: SDG 13 and SDG 14

A historical change has been taking place for the past 23 years, from Agenda 21 to Agenda 2030. At the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21. The Millennium declaration was adopted after the 2000 Millennium Summit in New York. 10 years after the Rio Earth Summit, in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted during the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, ocean issues were included in the conversation for the first time. 

In 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also popularly known as Rio+20), member states adopted the document titled “The Future We Want”, which set the process of developing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) building on the MDGs. Finally, during the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, seventeen SDGs were adopted which are an integral part of the 2030 Agenda.  

Progress of SDG 14 in 2019

The expansion of protected areas for marine biodiversity and existing policies and treaties that encourage responsible use of ocean resources are still insufficient to combat the adverse effects of overfishing, growing ocean acidification and worsening coastal eutrophication. As billions of people depend on oceans for their livelihood and food source, increased efforts and interventions are needed to conserve and sustainably use ocean resources at all levels. 

• Ocean acidification is caused by the uptake of atmospheric CO 2 by the ocean, which changes the chemical composition of the seawater. Long-term observations over the past 30 years have shown an average increase of acidity of 26 percent since pre-industrial times. At this rate, an increase of 100 to 150 percent is predicted by the end of the century, with serious consequences for marine life. 
• To achieve sustainable development of fisheries, fish stocks must be maintained at a biologically sustainable level. Analysis reveals that the fraction of world marine fish stocks that are within biologically sustainable levels declined from 90 percent in 1974 to 66.9 percent in 2015. 
• As of December 2018, over 24 million km 2 (17.2 per cent) of waters under national jurisdiction (0–200 nautical miles from a national border) were covered by protected areas, a significant increase from 12 percent in 2015 and more than double the extent covered in 2010. The protected areas increased from 31.2 per cent in 2000 to 44.7 per cent in 2015 and to 45.7 per cent in 2018. 
• Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing remains one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries, the livelihoods of those who depend upon them and marine ecosystems. Most countries have taken measures to combat such fishing and have adopted an increasing number of fisheries management instruments in the past decade. 
• Small-scale fisheries are present in almost all countries, accounting for more than half of total production on average, in terms of both quantity and value. To promote small-scale fishers’ access to productive resources, services and markets, most countries have developed targeted regulatory and institutional frameworks. However, more than 20 per cent of countries have a low to medium level of implementation of such frameworks, particularly in Oceania and Central and South Asia.

The Ocean Decade

To recognize that more needs to be done to mitigate the global decline in ocean health, in December 2017, the UN declared 2021 to 2030 as the decade of ‘Ocean Science and Sustainable Development’. 

The Ocean Decade will strengthen international cooperation in all levels by strengthening dialogues, developing partnerships, developing capacity-building and leveraging investment, while supporting the entire 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Other critical goals include improving ocean literacy and education to modify social norms and behaviors, and creating new models for ocean action.

The Ocean Decade aims to include science-informed mitigation and adaptation policies around the world and share knowledge with coastal communities who are most vulnerable to the changes of the ocean. (Claudet et al. 2019)

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Ocean 

From Little Blue Letter, Glen Wright

• Marine creatures are enjoying some quiet time as underwater noise levels drop. Scientists are studying these effects on marine mammals.
• ​From Florida to Thailand, the number of sea turtles nests has increased on the now-empty beaches. The rapid recovery of marine wildlife in coastal areas shows how extensive our impacts are and highlights the importance of protected areas. 
• Fishers around the world are struggling with decreased demand, lack of sanitary conditions and logistical challenges. In some countries, like India, food security of the communities may be affected by this disruption of supply chains.
• PADI and Rash’R are producing (non-profit)  reusable face masks made from Ocean plastic , with designs based on sea animals!

Final Remarks

We can all take small steps towards protecting our ocean. Reduction of single-use plastic, responsible fish consumption, avoiding ocean harming products, and making your voice heard can all directly contribute towards a healthier ocean. However, more indirect approaches can be taken by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced by our daily activities and, therefore, reducing our carbon footprint. Reducing red meat consumption, consuming locally sourced products and using personal vehicles less are all examples of small steps we can take towards reducing our impact. The sum of individual actions can truly make a difference in the fate of our ocean.

Collectively, we need to form a global ocean community, acknowledging that all of our actions have an impact on the ocean (Claudet et al. 2019). And, although it is incumbent on each of us to take steps to protect the ocean, collective action is also required. New models for ocean action, which are collaborative, intergenerational, cross-cultural, and multi-sectoral, are needed in the coming decade, in order to protect our beloved ocean. 

The ocean is our life support system, it connects every one of us, you can think of the ocean as the blue heart  of this planet, but then we look after that heart and we know how we are damaging it and it needs intensive care. We know that scientists, politicians and stakeholders are talking to each other, but it isn’t just up to them, each and every one of us can make the difference, even if the difference might be small, after all individual small drops of sea water can make up the vast ocean . (Adapted from video excerpt, Plymouth Marine Laboratory 2011, in Muñoz-Sevilla and Le Bail 2017).

Bibliography

Cheung, W. et al (2013), “Signature of Ocean Warming in Global Fisheries Catch”, Nature, 497(2013): 365–368.

Claudet, J. et al (2019), “A Roadmap for Using the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in Support of Science, Policy, and Action”, One Earth , 2(1): 34-42.

Halpern, B. et al (2012), “An Index to Assess the Health and Benefits of the Global Ocean, Nature , 488(2012): 615–620.

UNESCO and UNEP (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and United Nations Environment Programme) (2016), Large Marine Ecosystems: Status and Trends, Summary for Policy Makers , Nairobi: UNEP.

Muñoz-Sevilla N. and M. Le Bail M (2017), “Latin American and Caribbean Regional Perspectives on Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) of Large Marine Ecosystems Goods and Services”, Environmental Development , 22(2017), 9-17.

Munoz-Sevilla N. et al (2019), UNU Ocean Institute Scoping Study Report , Tokyo: United Nations University.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (2011), Ocean Acidification: Connecting Science, Industry, Policy and Public (A Short Film for the Natural Environment Research Council and the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme), Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Roberts D. (2011), In: Ocean Acidification: Connecting Science, Industry, Policy and Public . A short film for the Natural Environment Research Council and the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme. Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

Sherman, K. and G. McGovern (2011), Toward Recovery and Sustainability of the World’s Large Marine Ecosystems during Climate Change , Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Sherman K. et al (2017), “Sustainable Development of Latin American and the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystems”, Environmental Development , 22(2017), 1-8.

United Nations (2015), Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , New York: UN.

Wright G. (2020), “The Pandemic and the Ocean”, Email Correspondence on May 1, 2020.

Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2015), Reviving the Ocean Economy: The Case for Action , Geneva: World Wide Fund for Nature.

Consulted on April 24th, 2020. (2019) What is the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development?. https://www.oceandecade.org/about?tab=our-story . Consulted on May 4th, 2020.

Why We Must Explore the Sea

Robert Ballard, the famed explorer who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, ponders what else is on the ocean floor

Robert D. Ballard

Most people think the bottom of the ocean is like a giant bathtub filled with mud—boring, flat and dark. But it contains the largest mountain range on earth, canyons far grander than the Grand Canyon and towering vertical cliffs rising up three miles—more than twice the height of Yosemite’s celebrated El Capitan.

When you look at publicly available topographies of the seafloor, you can get the impression that the job of mapping the planet is over. Far from it. Even these seemingly precise representations, often based on satellite estimates of ocean depths, are not all that revealing. They’re rather like throwing a wet blanket over a table set for a fancy dinner party. You might see the outlines of four candelabras surrounded by a dozen chairs, perhaps some drinking glasses if the blanket’s really wet. But that’s about it. You wouldn’t see the utensils and plates, let alone what’s for dinner. Satellite data, in other words, only gives a rough idea of what lies beneath the sea.

Only a tiny percentage of the ocean floor has been carefully mapped, which means we know less about 71 percent of the Earth’s landscape than about the far side of the Moon. That’s a lot of terra incognita. More than half of the United States of America lies in the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone extending out from its borders beneath the sea. If the country wants to extend its claim farther onto the continental shelf, and thus claim the trillions of dollars’ worth of oil and gas deposits probably found there, it needs to map those realms.

Exploration and mapping, and making the data open source, would be for the betterment of all citizens—not just in economic terms but in opportunities for unexpected discoveries. Meanwhile, too many ocean researchers go back to well-trodden regions.

In one way or another I’ve been mapping the ocean since 1967. After being assigned by the Office of Naval Research to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, I soon found myself standing watch on the research vessel Chain as it steamed back and forth across the continental margin off the East Coast, equipped with an instrument that bounced sound waves off the bottom of the sea and gauged the return. But the smooth, curved landscape pouring from the wet paper recorder onboard barely resembled the submarine canyons the ship was passing over. We simply had to guess how deep each canyon was.

Years later I learned that the Navy had worked with General Instrument to produce a sophisticated sonar system yielding extremely accurate maps, but the system was secret and few oceanographers knew it existed. I saw what this sonar could produce in 1973 during Project FAMOUS (French-American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study), the first time scientists used deep-diving vehicles to explore the rugged volcanic terrain of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in water depths of 10,000 feet and more. Similarly detailed maps helped guarantee the success of our historic expeditions to the Mid-Cayman Rise and Galápagos Rift in 1976 and 1977, including the discovery of the first hydrothermal vents and their exotic chemosynthetic life-forms.

Last year I mounted the latest multi-beam sonar on Nautilus , the vessel operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, the nonprofit education and research organization I founded. The instrumentation makes highly accurate 3-D maps, discerns if the seafloor is hard or soft, and can even detect oil and gas in the water column.

We filled in holes in publicly available bathymetry, as the science of measuring ocean depths is known, between the Bahamas and Florida, where there is potential for underwater landslides that could generate tsunamis reaching the East Coast. Such maps can reveal slope instabilities. We worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to map a refuge for spawning fish near the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and made some of the first maps around the Belize Barrier Reef.

One standout mission included surveys over natural gas seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, where we tracked gas bubbles from their source deep in the seabed. Then there are the cultural artifacts that so capture public imagination: Nautilus mapped the wreck of the U-166, the only German U-boat known to be sunk in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II.

All in all, our forays with Nautilus have mapped nearly 40,000 square miles of seafloor—a vast area the size of Kentucky, but a drop in the bucket compared with what’s left to do. Next year’s expeditions include trips south of the Equator for the first time. I can only wonder what waits for us in that hemisphere, where the ocean covers more than 80 percent of the area and where few explorers have ever been.

