Children’s health and the ocean: a vital connection

Interactions with the ocean, coasts and salt marshes—‘blue spaces’—benefit our physical and mental health, social development and spiritual well-being. Melting polar ice caps and the thermal expansion of warming water cause sea level rise, resulting in coastal erosion, habitat loss, inundation of low-lying cities, and the obliteration of island nations and their inhabitants.1 Pollution exacerbates these challenges. Coastal pollution from sewage and agricultural runoff results in eutrophication, oxygen-depleted ‘dead zones’ and increased frequency of harmful algal blooms (red and brown tides) that release potent natural toxins and kill millions of fish and cause human illness.1 Global shipping plays a significant role in marine pollution, emitting sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter into air and water.3 Biodiversity loss is a critical threat driven by pollution, sea surface warming, unsustainable fishing practices and habitat destruction.4 Industrial fishing depletes fish populations, destroys marine ecosystems and can cause starvation in coastal communities that depend on the sea. Because we paediatricians are trusted leaders, who are seen as credible advocates for children even in today’s polarised world, we are in a strong position to make the case that protection of the ocean is essential: not only because it will preserve marine ecosystems, save whales and protect beaches, but because it will protect the health of all people, and especially the world’s children, now and into the future.