A critical analysis of the capacity of SDG 14 ‘Life Below Water’ to transform the world by 2030

A critical analysis of the capacity of SDG 14 ‘Life Below Water’ to transform the world by 2030

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 by all United Nations Member States to provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for the people and our planet. The agenda was an elaboration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aimed to reduce poverty by 2015 through eight target areas.

Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) – Life Below Water – was the first-time oceans and seas became a subject for discussion in their own right within the United Nations. SDG 14 comprises 10 specific targets working towards the overarching aim to conserve and sustain the oceans, seas and marine resources for development. This essay will outline three main aggressors to the marine ecosystem; pollution (target 14.1), climate change (target 14.3) and overfishing (target 14.4); and address the progress being made and challenges being faced in achieving the 2030 target.

Marine Pollution

Marine pollution is at the most mainstream danger to life below water due to its exposure in news outlets and the direct responsibility consumers have to reverse the damage to the oceans. Target 14.1 aims to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution in all kinds by 2025 (UN, 2015).

Currently an estimated 12.7 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans each year, set to increase 10-fold by 2020 (Greenpeace, n.d.). This has an unprecedented impact on marine biology, where many marine organisms cannot distinguish common plastic items (e.g., the plastic bag) from the likes of jellyfish, a key part of their food consumption. By 2050, it is estimated that by weight, there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (EMF, 2017).

Three main ways plastic ends up in our oceans is through the lack of recycling, littering and products flushed down the drain. Plastic that doesn’t get recycled ends up in a landfill, however during transportation it often blows away due to its light weight. From there, plastic clutters our drains and enters our rivers, eventually finding its way to the sea. Littering has the same effect, with illegal dumping of waste causing a great surge of plastic into our seas. Many products that are considered essential in daily life, such as sanitary products and cotton buds are flushed into our sewage system before residing in our oceans.

A study by Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research found that ten of the world’s rivers release more than 90% of total plastic found in the sea, largely due to high populations living on riverbanks and insufficient waste management systems (Schmidt, Krauth and Wagner, 2017).

Micro-plastics are another element of plastic pollution that pose a real threat to aquatic life. At less than five millimetres long, micro-plastics emerge from larger plastic debris that degrade into smaller pieces and micro-beads – a type of manufactured micro-plastic used in health and beauty products – that get washed down the drain. Micro-beads first appeared in personal care products around 50 years ago as plastics increasingly replaced natural ingredients. Until recent years, the damage micro-beads have on human health has been relatively unknown, yet emerging studies have revealed that ingestion of micro-particles can cause alteration in chromosomes leading to infertility, obesity, and cancer (Sharma and Chatterjee, 2017).

The harm of micro-plastics is extensive to marine biology and can enter the aquatic food chain at every level. Due to their small size, they can be consumed by anything from zooplankton, which make up the base of the aquatic food chain, to fish, sea turtles, dolphins and whales. The toxins contained in micro-plastics can be passed into animal tissue, working their way not only through the aquatic food chain but eventually reaching human consumption.

Some notable bans on micro-beads have been put in place in the Global North post 2015, all working towards achieving SDG 14. This includes the USA Micro-bead Free Waters Act 2015, banning plastic micro-beads in rinse-off cosmetic products, followed by Canada who published the Micro-beads in Toiletries Regulations 2018. There is no regional legislation on banning micro-beads in the EU as yet, however several member states such as UK, Sweden and France have already introduced bans on some intentionally added micro-plastics in rinse-off cosmetics (ChemSafety, 2019).

Climate Change: Ocean Warming and Acidification

Climate change is a growing danger to life below water, causing the oceans to rise in temperature and the levels of acid to increase, each having a negative impact on marine life. SDG target 14.3 sets out to minimise and address the impacts of ocean acidification through enhanced scientific cooperation on all levels.

Ocean warming and ocean acidification negatively impact all marine life by limiting gro