Oceans Are the World’s Seventh Largest Economy, New Report Says

The world’s oceans are worth an estimated $24 trillion and produce $2.5 trillion annually in goods and services, according to
coral reef
Coral reefs are threatened by ocean acidification.
a report by WWF, Boston Consulting Group, and the Global Change Institute. If the global ocean ecosystem were a single nation, it would represent the world’s seventh largest economy, the report says, providing goods such as fish catches and aquaculture and services such as coastal storm protection, shipping, and tourism. The oceans’ assets are dwindling, though, due to threats such as ocean acidification, over-exploitation of fish stocks, and degradation of coral reefs, which could disappear completely by 2050, according to research cited in the report. The trends could be reversed, the report says, if global governments take strong action to curb climate change and if coastal countries make swift efforts to protect nearby marine ecosystems.