A few days before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, World Oceans Day provides us with an opportunity to remember a simple truth: our planet Earth is primarily a blue planet.

The oceans cover 70 per cent of the surface of the globe. They are the lungs of the planet and provide much – if not most – of the oxygen that we breathe. The oceans are also the world’s primary thermal regulator, absorbing more than one quarter of the carbon dioxide released by human activities.

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