Instant Genius - Why a healthy ocean is vital for the survival of the human race and planet Earth

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

The ocean covers more than 70 per cent of our planet’s surface. Thanks to its ability to absorb the excess carbon and heat generated by climate change, its potential to generate clean energy and the bountiful source of food it provides to both humans and animals, there’s little doubt the ocean is vital for the continued survival of the human race and of the planet itself. But all is not well. Ocean temperatures are climbing, coastal water levels are rising, and extreme weather events are becoming more and more common. In this episode we speak to special advisor on ocean issues to the United Nations Sturla Henriksen about his latest book The Ocean: How It Has Formed Our World – And Will Shape Our Destiny. He tells us about the many challenges we are facing to keep the ocean healthy and why we need to take a more holistic approach to combat them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Every Monday and Friday, you'll hear world-leading scientists and experts talking about the most fascinating ideas in science and technology today. I'm Jason Goodyear, commissioning editor, BBC Science Focus. The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet's surface, thanks to its ability to absorb the excess carbon and heat generated by climate change, Its potential to generate clean energy and the bountiful source of food it provides to both humans and animals, there's little doubt that the ocean is vital for the continued survival of the human race and of the planet itself. But all is not well. Ocean temperatures are climbing, coastal water levels are rising,

and extreme weather events are becoming more and more common. In this episode we speak to Special Advisor on Ocean Issues to the United Nations, Sterler Hendrickson, about his latest book, The Ocean, How It Has Formed Our World and Will Shape Our Destiny. He tells us about the many challenges we're facing to keep the ocean healthy and why we need to take a more holistic approach to combat them. So welcome to the podcast. Thanks very much for joining us. Hi, Jensen, good morning and thanks for having me on your program. So today we're talking about your book, The Ocean,

how it has formed our world and will shape our destiny. So first off, before we get into the sort of nitty-gritty, can you just give me a brief overview of what's covered in the book? Because there's an awful lot in there. So the book is really addressing the relationship between the ocean and the human race from a holistic perspective. There are, as we both know, many fantastic books describing marine life and the underwater world, but there are not that many books connected.

in the dots between the ocean as a biosphere or a space for economic activity and as a domain for international cooperation and geopolitical competition. So this is the main focus of my book, which is also then having a timeline in it where I take the historic perspective, how has our modern world developed, and what role has the ocean played in that historic developments, in our everyday lives today and also the importance of the ocean going forward. Yeah, so let's have a look at something that you talk about in the book, which is the role that the ocean plays in climate change. So I understand it's a big sort of sink of heat.

Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So the very sort of brief answer is that we will not be able to combat global warming without the help of a healthy ocean, and we will not be able to maintain a healthy ocean without curbing global warming. So these topics, they are inherently interlinked in what is often referred to as the ocean climate nexus, which has also become a key topic in all international discussions on global warming. So if we look at how the ocean is contributing to reducing global warming,

this happens through two major sets of ecosystem services, One is related to the water's unique capacity to absorb and store heat, and the other is through carbon capture. As for heat capacity, the upper three meters of the ocean contains as much heat energy as the entire atmosphere. And since the Industrial Revolution, the ocean has absorbed more than 90% of the surplus heat generated by human activities. And without this contribution alone, the average temperature in the air could have been more than 30 degrees centigrade higher than it is today. And then, in addition to absorbing and storing heat, the ocean curbs global warming by carbon capture is absorbing a quarter of the carbon dioxide, which is emitted into the atmosphere. So what happens when ocean temperatures rise?

You know, what sort of effects does that have? So it will impact both on the currents of the water, the way that, you know, the major ocean currents, they are determining the weather, the climate, all around the world. So these will be impacted when the temperature rises, but also the ocean itself and the marine environment and marine life and ecosystems will be heavily impacted. And in general, when water temperature reaches 38 degrees centigrade, essentially our body temperature, then most marine species will not be able to survive. And this has happened.

We are now seeing a number of events where this limit is approached. We saw that last year, for instance, in the Persian Gulf, more than 36 degrees in surface temperature. We saw it in Florida's Manatee Bay. the same year. So 24 was the warmest year on record and we saw several instances. So what some scientists called wildfires under water. So in the book you mentioned that increasingly more and more of us are moving out of rural areas into urban areas, which are often sort of clustered around the coastline. Yeah. So obviously with sea levels rising, this is causing a huge problem. So what are some sort of danger areas, and what can we do to prevent floods and things like this?

