Italy

87% of the Mediterranean Sea is polluted

cde.news desk 9 July 2024, 08:30 · 1 min read

epa01082206 Fish swim near a plastic bag along a coral reef off the coast of the Red Sea resort town of Naama Bay, Egypt, 01 August 2007. Egypt's Red Sea coast is a popular vacation destination and water sports such as snorkling and diving burden the delicate underwater environment. Debris such as plastic bags which take 10 to 20 years to degrade and the heavy commercial traffic are contributing to the degradation of the underwater environment of what is considered one of the most diverse underwater tropical paradises. EPA/MIKE NELSON

Some 87% of the Mediterranean Sea is polluted and there is a record level of microplastics in the sea, the WWF said in a new report.
The sea is full of toxic metals, pesticides, industrial chemical substances and plastic refuse, with a record concentration of microplastics of around 1.9 million fragments per square metres, the highest ever recorded in the deep, said the report There Is No Health In A Sick Environment, published on Monday’s International Day for the Mediterranean, set up in 2014.
Water pollution causes some 1.4 million premature deaths in the world each year, the report added.
Lakes and rivers are also showing record levels of pollution, the report said.

87% of the Mediterranean Sea is polluted

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