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Robert D. Ballard | READ MORE

Robert D. Ballard, best known for discovering the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985 and the battleship Bismarck in 1989, is the president of the Ocean Exploration Trust. He is also director of the Center for Ocean Exploration at the University of Rhode Island.

• Ocean Exploration Facts

Why do we explore the ocean?

Exploration is key to increasing our understanding of the ocean, so we can more effectively manage, conserve, regulate, and use ocean resources that are vital to our economy and to all of our lives..

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 

We explore the ocean because it is important to ALL of us. Thanks to game-changing technological advancements, we can now look into the ocean like never before. But exploration can only be achieved through cooperation and collaboration, such as the partnership between the NOAA Ocean Exploration, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Ocean Exploration Trust. Video courtesy of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Download larger version (mp4, 225 MB) .

Despite the fact that the ocean covers approximately 70% of Earth’s surface and plays a critical role in supporting life on our planet, from the air we breathe and the food we eat to weather and climate patterns , our understanding of the ocean remains limited .

Ocean exploration is about making discoveries, searching for things that are unusual and unexpected. As the first step in the scientific process, the rigorous observations and documentation of biological, chemical, physical, geological, and archaeological aspects of the ocean gained from exploration set the stage for future research and decision-making.

Through ocean exploration, we collect data and information needed to address both current and emerging science and management needs. Exploration helps to ensure that ocean resources are not just managed, but managed in a sustainable way, so those resources are around for future generations to enjoy. Exploration of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone is important for national security, allowing us to set boundaries, protect American interests, and claim ocean resources.

Unlocking the mysteries of ocean ecosystems can reveal new sources for medical therapies and vaccines, food, energy, and more as well as inspire inventions that mimic adaptations of deep-sea animals. Information from ocean exploration can help us understand how we are affecting and being affected by changes in Earth’s environment, including changes in weather and climate. Insights from ocean exploration can help us better understand and respond to earthquakes, tsunamis, and other hazards.

The challenges met while exploring the ocean can provide the impetus for new technologies and engineering innovations that can be applied in other situations, allowing us to respond more effectively in the face of an ocean crisis, such as an oil spill. And, ocean exploration can improve ocean literacy and inspire young people to seek critical careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

As a species, humans are naturally inquisitive — curiosity, desire for knowledge, and quest for adventure motivate modern explorers even today. And if all of these examples don’t provide enough reasons to explore the ocean, well, ocean exploration is also just cool (if you need it: proof ).

NOAA Ocean Exploration is a federal organization dedicated to exploring the unknown ocean, unlocking its potential through scientific discovery, technological advancements, and data delivery. By working closely with partners across public, private, and academic sectors, we are filling gaps in our basic understanding of the marine environment. This allows us, collectively, to protect ocean health, sustainably manage our marine resources, accelerate our national economy, better understand our changing environment, and enhance appreciation of the importance of the ocean in our everyday lives.

Related Education Materials

To Boldly Go

Grade Level: 6-8 Focus: Science/Technology

Students use learning shapes to explore modern reasons for ocean exploration including: climate change, energy, human health, ocean health, research and exploration, technology and innovation, underwater cultural heritage, and ocean literacy. This lesson can be used to acquaint students with the concept of ocean exploration and build a foundation for additional lessons.

Why Do We Explore the Deep Ocean? (pdf, 722 KB)

For More Information

How much of the ocean has been explored?

Why do we explore the water column?

Ocean exploration matters.

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81 Ocean Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best ocean topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good topics about the ocean, ❓ research questions about the ocean.

• Ocean Pollution and the Fishing Industry In essence, the activities of over six billion people in the world are threatening the survival and quality of water found in the oceans, lakes and other inland water catchment areas.
• Ocean Currents: General Information There are generally two types of ocean currents depending on the water level where the movement of oceanic water takes place and they are the deep ocean currents and the surface ocean currents.
• The Ocean Pollution Problem Overview Ocean pollution is the unfavorable upshot due to the entrance of chemicals and particulate substances into the ocean. The land is the key source of ocean pollution in the form of non-point water pollution.
• Living Resources of the Ocean The most commendable among the benefits of marine life to human life are the fact that marine life can act as food and the fact that some oceanic organisms have medicinal value.
• The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences The worst effects of the great wave were observed in Indonesia, where the death toll exceeded 160,000 people, and the overall damages almost reached $4.
• Life in the Bottom of the Ocean and Its Protection While we all strive hard to detect and analyze the essence of life and the impact it has on our lives, we need to understand that life in itself is a big mystery, the truth […]
• The World Oceans Pollution and Overfishing Human beings have taken a lot of time to realize the need for ocean conservation to the extent that the ocean has succumbed to ecological challenges that have affected their lives in a variety of […]
• How the Ocean Current Affect Animals’ Life in the Sea Depending on the strength of the ocean current, sea animals along the path are flown along with the water, and the animals are moved to new regions that are sometimes thousands of kilometers away causing […]
• The Problem of Ocean Pollution in Modern World Wastes such as toxic matter, plastics, and human wastes are some of the major sources of pollution in the ocean. Many people consume fish as food; when marine life is affected by toxic substance in […]
• Islam Expansion With the Intrusion of European Powers Impact on the History of the Indian Ocean This development has been researched and most of the research dwells on the activities of the Islamic rise between the seventh century and the 15th century.
• The Global Ocean Conveyor Belt This ocean water phenomenon is a result of the temperature difference in the ocean waters between the warm, salty surface water, and the less salty cold water in the ocean depths.
• The Viability of Continuing Investment on Tourism in the Great Ocean Road Region Tourism in the Great ocean Road region Tourism is a very critical sector of the economy and it entails provision of various services to tourists who visit tourism attraction sites which in most cases are […]
• Ocean Dumping Issue and Rhetorical Rationale Therefore, the goal of this paper is to prove that the poster in question manages to accomplish an impressive goal of subverting the audience’s expectation and encouraging them to shift from an ironic perception of […]
• The Negatives of Fossil Fuel: Ocean Acidification and Human Health The adverse effects of burning oil are hard to overestimate. Unless specific and practical actions are taken to address the issues of global climate change and pollution issues and reduce reliance on oil, the future […]
• Impacts of Climate Change on Ocean The development of phytoplankton is sensitive to the temperature of the ocean. Some marine life is leaving the ocean due to the rising water temperature.
• Ocean Sustainability and Human Economic Activity The world economy and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people depend on the ocean. It is important to remember that the misuse of water resources and the effects of global climate change will […]
• Mining and Ocean Use in Canada Cobalt, nickel, manganese, and copper are among the metals deep seabed mining seeks to extract from the polymetallic nodules on the seafloor and seamounts.
• Habitat and Ocean Life Considerations of Bottlenose Dolphins The temperate and tropical oceans of the world are home to bottlenose dolphins. On the American continent, bottlenose dolphins can be seen along California’s southern beaches and the eastern seaboard from Massachusetts to Florida, and […]
• The Ocean Dumping Problem: A Visual Argument There is, however, less awareness of deep-sea drilling and the impacts on the habitat and human life in the oceans and along the coasts.
• “Seaspiracy” by Ali Tabrizi: The Issue of the Ecology of the Oceans A guy interested in the impact of the plastic boom on the ocean’s life spins a chain that threatens the ecology of the oceans.
• “Ocean Acidification Impairs Olfactory Discrimination…” by Munday As was predicted prior to the experiment, the clownfish from the control group spent significantly more time in the stream of the water that contained xanthostemon, anemone, and non-parent olfactory clues.
• “Seaspiracy”, Making People Aware of Oceans’ Ecological Problems Subsequently, the most significant wellspring of plastic contamination on the planet’s seas is disposed of fishing gear. The film has brought issues to light of the emergencies on the seas.
• Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 342 Such flows reduce the temperature of the planet’s core, change the composition of the foundation bedrock, and impact microorganism dispersion in the subterranean ecosystem.
• Ocean Circulation and Biogeography, Species Distribution, Invasive Species The concept of ocean circulation refers to the movements of water in the oceans and seas. Surface ocean currents carry water from the poles to the tropics, where it is heated, and, afterwards, this water […]
• “History of Ocean Basins” by Hess From the article it is vivid that the coming into being of oceans is subject to discussion since the previous knowledge is doubtful, and the existing framework is confusing.
• Plastic Ocean and Its Effect on the Ecosystem The purpose of this essay is to present science-based facts in support of the author’s words to convince the reader of the criticality of the ecological problem.
• The Ocean Shipping Security Concerns The government has become aware that the security of all kinds of transportation may be breached, and it could be dangerous for the overall safety of U.S.citizens.
• How Climate Change Impacts Ocean Temperature and Marine Life The ocean’s surface consumes the excess heat from the air, which leads to significant issues in all of the planet’s ecosystems.
• Gulf’s Indian Ocean Connections and Cultural Exchanges The persistence of Indian Ocean-Gulf trade due to demand of the goods resulted in a mixture of heritage and culture from the sailors, fishers, and traders from the western Indian Ocean system.
• Intergovernmental Relations and Ocean Policy Change The administration of Ronald Reagan contributed to the Federal ocean policy in the 1980s. During this change, analysts believed the United States was making a shift from ocean protection of the 1970s to ocean management […]
• Ocean Circulation in a Warming Climate These effects will enhance the development of reduced release of radio-carbon depleted carbon dioxide gas and thus the idea of the self-restoration mechanism of the earth to this global warming.
• Ocean and U.S. Naval Transportation This is in response to the jurisdictional revolution in the law of the sea, the expansion of economic activities at sea, increased concern for the health of the world’s oceans, and awareness of the importance […]
• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion The warm seawater is carried into a chamber and is used to produce vapor that, in turn, is used to rotate a turbine.
• Marine Biology: Polar Oceans as an Eco System The water in and around the Antarctic continent is referred to as the Antarctic or Southern Ocean. The Atlantic Water is situated between the Arctic Surface Water and the Arctic Deep Water.
• Concerns of Ocean Ecosystem Pollution The range of adverse outcomes for ocean ecosystems can be discussed in volumes; however, the current discussion will focus on trash in the ocean waters, acidification, and the disruption of the marine life cycles.
• Plastic Accumulation in Oceans However, it is also important to state that the East Pacific garbage patch is rather unique in its concentration of plastic on a large area that is discussed as the widest plastic accumulation zone in […]
• Hudson River’s Ocean Floor Investigation Mapping the ocean floor of the Hudson River would enable the analysis of sediments and the bottom surface hardness as well as would provide data on bottom features and the depth of the river.
• Ocean-Plate Tectonics and Geology Bathymetry of the ocean seafloor refers to the measurement of how deep the sea is in relation to the sea level.
• Climate Change Effects on Ocean Acidification The scientists realized that the crisis lasted for several millennia before the oceans could fully recover from the impacts of the drop in the pH level.
• Common Ownership of Oceans and Regulations The “common ownership” problem relates to the pollution and unsustainable use or overexploitation of a common access resource. Regulations that address the problems of overexploitation and pollution are required to preserve marine life.
• Water Crisis, Oceans and Sea Turtles Issues In the case of Mexico, it appears that the past regimes have never put a lot of focus on the utilization of water resources.
• Ocean Acidification Impact on the Sea Urchin Larval Growth Due to the carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere, acidity in the oceans is increasing++ and a fast increase of change rate is experienced.
• Pacific Ocean: Essentials of Oceanography The ocean has about 25,000 islands which are in excess of the entire number islands in all the oceans across the world. The volume of water in the ocean is about 622 million km3.
• Political Problems in the Atlantic Ocean However, these human activities have posed a menace to the ocean’s life, a situation that has led to the development of international ocean policies that include laws, guidelines, and conventional practices to enhance the life […]
• Ocean Acidification: Marine Calcification Process This article correlates calcium with oceanography because the process of acidification, which causes the ocean’s pH to decrease because of excess carbon from the atmosphere, has impacts on calcifying organisms in the oceans.
• The Indian Ocean Economic Future In particular, the increasing interest of China, India and other southern Asian states in the Africa-Asia and Asia-European trade is expected to play a significant role in determining the future of the Indian Ocean trade […]
• Ocean Literacy and Exploration From the onset of “human-ocean interaction and exploration in the fifteenth century” and despite ocean being the largest feature of the earth, only 5% of the ocean is known.
• Early Americans and Easter Island Colonization Genetic evidence has been used to prove the theory that though the Europeans were the first inhabitants of this Island, South Americans assisted in the colonization.
• The Great Ocean Road Triathlon The website will have information about joining the triathlon, and will give advice on how to prepare for the event. The group will be responsible for the quality, safety and fairness of the event.
• Ocean and Atmosphere Circulation Oceanic and atmospheric circulation is the means by which heat is distributed on the surface of the Earth by large scale circulation of air.
• Ocean Fisheries Sustainability Analysis It is necessary for fishing industries to use better fishing methods in the ocean to ensure that their activities do not endanger the ecological balance. Fish species do not get the chance to replenish and […]
• Plastic Ocean Pollution on Ocean Life in U.S. Ocean plastic pollution has had a great impact on a minimum of two hundred and sixty seven species across the world and these include forty three percent of all of the sea mammal species, eighty […]
• Movie Making: Movies That Take Place on the Ocean As the Waterworld was “one of the most troubled productions in Hollywood history” and the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean was easy and quick, it possible to notice that the filmmakers got the success […]
• The Ocean’s Rarest Mammal Vaquita – An Endangered Species The vaquita looks like a curved stocky porpoise, and it is the smallest of all the porpoises in the world. This is a matter of concern and ought to be investigated if the survival of […]
• Policy Change to Control Ocean Dumping Policies addressing the issue of ocean dumping and the need to curb it have been in place. Several factors fueled the change; for instance, change in the information concerning the effect of ocean dumping to […]
• What Are the Ocean Zones?
• How Does Water’s High Latent Heat Influence the Ocean?
• Why Won’t California Fall Into the Ocean?
• What Is the Craziest Fact About the Ocean?
• What Are Best Practices for the Ocean Moored Observatories?
• Why Dolphins Are the Chimpanzees of the Ocean?
• What Are Three Interesting Facts About the Ocean?
• What Are Acidification and the Ocean’s Changing Climate?
• What Is a Good Description of the Ocean?
• Can Nano Technology Help Clean up Oil Spills in the Ocean and Seas?
• How Does Carbon Dioxide Affect the Levels of the Ocean?
• What Are the Similarities Between the Ocean Marine and Temperate Grasslands Ecosystem?
• Why Are the Sky and the Ocean Blue: Rebecca Solnit on the Color of Distance and Desire?
• What Are Five Facts About the Ocean?
• How Do the Ocean and Plants Affect the Carbon Removal in Our Atmosphere?
• Where Did the Water of the Ocean Come From?
• How the Ocean Became Salty?
• Is It Possible to End Overfishing and Increase the Resilience of the Ocean to Climate Change?
• What Are Chemical Diversity and Biochemical Transformation of Biogenic Organic Sulfur in the Ocean?
• Why Exploring the Ocean Is Mankind’s Next Giant Leap?
• What Is the Scariest Thing About the Ocean?
• How Dangerous Can the Ocean Be?
• Where Are the Youngest Rocks in the Ocean Crust?
• Why Doesn’t the Ocean Boil Away at the Equator?
• Are Any Drugs Derived From the Ocean Presently Approved?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Goal 14: Life Below Water

SDG14: Life Below Water

Can you imagine a world without oceans to swim in and explore? Oceans are home to seahorses, dolphins, whales, corals, and many other living creatures. Oceans are our planet’s life support as they provide water, food and help regulate the weather. Oceans also provide jobs for more than 3 billion people who depend on marine biodiversity for their livelihood. If we do not stop polluting our oceans, there will be severe problems that affect every person and living creature on the planet.

Pollution poses the greatest threat to our planet and the lives of future generations! Do you ever ask yourself where all the plastic bottles and bags go after you use them? Every year an estimated 5 to 12 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean. Carbon emissions produced by human activities, like driving cars, are causing the oceans to warm and increase the acid level in the water. This is extremely bad for animals and organisms that live in the sea, as the acid can break the organisms’ shells and damage coral reefs.

All of us need to help to protect our seas. You can suggest to your parents not to use plastic bottles at home, but use a filter instead, if your tap water allows. Next time you go to the beach, bring a reusable bag to collect garbage, so it does not enter the water.

Our new reading list for SDG14: Life Below Water explains the importance of the ocean and the resources it provides to all of us, teaching you what you can do to keep our seas clean. The books will take you on underwater journeys and introduce you to many unique sea creatures while helping to understand what problems affect ocean’s health.

Table of Contents

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On the importance of reading

Reading list

The Big Book of the Blue

The Big Book of the Blue explores the underwater world through several themes such as looking at animals in danger, learning how to spot creatures at the beach, and discovering how to do our part to save sea life. Filled with fascinating facts, this book’svivid illustrations bring to life some of the most interesting underwater animals.

Author and Illustrator: Yuval Zommer | ISBN: 9780500651193 | Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Heads and Tails: Underwater

This book encourages children’s imagination and curiosity, as the illustrations let them guess what creatures live in the world’s waters. It’s a great conversation starter about how pollution endangers these animals and what each child can do to help protect life under water and keep our oceans, lakes, and rivers clean.

Author and Illustrator: John Canty | ISBN: 9781536214604 | Publisher: Candlewick

Water: A Deep Dive of Discovery

This comprehensive yet accessible exploration of water will help young readers understand many aspects of one of our planet’s most precious resources – and how they can protect it. A friendly water droplet character guides children through topics ranging from melting and freezing to the ways in which water literally shapes the Earth.

Author: Christy Mihaly |  Illustrator: Mariona Cabassa | ISBN: 9781646862801 | Publisher:  Barefoot Books

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist

A story about Eugenie Clark who fell in love with sharks from the first moment she saw them at the aquarium and couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than studying these graceful creatures. Through her accomplishments, she taught the world that sharks were to be admired rather than feared and that women can do anything they set their minds to.

Author: Jess Keating |  Illustrator: Marta Álvarez Miguéns  | ISBN: 9781492642046 | Publisher:  Sourcebooks Explore

If You Want to Visit a Sea Garden

Sea gardens have been created by First Peoples on the Northwest Coast of North America for more than three thousand years. These gardens consist of stone reefs that are constructed at the lowest tide line, encouraging the growth of clams and other marine life on the gently sloped beach. This story follows a young child and an older family member who set out to visit a sea garden early one morning, as the lowest tides often occur at dawn.

Author: Kay Weisman |  Illustrator: Roy Henry Vickers  | ISBN: 9781554989706 | Publisher:  Groundwood Books

Reading is a great way to better understand what people from across the globe struggle with in their everyday lives, and it helps us reflect on our own situation. But reading is just the first step: now it’s time to share your book club experiences and how you plan to take action. Each month, we will feature a couple of book clubs on our blog , so get ready to share your story through social media, by using #SDGBookClub and tagging @UNPublications.

We know it can be difficult to stay at home to protect ourselves and our loved ones from COVID-19. This is why we created a new guide on how to organize your own SDG Book Club online to connect with your friends and family while sharing the joy of reading. We look forward to hearing about your experience on social media using #SDGBookClub.

Help us spread the word by downloading our promotional materials. You will find a horizontal banner, bookmark, placard and easy-to-print sign-up sheet for your friends, family and community to join the SDG Book Club!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the sdg book club.

The SDG Book Club aims to use books as a tool to encourage children ages 6-12 to interact with the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a curated reading list ofbooks from around the world related to each of the 17 SDGs in all six official UN languages—Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

How do you choose books for the reading list?

A selection committee works together to make the final selection for each of the 17 SDGs, in all six official UN languages —Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. The selection committee consists of members from the United Nations, International Publishers Association (IPA), the International Federation of Librarian Associations (IFLA), European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBA), International Authors Forum (IAF), and International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

What sorts of books will be considered for this reading list?

Fiction, non-fiction, and other genres that our panel thinks will help educate children about SDGs will be considered.

What is the target age for the reading list?

The reading list is meant for children ages 6-12. However, we encourage parents, educators, and everyone who is interested to read the selected books and help children understand the importance of the SDGs.

How often is the reading list updated?

The reading list will be published during the first week of every month for 17 months, starting with Goal 1: No Poverty in April 2019 and culminating with Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals in September 2020 for the 5th anniversary of the SDGs.

Can I sign-up for email updates?

Yes. Sign up on our homepage to get a monthly email on news and updates. Your privacy is important to us so we would never share your information with third parties or spam your inbox.

Do you sell books here?

No. We do not intend to sell or promote the sale of the books featured in the reading list. If you chose to, you can buy the books online, wherever books are sold, or get a copy at your local bookstore or library.

How do I participate in the conversation via social media?

You can post your thoughts and images on social media using the hashtag #SDGBookClub . Please tag/follow us on Twitter  and Facebook.

Is there a book club meeting near me which I can join?

Yes, there are book club meetings taking place all over the world. Check back for a link to the list! (Coming soon)

How can host my own book club meeting and add it to the list of events?

