The Contributions Of Marine Life: The Importance Of Marine Life

A large proportion of all life on Earth exists in the ocean. Exactly how large the proportion is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world covering about 71% of the Earth's surface. Marine life is a vast resource, providing food, medicine, and raw materials, in addition to helping to support recreation and tourism all over the world. At a fundamental level, marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet. Marine organisms contribute significantly to the oxygen cycle, and are involved in the regulation of the Earth's climate. Shorelines are in part shaped and protected by marine life, and some marine organisms even help create new land. Many species are economically

The global market for Marine Biotechnology products and processes was, in 2010, estimated at € 2.8 billion with a cumulative annual growth rate of 5–10% (Børresen et al., Marine biotechnology: a new vision and strategy for Europe. Marine Board Position Paper 15. Beernem: Marine Board-ESF, 2010). Marine Biotechnology has the potential to make significant contributions towards the sustainable supply of food and energy, the solution of climate change and environmental degradation issues, and the human health. The marine environment represents more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and includes the largest ranges of temperature, light and pressure encountered by life. These diverse marine environments still remain largely unexplored, in comparison with terrestrial

Globally, bioethanol production, derived from sugarcane, is the largest single source of transport biofuel; however, commercial biodiesel is produced from a variety of oleaginous or oil-containing seeds, including soya, canola (oilseed rape), sunflower, palm, corn and Jatropha. The oil content of these oilseeds varies widely from approximately 20% of dry weight in soybeans to between 35% and 50% in canola seeds. Tropical plants are more likely to be increasingly exploited to produce large amounts of biodiesel; however, the expansion of oil palm production will inevitably result in further deforestation with loss of biodiversity and has the potential to accelerate climate change. Despite these issues, the continuing enlargement of the area under cultivation to produce oil crops is inevitable in the short and medium terms with major companies establishing large plantations in Africa, India and Southeast Asia to meet market demand. In addition to the issues of ecological damage where pristine ecosystems are rapidly converted to agricultural land, all of these crops raise the fuel versus food argument. Furthermore, as discussed above, in tropical countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, where mature palm oil plantations currently cover 9 million ha (with this projected to increase to 26 million hectares by 2025 by