🌊 World Ocean Day 2024 and Southern Africa’s Icons of the Deep 🌊
Today at ACE we are celebrating World Oceans Day! The purpose of this day is to inform the general public about the importance of our oceans and to hopefully develop a worldwide movement of people who advocate for the conservation and protection of these marine ecosystems.
As they cover 70% of the planet's total surface area, our oceans are crucial for regulating the climate, supporting biodiversity, and providing resources for human survival. The waters around Southern Africa are particularly rich in marine life, as it hosts a diverse array of species that are essential to our oceans. Some of the most iconic and ecologically important are the:
🐧 African Penguin
🐬 Bottlenose Dolphin
🦭 Cape Fur Seal
🦈 Great White Shark
🐋 Southern Right Whale
All of these species play a pivotal role in the marine ecosystems around Southern Africa. Without them, the natural balance of the food chain would be disrupted, which would negatively affect the health of oceans around the world. Southern Right Whales are also considered to be ecosystem engineers as they help to redistribute nutrients across oceans and without them, many coral reefs would collapse.
Despite their importance, these species face numerous threats from human activities such as pollution, overfishing, and climate change. Today, on World Oceans Day, we encourage you to take meaningful actions and advocate for conservation policies to raise awareness and drive systemic change.
Find out more about World Ocean Day here: https://lnkd.in/ei2E-4vd
#ConservationACE #WorldOceanDay #OceanClimateAction