People can host book club meetings around the world and share their photos via #SDGBookClub. If you would like to organize a public book club meeting, we recommend contacting your local book store, library or school and set it up with them. Please share the planned event on social media using #SDGBookClub and we will add it to the list of events.

I have some thoughts. How do I send feedback?

You can post feedback on our Facebook page or write an email to: [email protected] .

Can I make recommendations for the reading list?

We sincerely appreciate your interest. However, we are not currently accepting recommendations.

What other actions can I take to promote the SDGs?

There are actions that you can take beyond just reading the books.

A/ Help your kids to create a poster with a photo or drawing and interesting facts about their favourite character(s) of the book.

B/ Design a reading scavenger hunt for kids using drawings and pictures instead of questions and help them search for things mentioned in the book.

C/ Help your kids write a letter to the local government representative and tell them what you learned in the book and ask them what action(s) they are taking toward a specific Goal.

D/ Organize a parent-child facilitated book discussion for younger kids. Invite your child’s friends and their parents to discuss a book from the reading list at your local library or children’s book store.

E/ Spread the word on social media, using the hashtag #SDGBookClub. We’d love to feature your pictures/videos on our social media.

What else can I do to teach children about the SDGs?

You can find plenty of Student Resources here . You will find other books aimed at children, as well as the SDG board game. The game aims to help teach children around the world about the Sustainable Development Goals in a child-friendly and straightforward way.

Read to a Child campaign : A global campaign on reading to children to encourage literacy and global citizenship, incorporating the priorities youth and quality education. It is planned to take place in September 2020. More information to come. Please sign up to stay informed.

The International Publishers Association (IPA)  is a federation of publishing associations from around the world. The main mandate of the IPA is to promote and defend copyright, support the freedom to publish, promote literacy and reading. IPA is an accredited NGO in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN. IPA supports the SDGs and works particularly closely with WIPO and UNESCO.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. Founded in 1927 in Edinburgh, Scotland at an international conference, we celebrated our 90th birthday in 2017. We now have more than 1,300 Members in nearly 150 countries around the world. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971.

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)  is a non-profit organization that represents an international network of people from all over the  world who are committed to bringing books and children together. Today IBBY comprises 79 National Sections worldwide.

The European & International Booksellers Federation (EIBF)  represents national booksellers associations in the European Union and beyond. EIBF Members in turn have in membership booksellers of all kinds: brick and mortar bookshops, online bookshops, independents, chains.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF)  is the most important international trade fair of the children’s publishing industry. With over 50 years of experience, BCBF has succeeded in bringing together a unique and diverse global audience: the result is the world’s premium copyright business hub when it comes to publishing with an extra core that extends to all multi-media content for children.

SDG Book Club Chapters Around the World

Our SDG Book Club is expanding and we are excited to see SDG reading lists for children from around the world. In addition to the SDG Book Club in the UN’s six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) there are now chapters in other languages. Visit the SDG Book Club Chapters listed below.

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A National Journal of Literature & Discussion

In the Underwater World of 2050

A #vqrtruestory essay, by brian turner , photography by sonnet mondal.

In Kolkata, on Banamali Sarkar Street, I am a bewildered and ignorant tourist, just as I have been throughout my life, eavesdropping on people’s lives and conversations, jotting down notes, folding thoughts into whatever pattern I can make of things as I follow the street to the banks of the Hugli River, an arm of the Ganges. Sculptors create skeletal armatures of wood and wire for the upcoming Durga Puja festival, applying mud from the riverbank until the skeletons are enrobed in a charcoal-colored paste, until these figures attain the musculature of the living world, their features pensive and contemplative and, sometimes, radiant with joy. Full-sized elephants with mud-caked hides stand motionless and serene as the sun burns through smog, peach and tangerine. Gods multiply in miniature, painted in brilliant hues, their arms lifted in celebration, their faces smiling at thoughts unknown to me. There are groups of humans frozen in mud, too, standing, kneeling, pointing—all of them staring toward the horizon, as if immersed in memory. All are beautiful. The sculptors caress each face into being, returning them from the muddy banks of the river so that they might see what has become of the world in their absence. I’m reminded of something the musician and martial artist Prajna Dutta said to me. He praised John Cage for his discoveries in the use of atonality, noting how it freed us all from the constraints of a key signature. I sometimes feel like one of those key signatures in an atonal world, and my work as a tourist and as a human being is to undo the structures within me. The A minor. D minor. C.

In West Bengal, I travel several hours by bus down National Highway 12. Birds I cannot name fly through canopies of green. Men and women dodge traffic as kids in their school uniforms laugh. In the fields, women wade into a floating harvest of water chestnuts as men milk cows in the shade. We pass village after village before boarding a small boat named the Shiuli , or Night flowering jasmine . My Hungarian friends Csilla and Balázs, two poets living in Istanbul, smoke cigarettes as if they’d just walked onto the set of a spy film from the 1960s. They joke about the reductive nature of Hollywood, blowing smoke like flags that vanish from their mouths. The hours pass slowly as we make our way into the Sundarbans—the huge delta where the Ganges pours into the Bay of Bengal. Barges of coal and textiles and home goods fly the national flag of Bangladesh. Nondescript boats pass with potted plants above the cabin, ratty canvas tarps stretched over pilothouses for shade. This is smuggler country—I’m told traffickers of humans and drugs ply these waterways. I ask if Rohingya refugees have fled this way, too, and the answer is Of course, of course they do . I see none of this, though. For me, it is a quiet journey through boulevards of water. A cloudless blue sky. Mangroves silent with only the occasional small bird, its cry like an electrical pulse. By nightfall, we set anchor in the deep water of the bay. Another artist on the trip, Prajna, opens a bottle of whiskey, passes it around. He sings love songs with his hands shaping the air as the Hungarians exhale a commentary of smoke. Hours later, when the night shifts from dream to a soft gray wall of fog, I’m the first to wake. I sit at the port bow and listen to the silence. The incoming tide has returned to the open ocean. The shoreline nets hold their catch for the fishermen to gather in. I imagine them lighting fires and cooking breakfast. Drinking chai. Yawning. And I imagine the water rising again. Determined, steady in its progress, inexorable, year by year, decade after decade. Always rising.

On the gunwale of the Shiuli , I picture water overtaking each island and village. The cattle rancher I met, his cows and bulls rising with him in the tide. Pots and pans from his home. Children, in dream, rising. Parents swimming after them. The water lifting them all, one by one. Crocodiles move farther inland as split-tailed birds cry out in electric pulses. This isn’t a dream. A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change update details the rise in sea level, the millions to be displaced, land to be reclaimed by the greater ocean. The Bay of Bengal will push toward Kolkata. Much of Bangladesh will sink under, and seafaring ships will dock ever closer to the capital, Dhaka. The people living in the Sundarbans—once rooted for generations in a mangrove archipelago—will arrive as climate refugees in urban centers so populous my mind cannot fully comprehend the density and scale of them. The climate maps forecast the story. I’ve come here as a tourist of the ruins. A disaster tourist. Here to document the world that once was before it’s erased by water, submerged forever—just as I do back home, in Florida. I’m trying to comprehend it. The erasure. And I wonder—Where will they all go? When I ask about this possible future and point to the tops of the mangroves and suggest that This may be where the low tide mark will be when your children are grown —time after time I’m told it isn’t so, that it’s been the same here the last thirty years. They shake their heads and pause to look across the water. Back in Kolkata, I think of the outer suburbs that will be underwater. The maps that detail their plight. And I wonder if sculptors will continue to shape humans and animals and gods from the mud of the Ganges. Will children who now live in the Sundarbans one day recognize a face emerging from the wet hands of an artist? Some familiar expression, perhaps, as each sculpture gazes upon the world, radiant and kind. What will the children make of these figures shaped by hand, here for a brief and beautiful moment, then given to the river once more?

These dispatches are from #VQRTrueStory , our social-media experiment in nonfiction, which you can follow by visiting us on Instagram: @vqreview .

Brian Turner

Brian Turner is the author of a memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country (Norton, 2014), and two collections of poetry, Here, Bullet (Alice James, 2005) and Phantom Noise (Alice James, 2010). He’s the editor of The Kiss (Norton, 2018) and coeditor of The Strangest of Theatres (McSweeney’s, 2013). Turner’s work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, National Geographic, Harper’s, and elsewhere. He lives in Orlando, Florida, and directs the MFA program at Sierra Nevada University.

Sonnet Mondal

Sonnet Mondal is an Indian poet and photographer based in Kolkata, India. He is the author of Karmic Chanting (Copper Coin, 2018) and five other books of poems. He is the founder director of Chair Poetry Evenings, Kolkata’s international poetry festival, and is the managing editor of Verseville  magazine.

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Pasadena Public Library

• “A Whole New Underwater World” — story by Alyssa Ho

One City One Story 2016 Writing Contest: “A Vivid Memory”

Honorable mention

Category 2: Grades 6-8

“A Whole New Underwater World”

by Alyssa Ho

Emperor Elementary School

It was a crisp, clear Tuesday morning as I was dragged onto the beach of Toyon Bay in my tight, tight wetsuit. I waddled backward like a penguin into the clear blue waters of the ocean with huge flippers that made a trail in the sand in front of me. I could not believe they were making me go snorkeling in the ocean when I had never gone snorkeling before! I thought we would practice in a pool or something first, then go out into the real ocean. The cold water was up to my knees now. I turned around, already seeing some of my classmates swimming toward our instructor. I was waist deep in the water now. It was now or never. Yet, I still could not get my body to flip over and swim. I thought about the reason I wanted to go to Catalina Island with my sixth grade class in the first place. I should enjoy snorkeling, but why was I so nervous? The worst that could really happen are getting mouthfuls of saltwater, getting stung by a jellyfish, or bitten by sharks. I took a deep breath, put on my snorkel, and my belly flopped into the blue waters.

The water was freezing. If I had not worn a wetsuit, I would be frozen into a human popsicle. The second problem was:  how in the world was I supposed to swim with flippers three times the size of my feet? I struggled to swim. I swam about thirty feet into the ocean and just like that, my right flipper fell clean off! I stopped and floated like a buoy feeling the panic rise. With a shaky voice, I yelled for the instructor, Alex. I watched helplessly as she retrieved my flipper. Once I had my flipper back on, I continued swimming. Now it was time for step two: to start breathing underwater. I put the tube in my mouth, put on a brave face, and dunked my face into the icy water.

