Why not protect me from contamination?
World Environment Day was celebrated on June 5 worldwide and World Oceans Day is celebrated on June 8 every year.These two world days are as close in history as they are in reality. It is very important to keep the oceans and aquatic life free from pollution for a better and more stable environment around the world.
This year, experts expressed their opinion on the presence of plastic in the oceans and the environmental problems caused by it. Also, they informed the world how harmful marine pollution is proving to be for this planet. But unfortunately, the oceans are not only facing this pollution but many other problems are not less than a threat to humanity. One of the problems is Japan's decision to release nuclear-contaminated water into the Atlantic Ocean.
Also of great significance is a study showing that global ocean temperatures are reaching new records as 2022 was the hottest year in recorded human history. This research, conducted by a team of 24 scientists from 16 institutions in China, the United States, and Italy, has been published in the international journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.
A researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that the upper 2,000 meters of Earth's oceans absorbed a large amount of heat compared to 2021.
Ocean temperature is an important indicator for measuring climate change because more than 90 percent of global warming is lost in the oceans. Scientists believe that the increase in temperature in the oceans is another evidence of global warming. Ocean temperature records have been broken almost every year since 2017, and due to the ocean's delayed response to global warming, the ocean temperature trend will persist for decades. In addition to temperature, the study also calculated the salinity of seawater, which found that salinity increased in areas with high salinity, while the opposite was true for areas with low salinity.
Warmer oceans cause sea level rise, extreme weather, and storms. They also become less effective at absorbing carbon, causing more of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans to remain in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
On the other hand, the world is currently expressing serious concern over Japan's decision to release nuclear water into the Atlantic Ocean. Starting in April 2021, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company are preparing to release Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. The implementation of this project will start soon, which is increasing the people's concern about the marine environment and related food security.
The fallout from the Fukushima nuclear power plant has not yet ended. A majority of local people are opposed to the release of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea due to serious concerns about pollution in the entire marine area, including damage to fisheries and agriculture.
After the Japanese government decided to release the contaminated water into the sea in 2021, residents have so far held more than 30 protests against the decision. Japan's nuclear waste disposal process will continue for more than 30 years. Experts point out that the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water contains dozens of radionuclides and many of these radionuclides do not yet have effective technologies to deal with them and may cause unpredictable harm to the marine environment and human health.
In support of this move by Japan, it is being argued that they will put the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea after passing it through the filtration process, which some countries including the United States have also expressed satisfaction with, but marine and aquatic The majority of experts seem to agree that even with the filtration process, the technology will not be completely successful in removing the harmful health effects in the water, and in such a case, it will have serious effects on marine life and inevitably on human life. shall be.
The question is that even in this complex situation, will the world protect its interests by remaining divided into factions or will it take any action as soon as possible to save the oceans, aquatic life, and human beings? In September last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which was in line with the trend of the times and also met the needs of all parties. Maritime connectivity and cooperation in various sectors is a key drivers and focal points for economic and social development. Various challenges such as an increase in All these problems can be solved not by the unilateral efforts of any country, but by the joint action of the international community.
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