Yeah, so there has been a consistent trend since the Industrial Revolution that all of the world people are moving from rural areas to cities. For instance, in the beginning of the 1960s, there were only two cities, New York and Tokyo, which had a population of more than 10 million people, and today there are more than 30 cities with such large populations. and these have grown historically around the major ports because it was a major port which connected the city and the regions to the rest of the world. And therefore, today, almost half of the world population lives less than 100 kilometers from the coast. And this implies that more people live where the ocean meets civilization,

in the interface between land and sea. And that also means that more people are exposed to sea level rise, groundwater penetration. We see flooding, increased events of flooding from storm searches and waves, which are now riding on top of an increasingly higher sea level. For instance, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Mississippi area in 2005, More than 1,400 people died, and the damages were in the range of more than 100 billion US dollars. So it's more interaction between the forces of the sea and human activities.

So what sort of measures can we take to protect ourselves against these effects? So, of course, the basic challenge is that global warming makes sea level rise. And with rising sea level, more people will be exposed to this. ocean, but also the warming ocean is a key driver of the extreme weather that we are experiencing this day. It's an interaction between the warmer ocean and the warmer atmosphere, which is driving really fueling the extreme weather events. So that is a basic problem.

That's a root cause. And then what can we do? Well, in some areas, in big cities like Tokyo, they are building barriers. to keep, and also in New York, they are building barriers to keep the ocean out. In Indonesia, they have moved their capital, Jakarta. As of August last year, they moved their capital to higher grounds in Borneo. And then you have some nation states or some areas

which do not have the parameters or the physical parameters or the economy to do that. And maybe one of the first and hardest hit will be a small island state of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, where they have already now bought land in the island state of Fiji, 2,000 kilometers away. And they will probably be forced to move their entire population to Fiji because Kiribati will be sinking in the ocean. It's much like the Atlantis. but not because the island is sinking, but because the ocean is rising. So you mentioned there at extreme weather events. So it seems that every sort of few weeks now you turn the news on

and there's yet another hurricane somewhere in the world. Yeah. So, you know, are they really getting more frequent and stronger? So they are the strongest of these hurricanes. They are appearing with increased frequency. For instance, NASA, the American Space Agency, predicts that the strongest North Atlantic hurricanes, which are those with wind speeds above 200 to 300 kilometers or more, that these will arise twice as often in this century as in the last,

in the coastal region, in the tropical zones of the world. And this will probably happen at least as often, because this is where the combination of heat and humidity provides the most energy, which is the source of these destructive weather systems. So let's have a look at some of the ways that the ocean provides for us then. So obviously a big one is sustainable food resources at the moment. What are we doing to the ocean in terms of managing fish stocks? You know, you hear about overfishing and things like this,

especially, you know, in the areas of the ocean between our two countries. So, you know, what's the situation there? So today, there are some 2 billion people which are still suffering from famine or malnutrition, and the world population is expected to increase maybe by as much as 3 billion in this century. And to deal with this, it's estimated that the total production of food must increase by almost 50% this century. but we cannot continue to produce food as we do now. Agriculture is responsible for 80% of global deforestation and 70% of freshwater consumed by humans

and also a fifth of our greenhouse gas emissions is caused by agriculture, forestry and other land use. And therefore, just to contextualize your question, the ocean must become a significantly more important source of food in decades ahead. But we cannot sort of rely on wild fish stocks to provide that because these are facing growing pressure and degradation due to overfishing, poor management and global warming.

And today, to give you an idea, it's estimated that the global fishing fleet is two to three times larger than needed to catch the amount of fish that the ocean can sustainably support. So this is why there are sort of three, areas in particular, which is now discussed and where production is rapidly ramping up. One is for industrial farming of fish. The global volume of fish farming is now higher than landings from wildcatch fishes. The other is a growing interest in seaweed, which can provide food, animal

feed, fertilizers, fuel, medicine, packaging and so forth. And seaweed farming doesn't occupy valuable land areas and it doesn't consume fresh water, it doesn't need fertilizer or feed. In this case, nature and the marine environment take care of everything. And then the third one, and last but not least, there is significant research going on to extract more food from the lower levels of the marine food chain is called the tropical levels, such as krill for instance. So how about another essential for life then fresh drinking water? So this can be a huge issue for many.

So how can the ocean step in? Obviously we can't drink salt water, but how can the ocean step in to help us solve this problem? Yeah, so fresh water scarcity, as you rightly point out, is one of the most imminent and severe consequences of global warming. Today there are more than 2 billion people who are lacking access to safe drinking. water and a quarter of the world population are in regions that are already experiencing extremely high water stress.

For instance, only a few years ago, Cape Town was on the brink of day zero at the moment when freshwater reservoirs are so depleted that they do not cover the population's basic needs. And we have megacity such as Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Bangalore and also Chennai in India. a teetering already on the brink of this day, zero. But here the ocean can be of help, both a few aquifers under the seafloor, which hold large deposits or reservoirs or fresh water, and also through what you refer to as desalination, that is by removing salt from the seawater and brackish water.

Today, these desalination plants, they account for a minus 1% of global, freshwater supplies, and they can be ramped up, and in many areas and parts of the world, these are sort of developed, but still, these processes are quite expensive, and they are very energy intensive. That means that, as of today, most of the electricity they consume is sourced from fossil fuel power plants. And this is also why today most of the capacity for desalination is in the oil-rich and desert-dry countries in the Middle East. And then for desalination, but this is developing and for desalination to be sustainable, it is necessary both to find other renewable sources for generating electricity for these processes, but also it will be imperative

to address the large discharges of toxic brine and other ways from these processes. Because today, most of these, they end up back in the ocean where they often cause great damage to local marine ecosystems. So you mentioned energy production there. So this is obviously a huge topic globally at the moment. But what sort of role can things like offshore wind farms and hydroelectric power? What kind of role can they play in helping, you know, sort of expand the energy portfolio? Yeah, sure.

So traditionally, it's land-based hydropower, which has been. the dominant source of renewable electricity, and up to the end of the last decade, it produced as much electricity as all the other renewable energy sources combine. So the term hydropower is actually a bit misleading in this sense, because in a physical sense, it's more correct to speak about power from gravity, because that's what causes the water to descend and propel the turbines that produce electricity. But in the ocean, there is accurate to speak about. hydropower because there we can produce electricity from water as it moves up,

or downward, sideways and in circles in a form of waves or currents or tidal water. So the theoretical potential for this is great. It's estimated that with today's off-the-shelf technology, energy derived from the ocean's movement can power more than twice the world's demand for electricity. But it has really not yet become truly fashionable. and it is probably because it's low energy intensity, which simply but means that the water is not moving fast enough. What is really fashionable on the other hand are wind of solar parks online and offshore.

And they have already eclipsed traditional hydropower as the most important sources of renewable energy, electricity, and the International Energy Agency has estimated that to reach 1.5,000, five-degree goal of the Paris Agreement, this will require worldwide installation of capacity for 2,000 gigawatts of offshore wind by the middle of this century. Today, we are just slightly above 80 gigawatts. This represents a 10-fold increase in 10 years, but wind power capacity is still heavily tilted 9-1 in favor of onshore production. And in my opinion, this gap should be reduced. I may be even reversed in the in the airsa.

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Try it for yourself at a focal powered by name boutique. Visit focal powered by name.com for more information. So how about the contributions to greenhouse gases of commercial shipping and even cruise liners? Because I've heard this is really quite high. Yes. So although most ships in the world fleet are still powered by heavy fuel oil and marine diesel, there are no other form of transport that can claim greater environmental efficiency in the transport of large quantities of cargo of great distances.

and this is also why many countries are actively pursuing a policy to achieve a model shift in the transport of goods from land to sea. But you're right, since more than 80% of all international trade of goods is transported by ship, the total emissions from the world fleet are substantial. And today they account for just under 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And this equates approximately to Germany as a whole, which is the world's third largest economy. So, therefore, great efforts are in the way to make shipping a zero emission industry, as it, by the way, was for thousands of years up until the introduction of the steam engine in the late 19th century. So the pitch in the industry circles is that shipping must go back to the future.

And there is probably no single silver bullet as to what kind of fuel would be the most attractive so far, barring nuclear solutions. Fuel based on ammonia, hydrogen and methanol appear to be particularly promising for long haul into continental shipping. That's where the real challenge lies. And these three are all considered zero-emission solutions provided. And this is important that they are also produced and distributed in an emission-free manner. The zero-emission requirement, that must apply from what we say, well to wake, because production of these fuels is highly energy-intensive, and it would make little sense if it was based on electricity from, for instance, cold firepower plants.

or it's a fuel, this sea emission fuel, where to be transported over great distances by tank trucks running on fossil fuel. So how about another issue then, that of mineral shortages? So a lot of people are talking at the moment about turning to deep sea mining to sort of top up our mineral levels. What are your thoughts on that? So this is really a difficult issue for several reasons. and there are very few topics. I believe that provokes stronger feelings on the part of marine biologists,

environmental activists, and concerned citizens like myself. Background for this is that we use now critical minerals in components of the electronic gadgets that surround us in our modern lives, smartphones, computer. My iPhone has some 50 rare earth elements and critical minerals.

in it. And we find these in industrial machines, airplanes, satellites, military equipment, radars, and so forth. And in addition, there's a searching demand for these critical minerals because they need it for the green transition. There are massive amounts needed for windmills, solar panels, power cables, batteries, electric cars and so forth. So for the time being, these minerals are only extracting from mines on land.

but they can be found in large quantities on the seabed, and that is exactly what presents us with both great opportunities and maybe even greater dilemmas. So many people are deeply concerned, and I'm among them, about the impact on marine wildlife in the abyssal depths if we go down and start drilling and excavating these minerals. The deep seafloor is the only area on a planet, which is still largely untouched by my own. man, and we do really not know what will happen to these deep sea abyssal marine ecosystem if we start these kind of industrial activities. So any sort of policy decisions about that has to be data-driven and fact-based.

And as for today, we are still faced with a large deficit of both. Then I'd also like to say that it presents us with some fundamental real-life dilemmas. because on the one hand, such activity will be disturbing, harmful and perhaps destructive from many of the marine life forms and ecosystems in the ocean depths. On the other hand, the seabed contains large resource of minerals upon which we will probably be dependent to both combat global warming and to secure an economic, sustainable development for better lives for a growing population. And we also know that extraction of these minerals from mines on land can be very harmful to nature

and biodiversity. They consume a lot of water. One sixth of global electricity consumption is for mineral extraction in these mines. And we also know that several of these mines are run by our operating under circumstances that we would not sort of end-working conditions that are grueling and dangerous. And some of them, for instance, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we know that there are dark and dusted tunnels that are so small that only children can wriggle through the narrow passages deep in the earth. And every thousands of workers in these minds are killed or permanently.

disabled. So this is why we cannot draw a conclusion about cement mining solely based on the potential consequences for marine life. We must assume a much broader and more holistic perspective on this. And basically we need far more hard facts and documented findings in order to calibrate the consequences for the sea and the marine life and consequences onshore. and by expanding onshore mines, production from onshore mines, and then weigh these different considerations against each other.

If not, we are running the risk of delaying or hampering the green transition. And either way, I think that both on this as a more general point, I think that both when it comes to critical minerals and seabid mining, we need to have far more deliberate, informed and thorough discussions about many of the difficult dilemmas inherent in the green transition and not only about the solution. And also as sort of an additional thing about critical minerals is that we now see that there is a competition between nation states for access to critical minerals. and this competition is increasing in step with the heightened international tensions and great power rivalry. And China today controls more than 90% of global production of several critical minerals. And of course, this represents a strategic concern and a headache for the USA and many other countries.

So we've talked about an awful lot there. So it's sort of by way of summary other than buying the book. What could you say to our listeners, you know, what would you like them to take away from this discussion? So I think that's sort of the long and short of it is that the ocean is a precondition for all life on Earth. Without ocean, there will be in our life. Now, the ocean is a crucial part of the challenge and a vital part of the solution in how we are to combat global warming, to combat destruction of nature and biodiversity, and how to find sustainable solutions

for ensuring economic growth, sustainable economic growth, and prosperity for a growing world population. So this is always, as always, the ocean will be key to our well-being, to our development, and it can be a very generous friend if we are taking good care of it.

We need a clean, healthy and productive ocean. And it can be a very forceful adversary if we are not taking good care of it. Thank you for listening to this episode of Instant Genius, brought to you from the team behind BBC Science Focus. That was Sterler Henriksen. To discover more about the topics we've just discussed, check out his book, The Ocean,

how it has formed our world and will shape our destiny. If you liked what you just heard, then please do consider subscribing to Instant Genius when your preferred podcast platform. If you'd like to see our guests and presenters in person, then please also check out our YouTube channel at Science Focus. The current issue of BBC Science Focus magazine is out now. Pick up a copy wherever you buy your favourite magazines or download us on your app store of choice. You can also find us on Apple News or online at sciencefocus.com.

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