My eyes felt like they were going to pop right out of my face. It was a whole new world down there! There was too much to see. Schools of blacksmith were swimming to and fro underneath me! Garibaldi swimming aimlessly in the water while the kelp danced on rocks. I saw kelp bass, opal eye fish, senoritas, and even a lobster! The lobster was trying to run away from us, and while it was at it, it collided right into my chest. I guess it was too scared to see in front of itself. All in all, it was an amazing sight! So much color: black, orange, yellow, green, and red. I looked down and around, not paying attention to anything else, when BAM! It happened so quickly that if I blinked, I would have missed it all. Someone’s giant flipper smacked me right in the face! I sheepishly felt like that lobster that was not paying attention to where it was going. I there went my mask. I gasped and grabbed for it, but all I got was ocean water. Feeling desperate now, I searched frantically, and then I felt something solid. I grabbed it and pulled it out of the ocean. Fortunately, it was my mask. I quickly put it on, more secure this time. As our group got farther and farther from the towering cliffs, all I could see was nothing but sand. It was like looking down upon an underwater desert. The sand looked like powdered sugar. There were a few algae here and there and one or two fish swimming randomly like they were lost. I felt like I crossed over to the countryside of the ocean. The reefs were like the big cities. I searched for any signs of rays to entertain myself. It was like a game of hide-and-seek. Not surprisingly, someone else found the ray first. We all crowded around to see. To our amazement, it was not even a ray; it was a halibut, or as I liked to call it, a sideways fish. The gray halibut was half buried in the sand when we found it. It was almost perfectly camouflaged, but the bulging eyes gave it away. We stared at it for a good thirty seconds. After the discovery of the halibut, we discovered a bat ray. The bat ray was huge and it looked like it was eating something. A group of fish kept distance watched like sea scavengers. While we were headed back to homeland, I realized how tired I was. My legs felt like rubber. As I got closer and closer, the fewer animals I saw. I felt discouraged as my day was coming to an end, but suddenly, our group halted to a complete stop. There was only sandy bottom when I looked down. I slowly looked down in front of me. I gasped in surprise that turned to excitement. Leopard sharks!

My heart skipped a beat, and all that tiredness swam away from me. There was a whole pod of them. I counted eight. The sharks were like cats prowling in and out through a haze of dust. Their tails were swishing side to side on their massive body. I could not believe I was actually swimming with the sharks. As much as I was interested in them, I kept my distance. Our group cautiously swam around the sharks. Soon they were little specks in the distance.

The sandy bottom seemed to rise as we approached the beach. I let the waves push me the rest of the way. Soon, I could feel the bumpy rocks rubbing against my belly; that was the signal to stand upright. With my back to the beach, I walked up to the shore backwards, back to reality, but still my eyes fixated on the view of the ocean. I stumbled a bit from the powerful waves and remembered for just a moment my fears at the start of this adventure. I smiled.

View:   One City One Story Contest 2016 Winners

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• Underwater Diving
• Breathing Gas

The Underwater World 11 Pages 2653 Words

             "There you are, totally weightless, quietly soaring just above the sea floor with only the smallest amount of physical exertion. Small fish come out of their holes to look at you. How about that? You are the curiosity. You are the thing that does not belong. Perhaps this is why you dive. You are taking part in exploring man's last ecological frontier. The very thought would excite anyone whose blood still flows in his veins. The diver is the observer, he looks at everything he can. He totally forgets the outside world" (Reseck 4).              When I first read this piece, I got goosebumps. For years man has explored this vast universe, spending millions of dollars, and only making a tiny scratch on its surface. For me, to be able to explore a world completely different from mine sounds like an opportunity of a lifetime. When I had to choose a topic for my senior project, scuba diving was the most compelling of all. This paper is about the development and use, the techniques, and the physiological concerns of scuba diving.              Man underwater dates all the way back to the Iliad, but sports diving for fun and for a profession is fairly new. If one has ever been underwater, he should know that breathing is impossible. In the early 1940's, Jaques Yves-Cousteau, a Frenchman, developing something that is now a very important asset to scuba diving. It is known to us as a "regulator." The regulator conserved air by releasing only the amount of air the              diver needed to breathe. This increased the time the diver could stay down on one tank of air to about one hour if he were in shallow depths. Cousteau's regulator was simple and inexpensive and marked the beginning of the sport of scuba diving. The sport grew somewhat slowly through the late 40's and early 50's because, although the diver could now stay underwater for an extended period of time, in most parts of the world the water was so cold that he was forced to leave t...

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CREATIVE WRITING - Under the Sea (Student Age 9-11)

Climate Change / Reduce Plastics Topic. The children are developing their understanding of what is happening to our oceans; many children have not experienced or ever been in the ocean to observe what it should look like. Therefore, as a pre-session activity, we undertook a small group discussion about oceans and what they look like. The key questions to discuss were: Have you ever been in a ocean before? Where was it ? What was it like when you looked down at the bottom of the sea? What kind of things could you see – describe them? What would you expect to see?

Arlene Beattie Primary School Teacher

PRACTICAL SESSION

Once we had discussed and reviewed the key questions, we undertook a group task to build a bank of descriptive phrases associated with what the ocean may look like, using 2D images to help generate ideas. After completing their mind map of descriptive phrases, the children experienced the ClassVR headsets in pairs. We focused on the Underwater playlist, taking a deeper look at the Fish and Coral, Underwater Caribbean and Clownfish New Caledonia tracks. The pupils with the headsets on used their pre-knowledge of descriptive phrases to describe to their partner what they were seeing. The partner’s role was to write these down on their mind map. After a period of time, the children swapped and continued until all the images and videos have been completed. By the end of the session, all the pupils built up a bank of descriptive phrases that they could then use in their own writing when creating a description of the ocean.

IMPACT ON LEARNING

The children have a far greater understanding of what the ocean looks like. They can experience first hand how the fish and plant life move in the water and they became familiar with the colours and noises that can be heard in a real-life ocean. Therefore, they were able to add all of this content into their written piece. The children were able to use their senses to write an in-depth setting description of an ocean. The follow-on lessons will look at: What is happening to our oceans with the impact of plastics? What impact will this have on the plan and animal life?

Request your FREE ClassVR Demo Today!

Interested in introducing virtual reality to your school?

Experience the world’s most awarded VR & AR solution for schools, ClassVR, by booking a no obligation demo today and learn how you can enhance your lessons with this exciting technology!

Learning Aims:

• Use descriptive language to develop writing skills.
• Use the five senses to describe a setting.
• Spell common words accurately.

What would you like to see next in our ClassVR content and resources repository?

We love to hear feedback from schools all over the world, so if you have any suggestions of resources you would like to use or lessons you want to teach, just drop our Educational Services team an email at: [email protected]

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If I Could Live Underwater (Essay Sample) 2023

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If I Could Live Underwater

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If I could live underwater

If I could live underwater I would have the best life anyone could have. Just like Ariel in the movie of the little mermaid, you can have everything you can imagine, from treasures from sunken ships and artifacts from the prehistoric era, undiscovered places no human can ever imagine to exist, and much more. An average of seventy percent (70%)  of the beauty God created can be found in the vast part of the ocean, from the swimming creatures of different species, and the dark and dangerous unfathomable the ocean floors to the mysterious animals and amazing breath-taking coral reefs from the smallest to the biggest cliffs in the undersea. The underwater world is full of color and mystery, it is a world that is short of a lifetime to explore.

Different colors and life that cover the underwater world fascinated the mind of everyone. The creation of this magnificent world is something that takes time and great artist; living underwater is living in the most basic way. Imagine a life that is worry-free about almost everything. I don’t have to worry about Food because the underwater world is abundant in food resources, given that there is an existing great food chain in nature. Living in harmony among other creatures is the most basic structure in nature. Taking more than we can consume will bring chaos to the natural flow of the resources. Another thing that I don’t have to worry about living underwater is the hassle of traffic, rush hour, and commuting. The underwater world is massive in deep that I can actually swim on top or bottom of a larger species without harming the other. I can swim with the other species and learn about their nature. I don’t have to worry about the current flow of the traffic because the animals usually swim in the group so it’s easy for them to be avoided. Going from one place to another will definitely take time depending on my stamina in swimming, but as we all know in the Movie Finding Nemo underwater world has Ocean Current that make traveling easier with oceans Current all I just have to do is go with the flow. These is just some of the perks of living in the ocean.

With the cast of the underwater world, it has also been suffering from human waste, and this is poisoning each and every one in the underwater world. It is creating a vast chain reaction of death and chaos around the ocean world. And with the death of the ocean, death on the earth will follow. Living underwater I can do so much, just like in the Movie “In the heart of the Sea” ( an adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick” ) have the creatures protect themselves. Guiding the weak and small creatures in a safe place gives protection to the delicate animals and their homes. To make sure that even if they are vulnerable they will still be able to protect themselves. The waste product of humans needs to be cleaned up, and clutter that has been thrown into the ocean will definitely go back to the human world. Creatures underwater, big and small are being hunted by humans to be used as ornaments, decorations, trophies, and unnecessary food. Avoiding humans is just one part of protecting, making humans realize that production of aquatic resources takes a lot of time, by this humans will be able to re-create their own time life of resources by cultivating or creating their own alternative resources of marine resources without harming or destroying the underwater world. Living underwater means protecting my home.

Living underwater is like living in the human world from a different perspective and in a simpler and basic mode of living, but this kind of life, will not excuse me from responsibility and obligation as a living creature. I do have all the benefits and enjoyment abundantly but with this, I also have a huge responsibility, a vast ocean and creatures that I mean to protect and a home that I need to take care of. A small act with consistency and dedication will take a big effect in the future.

'World coming to an end': Kenyan town copes with life underwater

A bdi Hussein sat alone on a Kenyan road strewn with ramshackle tents bound with plastic strings and covered with tarpaulins, peering into the sea of rust-coloured flood water.

The deluge had claimed his livelihood, his home and his wife, leaving the 32-year-old bereft as he pondered what was left of his life.

"It has been like the world is coming to an end," he told AFP, his forehead resting on his palm. 

"The water kept rising and rising and it swallowed everything."

Garissa town in eastern Kenya is no stranger to rain-related disasters, but its residents told AFP that the ongoing monsoon has brought a catastrophic level of flooding that shocked them.

Kenya is grappling with floods that have killed 257 people across the East African nation, following weeks of torrential rainfall scientists have linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Almost 55,000 households have been displaced, with the rains submerging entire villages, blocking roads and hampering delivery of basic goods.  

The downpour inundated five dams, unleashing massive overflows of water downstream across Garissa, Tana River and Lamu -- a region home to more than 1.5 million people. 

"We haven't seen much rain ourselves but our biggest undoing is living downstream," said Mwanajuma Raha, whose house was torn down by the deluge that also swept away all her possessions.

