World

Oceanic Health Confab

December 3, 2001 / 1:31 PM EST / AP

Environment officials and experts met Monday in Paris for a UNESCO conference on how to protect the world's oceans from damage caused because more than half the world's population lives close to the seashore.

About 400 government officials and environmentalists from 55 countries gathered for the three-day UNESCO conference to draft recommendations ahead of next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"The health of our oceans is a serious concern," the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said in a statement.

The UNESCO statement said the number of people living within 40 miles of the world's coastlines could increase from 66 percent to 75 percent or 6.4 billion people by 2030.

The majority of those people live in cities, which inevitably increases the pollutants dumped into the sea and the damage caused to marine life living near the coastlines.

Discussion at the meeting, which ends Wednesday, will include how to stem the devastation of the world's coral reefs caused by a warming of surface water due to human activity.

UNESCO said that 50 percent of the world's coral reefs have been damaged.

In the Indian Ocean, between the popular tourist resort islands of the Maldives and Seychelles, 70 percent of reefs have lost their pigment, according to the organization's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee.

The disappearance of tens of thousands of miles of mangroves in Southeast Asia, a casualty of overfishing by fish and shrimp farmers, will be among other topics for discussion. Mangroves are essential for the reproduction of many fish.

"One solution to this problem would be the creation of protected areas in the open seas in international waters. But numerous states oppose this idea," the UNESCO statement said.

Pollution caused by dumping contaminants into the sea and its effects on coastal communities also was on the agenda.

The World Health Organization said bathing in polluted areas leads to 250 million cases of gastroenteritis every year, as well as respiratory illnesses. The WHO also estimated one in 20 bathers get sick after venturing just once into the sea.

The Johannesburg meeting in fall 2002 will assess the state of the world's environment a decade after the landmark Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro.