UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) called for efforts to protect the oceans. The recently issued Second World Ocean Assessment confirmed that many of the benefits that the global ocean provides to humankind are being undermined by human actions, he said in a message for World Oceans Day, which falls on June 8. Aerial photo taken on June 2, 2021 shows the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. It is also "any of the large bodies of water into which the great ocean is divided." The world ocean contains 97 percent of Earth's water, and oceanographers have stated that less than 20 percent of the oceans have been mapped.

Source: Manila Times June 09, 2021 16:52 UTC