- Unrelenting -

At 27, Suleiman Vuya Abdulahi has been displaced by floods seven times, including when he was just an infant. 

But nothing prepared the soft-spoken farmer with tired brown eyes for this year's disaster. 

Marooned and unable to swim, he spent days on a rooftop, barely above the water, waiting anxiously for help as he watched the rains take over the land.

Displaced in November for three months, he had barely picked up the pieces of his life before the monsoons forced him to leave home again.

"We, ordinary citizens, are really struggling," he told AFP.

Some people are refusing to leave their homes for fear of seeing them looted, choosing to live on rooftops and wading or swimming to nearby roads when they need food supplies.

The main road into Garissa, a key commercial hub near the border with Somalia, has been cut off, forcing all deliveries to be made by air or boat and causing prices to soar.

"We have never seen such a thing in our region," said 64-year-old village elder Boya Ali Karani, now sleeping on the roadside after the rains destroyed his house.

- No food, no sleep -

At the makeshift pier outside Garissa, motorboats -- which used to ferry tourists on Lake Naivasha more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) away -- are in constant demand as they cart people and supply desperately needed food. 

But the journey can be deadly, with a packed passenger boat capsizing last month. Seven bodies, including that of a schoolgirl, have been retrieved. A dozen people are still missing. 

Boatman Mohamed Mansur Ali, 36, who was involved in the rescue operation, said the work was "very difficult."

"First, you don't get any sleep and it is very tiring because you arrive at work at 6:00 am and finish work at 6:00 pm," he told AFP. 

"You could be resting but then again get a call about a patient who needs to go to the hospital."

The authorities have put some restrictions in place since the accident, with the navy stationed at the pier to ensure every passenger wears a life jacket and boats are not overloaded. 

There are fears that the crisis could worsen as the rains continue, with the massive Masinga dam in central Kenya already at "historic" highs. 

Daud Ahmed Shalle, the regional coordinator for the Kenya Red Cross, said the situation was "dire" in the 11 camps housing nearly 6,500 families in Garissa county.

"We have a lot of people in the... camps whose basic need, or most pressing need right now, is lack of food," he told AFP. 

Campaigners have called for more financing to tackle the crisis, pointing out that the worst affected communities are the ones contributing the least to extreme weather phenomena.

"The impact of climate change on communities is irreversible and will only worsen, leading to a continuous rise in the global demand for humanitarian assistance," said Melaku Yirga, East and Southern Africa regional director for US development charity Mercy Corps. 

ho/amu/ach 

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In the campus protests over the war in Gaza, language and rhetoric are—as they have always been when it comes to Israel and Palestine—weapons of mass destruction.

By Zadie Smith

A philosophy without a politics is common enough. Aesthetes, ethicists, novelists—all may be easily critiqued and found wanting on this basis. But there is also the danger of a politics without a philosophy. A politics unmoored, unprincipled, which holds as its most fundamental commitment its own perpetuation. A Realpolitik that believes itself too subtle—or too pragmatic—to deal with such ethical platitudes as thou shalt not kill. Or: rape is a crime, everywhere and always. But sometimes ethical philosophy reënters the arena, as is happening right now on college campuses all over America. I understand the ethics underpinning the protests to be based on two widely recognized principles:

There is an ethical duty to express solidarity with the weak in any situation that involves oppressive power.

If the machinery of oppressive power is to be trained on the weak, then there is a duty to stop the gears by any means necessary.

The first principle sometimes takes the “weak” to mean “whoever has the least power,” and sometimes “whoever suffers most,” but most often a combination of both. The second principle, meanwhile, may be used to defend revolutionary violence, although this interpretation has just as often been repudiated by pacifistic radicals, among whom two of the most famous are, of course, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr . In the pacifist’s interpretation, the body that we must place between the gears is not that of our enemy but our own. In doing this, we may pay the ultimate price with our actual bodies, in the non-metaphorical sense. More usually, the risk is to our livelihoods, our reputations, our futures. Before these most recent campus protests began, we had an example of this kind of action in the climate movement. For several years now, many people have been protesting the economic and political machinery that perpetuates climate change, by blocking roads, throwing paint, interrupting plays, and committing many other arrestable offenses that can appear ridiculous to skeptics (or, at the very least, performative), but which in truth represent a level of personal sacrifice unimaginable to many of us.

I experienced this not long ago while participating in an XR climate rally in London. When it came to the point in the proceedings where I was asked by my fellow-protesters whether I’d be willing to commit an arrestable offense—one that would likely lead to a conviction and thus make travelling to the United States difficult or even impossible—I’m ashamed to say that I declined that offer. Turns out, I could not give up my relationship with New York City for the future of the planet. I’d just about managed to stop buying plastic bottles (except when very thirsty) and was trying to fly less. But never to see New York again? What pitiful ethical creatures we are (I am)! Falling at the first hurdle! Anyone who finds themselves rolling their eyes at any young person willing to put their own future into jeopardy for an ethical principle should ask themselves where the limits of their own commitments lie—also whether they’ve bought a plastic bottle or booked a flight recently. A humbling inquiry.

It is difficult to look at the recent Columbia University protests in particular without being reminded of the campus protests of the nineteen-sixties and seventies, some of which happened on the very same lawns. At that time, a cynical political class was forced to observe the spectacle of its own privileged youth standing in solidarity with the weakest historical actors of the moment, a group that included, but was not restricted to, African Americans and the Vietnamese. By placing such people within their ethical zone of interest, young Americans risked both their own academic and personal futures and—in the infamous case of Kent State—their lives. I imagine that the students at Columbia—and protesters on other campuses—fully intend this echo, and, in their unequivocal demand for both a ceasefire and financial divestment from this terrible war, to a certain extent they have achieved it.

But, when I open newspapers and see students dismissing the idea that some of their fellow-students feel, at this particular moment, unsafe on campus, or arguing that such a feeling is simply not worth attending to, given the magnitude of what is occurring in Gaza, I find such sentiments cynical and unworthy of this movement. For it may well be—within the ethical zone of interest that is a campus, which was not so long ago defined as a safe space, delineated by the boundary of a generation’s ethical ideas— it may well be that a Jewish student walking past the tents, who finds herself referred to as a Zionist, and then is warned to keep her distance, is, in that moment, the weakest participant in the zone. If the concept of safety is foundational to these students’ ethical philosophy (as I take it to be), and, if the protests are committed to reinserting ethical principles into a cynical and corrupt politics, it is not right to divest from these same ethics at the very moment they come into conflict with other imperatives. The point of a foundational ethics is that it is not contingent but foundational. That is precisely its challenge to a corrupt politics.

Practicing our ethics in the real world involves a constant testing of them, a recognition that our zones of ethical interest have no fixed boundaries and may need to widen and shrink moment by moment as the situation demands. (Those brave students who—in supporting the ethical necessity of a ceasefire—find themselves at painful odds with family, friends, faith, or community have already made this calculation.) This flexibility can also have the positive long-term political effect of allowing us to comprehend that, although our duty to the weakest is permanent, the role of “the weakest” is not an existential matter independent of time and space but, rather, a contingent situation, continually subject to change. By contrast, there is a dangerous rigidity to be found in the idea that concern for the dreadful situation of the hostages is somehow in opposition to, or incompatible with, the demand for a ceasefire. Surely a ceasefire—as well as being an ethical necessity—is also in the immediate absolute interest of the hostages, a fact that cannot be erased by tearing their posters off walls.

Part of the significance of a student protest is the ways in which it gives young people the opportunity to insist upon an ethical principle while still being, comparatively speaking, a more rational force than the supposed adults in the room, against whose crazed magical thinking they have been forced to define themselves. The equality of all human life was never a self-evident truth in racially segregated America. There was no way to “win” in Vietnam. Hamas will not be “eliminated.” The more than seven million Jewish human beings who live in the gap between the river and the sea will not simply vanish because you think that they should. All of that is just rhetoric. Words. Cathartic to chant, perhaps, but essentially meaningless. A ceasefire, meanwhile, is both a potential reality and an ethical necessity. The monstrous and brutal mass murder of more than eleven hundred people, the majority of them civilians, dozens of them children, on October 7th, has been followed by the monstrous and brutal mass murder (at the time of writing) of a reported fourteen thousand five hundred children. And many more human beings besides, but it’s impossible not to notice that the sort of people who take at face value phrases like “surgical strikes” and “controlled military operation” sometimes need to look at and/or think about dead children specifically in order to refocus their minds on reality.

To send the police in to arrest young people peacefully insisting upon a ceasefire represents a moral injury to us all. To do it with violence is a scandal. How could they do less than protest, in this moment? They are putting their own bodies into the machine. They deserve our support and praise. As to which postwar political arrangement any of these students may favor, and on what basis they favor it—that is all an argument for the day after a ceasefire. One state, two states, river to the sea—in my view, their views have no real weight in this particular moment, or very little weight next to the significance of their collective action, which (if I understand it correctly) is focussed on stopping the flow of money that is funding bloody murder, and calling for a ceasefire, the political euphemism that we use to mark the end of bloody murder. After a ceasefire, the criminal events of the past seven months should be tried and judged, and the infinitely difficult business of creating just, humane, and habitable political structures in the region must begin anew. Right now: ceasefire. And, as we make this demand, we might remind ourselves that a ceasefire is not, primarily, a political demand. Primarily, it is an ethical one.

But it is in the nature of the political that we cannot even attend to such ethical imperatives unless we first know the political position of whoever is speaking. (“Where do you stand on Israel/Palestine?”) In these constructed narratives, there are always a series of shibboleths, that is, phrases that can’t be said, or, conversely, phrases that must be said. Once these words or phrases have been spoken ( river to the sea, existential threat, right to defend, one state, two states, Zionist, colonialist, imperialist, terrorist ) and one’s positionality established, then and only then will the ethics of the question be attended to (or absolutely ignored). The objection may be raised at this point that I am behaving like a novelist, expressing a philosophy without a politics, or making some rarefied point about language and rhetoric while people commit bloody murder. This would normally be my own view, but, in the case of Israel/Palestine, language and rhetoric are and always have been weapons of mass destruction.

