The world's oceans produce goods and services worth nearly as much as the economy of the U.K., but its resources are being over-exploited, polluted and eroded, according to the latest natural capital report from WWF.

 

The new study stated the economic value of the ocean is valued at more than $24 trillion and the range of goods and services that flow from coastal and marine environments can be valued conservatively at $2.5 trillion a year. If the ocean were a national economy, it would be the seventh largest economy in the world, just behind the U.K. and ahead of Brazil in GDP rankings.

 

But the economic figures exclude the role oceans play in climate regulation and offshore oil, gas and wind energy, so WWF said the true financial value of ocean-based services are likely to be higher still.

 

The report, written by WWF with Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg at the University of Queensland and the Boston Consulting Group, stated that ocean assets are being at best ignored and at worst destroyed by overfishing, pollution and acidification.

 

It argues the oceans are particularly vulnerable, as more than two-thirds of its value relies on healthy conditions to maintain its annual economic output. For example, the report warned coral reefs — critical for replenishing fish stocks, driving tourism and protecting coastlines — will disappear by 2050 at current rates of temperature rise.

 

The report stated a global deal on climate change at the end of this year will be crucial to protecting oceans and also argued ocean recovery should be embedded throughout the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals, which are expected to be decided in the autumn. The report also called for governments and industry to actually deliver on pledges they already have made to manage coastal and marine protected areas.