It is in fact perhaps the most acute example in the world of the use of words to justify bloody murder, to flatten and erase unbelievably labyrinthine histories, and to deliver the atavistic pleasure of violent simplicity to the many people who seem to believe that merely by saying something they make it so. It is no doubt a great relief to say the word “Hamas” as if it purely and solely described a terrorist entity. A great relief to say “There is no such thing as the Palestinian people” as they stand in front of you. A great relief to say “Zionist colonialist state” and accept those three words as a full and unimpeachable definition of the state of Israel, not only under the disastrous leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu but at every stage of its long and complex history, and also to hear them as a perfectly sufficient description of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived in Israel or happened to find themselves born within it. It is perhaps because we know these simplifications to be impossible that we insist upon them so passionately. They are shibboleths; they describe a people, by defining them against other people—but the people being described are ourselves. The person who says “We must eliminate Hamas” says this not necessarily because she thinks this is a possible outcome on this earth but because this sentence is the shibboleth that marks her membership in the community that says that. The person who uses the word “Zionist” as if that word were an unchanged and unchangeable monolith, meaning exactly the same thing in 2024 and 1948 as it meant in 1890 or 1901 or 1920—that person does not so much bring definitive clarity to the entangled history of Jews and Palestinians as they successfully and soothingly draw a line to mark their own zone of interest and where it ends. And while we all talk, carefully curating our shibboleths, presenting them to others and waiting for them to reveal themselves as with us or against us—while we do all that, bloody murder.

And now here we are, almost at the end of this little stream of words. We’ve arrived at the point at which I must state clearly “where I stand on the issue,” that is, which particular political settlement should, in my own, personal view, occur on the other side of a ceasefire. This is the point wherein—by my stating of a position—you are at once liberated into the simple pleasure of placing me firmly on one side or the other, putting me over there with those who lisp or those who don’t, with the Ephraimites, or with the people of Gilead. Yes, this is the point at which I stake my rhetorical flag in that fantastical, linguistical, conceptual, unreal place—built with words—where rapes are minimized as needs be, and the definition of genocide quibbled over, where the killing of babies is denied, and the precision of drones glorified, where histories are reconsidered or rewritten or analogized or simply ignored, and “Jew” and “colonialist” are synonymous, and “Palestinian” and “terrorist” are synonymous, and language is your accomplice and alibi in all of it. Language euphemized, instrumentalized, and abused, put to work for your cause and only for your cause, so that it does exactly and only what you want it to do. Let me make it easy for you. Put me wherever you want: misguided socialist, toothless humanist, naïve novelist, useful idiot, apologist, denier, ally, contrarian, collaborator, traitor, inexcusable coward. It is my view that my personal views have no more weight than an ear of corn in this particular essay. The only thing that has any weight in this particular essay is the dead. ♦

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By Andrew Marantz

By Isaac Chotiner

Crews prepare for controlled demolition as cleanup continues at bridge collapse site

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After weeks of preparation, crews are scheduled to conduct a controlled demolition Sunday evening to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, which came crashing down under the impact of a massive container ship on March 26.

The steel span — which is an estimated 500 feet (152 meters) long and weighs up to 600 tons (544 metric tons) — landed on the ship’s bow after the Dali lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s support columns shortly after leaving Baltimore. Since then, the ship has been stuck among the wreckage and Baltimore’s busy port has been closed to most maritime traffic.

Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths in the collapse. The last of their bodies was recovered from the underwater wreckage earlier this week. All the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the U.S. for job opportunities. They were filling potholes on an overnight shift when the bridge was destroyed.

The controlled demolition will allow the Dali to be refloated and guided back into the Port of Baltimore. Once the ship is removed, maritime traffic can begin returning to normal, which will provide relief for thousands of longshoremen, truckers and small business owners who have seen their jobs impacted by the closure.

The Dali’s 21-member crew will shelter in place aboard the ship while the explosives are detonated.

William Marks, a spokesperson for the crew, said they would shelter “in a designated safe place” during the demolition. “All precautions are being taken to ensure everyone’s safety,” he said in an email.

Officials said the demolition is the safest and most efficient way to remove steel under a high level of pressure and tension.

“It’s unsafe for the workers to be on or in the immediate vicinity of the bridge truss for those final cuts,” officials said in a news release Sunday.

In a videographic released this week, authorities said engineers are using precision cuts to control how the trusses break down. They said the method allows for “surgical precision” and the steel structure will be “thrust away from the Dali” when the explosives send it tumbling into the water.

Once it’s demolished, hydraulic grabbers will lift the resulting sections of steel onto barges.

“It’s important to note that this controlled demolition is not like what you would see in a movie,” the video says, noting that from a distance it will sound like fireworks or loud thunder and give off puffs of smoke.

So far, about 6,000 tons (5,443 metric tons) of steel and concrete have been removed from the collapse site. Officials estimate the total amount of wreckage at 50,000 tons (45,359 metric tons), about the equivalent of 3,800 loaded dump trucks.

Officials previously said they hoped to remove the Dali by May 10 and reopen the port’s 50-foot (15.2-meter) main channel by the end of May.

The Dali is currently scheduled to be refloated during high tide on Tuesday, officials said Sunday. They said three or four tugboats will be used to guide the ship to a nearby terminal in the Port of Baltimore. It will likely remain there for a few weeks and undergo temporary repairs before being moved to a shipyard for more substantial repairs.

The Dali crew members haven’t been allowed to leave the grounded vessel since the disaster. Officials said they have been busy maintaining the ship and assisting investigators. Of the crew members, 20 are from India and one is Sri Lankan.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FBI are conducting investigations into the bridge collapse.

Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali for a planned trip from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, but the ship didn’t get far. Its crew sent a mayday call saying they had lost power and had no control of the steering system. Minutes later, the ship rammed into the bridge.

Officials have said the safety board investigation will focus on the ship’s electrical system.

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Ramón Fonseca, partner in firm at center of “Panama Papers” scandal, dies

FILE - Ramon Fonseca speaks during an interview at his office in Panama City, April 7, 2016. Fonseca, a partner in the Mossack Fonseca law firm at the center of the “Panama Papers” scandal over the hiding of wealth in offshore entities, has died, a lawyer from his firm confirmed Thursday, May 9, 2024. He was 71. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)

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Ramón Fonseca, a partner in the Mossack Fonseca law firm at the center of the “Panama Papers” scandal over the hiding of wealth in offshore entities, has died, a lawyer from his firm confirmed Thursday. He was 71.

Lawyer Guillermina McDonald told The Associated Press in a phone message that Fonseca died late Wednesday. She said he had been hospitalized since two days before last month’s start of a trial centered on his firm. A cause of death was not provided.

Fonseca was not present at the trial, but his partner Jürgen Mossack did attend. Fonseca was among more than two-dozen associates accused of helping some of the world’s richest people hide their wealth. A verdict is still awaited.

The trial came eight years after the leak of 11 million financial documents that became known as the “Panama Papers.” The leak prompted the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland and brought scrutiny to the then-leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.

Panamanian prosecutors allege that Mossack, Fonseca and their associates created a web of shell companies that used complex transactions to hide money linked to illicit activities in the “car wash” corruption scandal of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Fonseca and others were charged with money laundering, which they denied.

Fonseca had said the firm, which closed in 2018, had no control over how its clients might use offshore vehicles created for them.

Mossack Fonseca helped create and sell around 240,000 shell companies across four decades in business. It announced its closure in March 2018, two years after the scandal erupted.

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Images of a Brazilian City Underwater

Torrential rains have caused one of Brazil’s worst floods in modern history, leaving more than 100 dead and nearly an entire state submerged.

An aerial view on Wednesday of one of the worst natural calamities to hit the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Credit... Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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By Ana Ionova and Tanira Lebedeff

Ana Ionova reported from Rio de Janeiro, and Tanira Lebedeff from Porto Alegre, Brazil.

• May 8, 2024

Anderson da Silva Pantaleão was at the snack bar he owns last Friday when clay-colored water began filling the streets in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. Soon, it was rushing into his ground-floor shop. By 9 p.m., the water was up to his waist.

“Then the fear starts to hit,” he said. “You’re just trying not to drown.”

He dashed up to a neighbor’s home on the second floor, taking refuge for the next three nights, rationing water, cheese and sausage with two others. Members of the group slept in shifts, fearing another rush of water could take them by surprise in the dead of night.

On Monday, water began flooding the second floor, and they thought the worst. Then, a military boat arrived and rescued Mr. Pantaleão, 43. A day later, despite heavy rains, he was trying to go back on a rescue boat to search for friends who were still missing or stranded.

“I can’t leave them there,” he said. “The water is running out, the food is running out.”

Flood victims took shelter at a sports facility in the Menino Deus neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The situation in southern Brazil, where heavy rains have caused flooding in hundreds of municipalities, may worsen with the arrival of new storms.

A man was rescued by military firefighters after the floods in Canoas, Brazil, on Saturday.

People charging their mobile phones outside a drugstore in the historic center of Porto Alegre, Brazil, after torrential storms devastated areas in Rio Grande do Sul State.

Brazil is grappling with one of its worst floods in recent history. Torrential rains have drenched the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, home to 11 million people, since late April and have triggered severe flooding that has submerged entire towns, blocked roads, broken a major dam and shut down the international airport until June.

At least 105 people have been killed and 130 others have been reported missing. The floods, which have stretched across most of Rio Grande do Sul’s 497 municipalities, have forced nearly 164,000 people from their homes.

In the state capital, Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million perched on the banks of the Guaiba River, streets were submerged in murky water and the airport was shuttered by the deluge, with flights canceled through the end of the month.

The river rose to over 16 feet this week, exceeding the previous high levels seen during a major flood in 1941 that paralyzed the city for weeks.

The flooding has blocked roads into the city and hampered deliveries of basic goods. Supermarkets were running out of bottled water on Tuesday, and some residents reported walking up to three miles in search of clean drinking water.

Many of those stranded awaited help on rooftops. Some took desperate measures to flee: When the shelter her family was staying in flooded, Ana Paula de Abreu, 40, swam to a rescue boat while grasping her 11-year-old son under one arm. Two residents of one Porto Alegre neighborhood used an inflatable mattress to pull at least 15 people out of their inundated homes.

Search crews, which include the authorities and volunteers, were scouring flooded areas and rescuing residents by boat and air. With nowhere to land, some helicopters have used winches to pull up people stranded by the flooding.

Barbara Fernandes, 42, a lawyer in Porto Alegre, spent hours on the scorching roof of her apartment building on Monday, waving a red rag and her crutches toward the sky. A rescue helicopter finally spotted her in the late afternoon.

“You just don’t know when they’ll come for you,” said Ms. Fernandes, who is recovering from surgery on her ankle and could not flee her building before the waters rose.

A cargo plane at the flooded Salgado Filho International Airport on Tuesday in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Residents were evacuated in a military vehicle from an area flooded by heavy rains, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on Tuesday.

Cintia Santos was evacuated by bus from a flooded area on Tuesday in Eldorado do Sul.

Nearly 67,000 people were living in shelters across the state, while others have taken refuge in the homes of family or friends. Some people who had access to neither option were sleeping in their cars or on the streets in areas that were still dry.

“It seems like we’re living through the end of the world,” said Beatriz Belmontt Abel, 46, a nursing technician who was volunteering at a shelter in the city of Canoas, across the river from Porto Alegre. “I never imagined I would see this happen.”

In another shelter set up in a gym in Porto Alegre, volunteers distributed meals and clothes. Rows of mattresses lay on the floor, and cardboard boxes served as shelves. Those who had been rescued busied themselves sweeping the floor and making their temporary beds.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who visited the region last week, pledged federal funds to help the rescue efforts. The state authorities have also announced aid to pay for search crews, health services and housing for those whose homes were destroyed or damaged by floodwaters.

Even as rescues continued, the authorities worried that the crisis could worsen because another wave of severe weather was expected in coming days. With a cold front buffeting the region, meteorologists have forecast heavy rains, hail, thunderstorms and winds over 60 miles per hour.

The states’s governor, Eduardo Leite, said the authorities were evacuating people from regions vulnerable to more turbulent weather. Some residents have refused to abandon their homes, fearing looting. Others have tried to return to their neighborhoods, hoping water levels will recede.

“It’s not time to go home,” Mr. Leite told reporters on Tuesday.

The flooding is the fourth weather-related crisis to hit Brazil’s southern region in less than a year. In September, 37 people were killed in Rio Grande do Sul by torrential rains and punishing winds caused by a cyclone.

People rescued from flooded areas in the Sao Joao neighborhood in Porto Alegre.

Floodwaters surrounded the Beira-Rio soccer stadium, home of the Sport Club Internacional, in Porto Alegre on Tuesday.

A flooded street in the Cidade Baixa neighborhood of Porto Alegre.

Climate experts say the region is reeling from the effects of El Niño, the cyclical climate phenomenon that can bring heavy rains to Brazil’s southern regions while causing drought in the Amazon rainforest.

But the effects of El Niño have been exacerbated by a mix of climate change, deforestation and haphazard urbanization, according to Mercedes Bustamante, an ecologist and professor at the University of Brasília.

“You’re really looking at a recipe for disaster,” said Dr. Bustamante, who has written several reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the United Nations.

For well over a decade, scientists have been warning policymakers that global warming would bring increased rains to this region.

As deforestation advances in the Amazon and elsewhere in Brazil, precipitation patterns are shifting and leading to more erratic rain patterns, according to Dr. Bustamante. As a result, rainfall is spread unevenly at times, drenching smaller areas or coming in torrential downpours over shorter periods.

Severe weather has also become more deadly in recent decades, as urban populations have grown and cities like Porto Alegre have pushed into forested areas that once acted as buffers against flooding and landslides, she added.

The latest floods caught Brazil “unprepared,” Dr. Bustamante noted, highlighting the need to make cities more resilient to climate change and develop response strategies that better protect residents from extreme weather events, which are bound to become more frequent.

“It is a tragedy that, unfortunately, has been coming for some time,” she said. “We hope that this serves as a call to action.”

People linked arms as others rescued from flooded areas arrived by boat in Porto Alegre on Tuesday.

Manuela Andreoni contributed reporting from New York.

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Ramón Fonseca, co-founder of law firm in ‘Panama Papers’ leak, dies at 71

The Panama Papers disclosures in 2016 threw open the firm’s role in the secretive world of offshore banking and tax havens.

Ramón Fonseca, co-founder of a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, that helped the famous and infamous shelter their riches, and who then presided over the firm’s collapse after the dealings were made public in the massive 2016 “Panama Papers” leaks, died May 8 in a hospital in Panama City. He was 71.

Mr. Fonseca’s attorney, Guillermina McDonald, confirmed the death but gave no specific cause. The Spanish news agency EFE quoted Mr. Fonseca’s daughter, Raquel Fonseca, saying he died of pneumonia.

Mr. Fonseca had been hospitalized since early April, McDonald added, and did not attend a trial last month on alleged money laundering. Prosecutors in Panama claim that Mr. Fonseca, his former legal partner Jürgen Mossack and nearly 30 others created shell companies that were used by clients to hide money from illicit activities. Mr. Fonseca had denied the charges.

The firm Mossack Fonseca built its reputation over four decades as an expert guide into the worlds of offshore accounts, tax havens, front companies and other avenues to potentially give clients options to shield their assets and identities.

Mr. Fonseca and his colleagues insisted they always operated within the law and were not responsible for what clients did with the companies or accounts the firm helped create.

“We are like a car factory who sells its car to a dealer (a lawyer for example), and he sells it to a lady that hits someone,” Mr. Fonseca wrote in an exchange of messages with the New York Times in 2016. “The factory is not responsible for what is done with the car.”

As the clients poured in, Mr. Fonseca and Mossack became kingpins in their own right — but with very different styles.

The German-born Mossack guarded his privacy and details of his family’s past, which included his father’s service in the Waffen-SS during World War II, according to U.S. Army intelligence files. Mr. Fonseca sought the spotlight.

He wrote popular novels and twice won Panama’s top literary prize. He hosted lavish soirees at his villa in Panama City. He was a top official in a political party and confidant to Panamanian presidents, describing public service as a way to give back.

“I believe in sharing the pizza,” he wrote. “At least to give others one slice.”

Yet Mossack Fonseca was little known outside the offshore banking networks and the constellation of so-called tax haven countries around the world. That changed in April 2016 with the “Panama Papers” leaks, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a global investigative journalism organization that pioneered collaborative cross-border reporting.

The trove of 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca revealed money trails and legal arrangements made for thousands of clients. “The cat’s out of the bag,” Mr. Fonseca told Bloomberg News, “so now we have to deal with the aftermath.”

The disclosures offered a road map into how billions of dollars — and apparent tax benefits — flow across borders, and how firms such as Mossack Fonseca make it happen.

The client list included political leaders such as Argentine President Mauricio Macri , as well as stars such as Argentine football great Lionel Messi and actor Jackie Chan . There also was an array of figures doing business with Mossack Fonseca who were lesser known but had powerful ties — a cousin of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad; members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle; and an in-law of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned after it emerged he once had a stake in an offshore firm holding investments in Icelandic banks, and then sold the shares to his wife. Investigations into offshore accounts and tax avoidance were opened in dozens of countries.

In Brazil, the law firm was alleged to have created shell companies used to hide money linked to an economically crippling scandal known as Car Wash , stemming from bribes paid by the giant construction firm Odebrecht in return for government contracts.

ICIJ, McClatchy and the Miami Herald — which were among the more than 100 media partners on the Panama Papers investigation — received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for stories based on the leak. Governments around the world have now recouped more than $1.36 billion in back taxes and penalties as a direct result of the Panama Papers, according to the ICIJ.

Even as Mr. Fonseca’s 500-employee law firm crumbled in 2018 and he went from power broker to pariah — losing his stature in the conservative Panameñista Party and his role as a presidential adviser — he insisted that he was blameless.

The law firm, Mr. Fonseca asserted, stayed within the legal lines drawn by Panama and other jurisdictions — the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and others — as it sought a share of the growing market in offshore banking.

“At the end of this storm the sky will be blue again,” Mr. Fonseca wrote, “and people will find that the only crime is the hacking” of the firm’s records.

‘A monster’

Ramón Fonseca Mora was born in Panama City on July 14, 1952. He said he contemplated joining the priesthood as a young man but instead studied at the London School of Economics and received a law degree from Panama University.

He later worked six years at the United Nations in Geneva in an attempt, he told the Times, “to save the world.” At the same time, another path beckoned. Panama was emerging among the countries seeking footholds as offshore banking centers and flags of convenience in shipping, using corporate rules and tax codes friendly to maritime commerce.

After returning from Geneva, Mr. Fonseca opened a solo law practice in 1977 with a single secretary. He saw the potential to advise wealthy clients on where to park their money. He became a one-man sales force, pitching his firm in Europe, Asia and across Latin America. Mossack was also in the same hunt.

They joined forces to form Mossack Fonseca. They had the right legal skills at the right time. Money and clients flowed their way. After the U.S. military invaded Panama in 1989 to topple a former ally, Manuel Antonio Noriega , investor confidence in Panama was shaken. Mossack Fonseca began to shift its clients from Panama holdings to the British Virgin Islands and elsewhere.

What Mossack Fonseca guaranteed was ironclad privacy. As the internet age arrived, the firm offered a service to set up email accounts in any name as a conduit for clients. Some of the aliases picked: Harry Potter, Winnie Pooh and Isaac Asimov, the science-fiction writer.

In a 2008 interview, Mr. Fonseca said: “Together, we created a monster.” What he meant was the firm’s size and power. As other locales, such as the Caymans, shed some of their secrecy statues under international pressure, Panama was slow to offer transparency.

The magazine Vice, in a 2014 profile of Mossack Fonseca, described the operations as “the law firm that works with oligarchs, money launderers, and dictators.” Mr. Fonseca’s niece, Carolina, posted an angry response saying that she lived “guilt-free” and that Panama had the last laugh because it benefited from the outside money looking for a home.

Mr. Fonseca, meanwhile, eased into politics. “My father told me: It’s not fair to criticize the bullfighter from your seat,” he wrote in his interview with the Times. “Enter the ring!” Mr. Fonseca began as adviser in 2009 to Panama’s president, Ricardo Martinelli, and then stayed on with Martinelli’s successor, Juan Carlos Varela.

“There is more dirty money in New York and London and Miami than in Panama,” Mr. Fonseca once told the Financial Times.

His literary plots, however, were often full of corrupt officials and shady dealings. His novel “Mister Politicus” (2012) portrays a businessman who manipulates political figures and takes advantage of globalization to further his own interests. Two other books that lean into dirty politics, “Dance of the Butterflies” (1994) and “Dream City” (1998), won Panama’s national literary award, the Ricardo Miró Prize.

In 2019, Mr. Fonseca was played by Antonio Banderas in a film based on the Panama Papers, “The Laundromat,” which also starred Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman (as Mossack). Mr. Fonseca and Mossack tried to block the film’s release on Netflix.

His marriage to Panamanian diplomat Elizabeth Ward Neiman ended in divorce. Survivors include six children.

In a 2008 television interview, Mr. Fonseca looked back on his youthful dreams of making a mark on the world.

“I didn’t save anything. I didn’t make any change,” he said. “I decided then, as I was a little more mature, to dedicate myself to my profession, to have a family, to get married and have a regular life. … As one gets older, you turn more materialistic.”