Global Societal Issues Include Species Extinction, Climate Change, Air Pollution, Deforestation

Annotated Bibliography
Name
Institution Affiliation
Annotated Bibliography: Ocean Desertification
Research has shown that many of the world’s global issue are caused by mankind. Examples of these global societal issues include species extinction, climate change, air pollution, deforestation, over population and ocean desertification. These issues present major threats to planet earth and must be eradicated for the safety and survival of humans and other species living all over the world. The paper will focus on analyzing one of these major challenges that is Ocean desertification.
Ocean desertification refers to the situation where the sea and the sea bed become inhabitable by marine life and is characterized by the degradation of the sea bed. Scientists have credited trawling as the major cause of deep sea biological desertification as it diminishes the organic carbon content of the sea bed which is necessary for marine life survival. In addition, climate change, development of coastal urban areas and ocean pollution are some of the other causes. The paper will go through various articles written on the issue of ocean desertification that have highlighted its global implications and the required remedial actions.
Meng, W., He, M., Hu, B., Mo, X., Li, H., Liu, B., & Wang, Z. (2017). Status of wetlands in China: A review of extent, degradation, issues and recommendations for improvement. Ocean & Coastal Management, 146, 50-59.
The author begins the article by letting the readers imagine of an ocean bare of marine life because it’s too polluted for anything to grow and survive. The article then identifies changes in climate, pollution of the oceans by hazardous waste, destruction of marine ecosystems and encroachment of coastlines for development purposes as the major contributors to ocean desertification. He notes that the increasing levels of carbon dioxide have adverse effects on the acid-alkaline balance of the ocean resulting in the death of marine species. Furthermore, he shares that nuclear reactor melt down like the Fukushima incident and introduction of hazardous waste materials in the ocean cause a change in the water chemistry and extinction of the ocean species. He then mentions that all these causes are easily preventable as they are caused by mankind. He adds that the society needs to be educated on this issue in depth and all members given the opportunity to come up with innovative solutions to avert this crisis.
The article is very educative as it highlights the various causes of ocean degradation in detail and provides solutions. More so, the author relating the issue to the recent Fukushima incident puts more emphasis on the seriousness of tackling the issue.
Yang, D., Wu, J., Chen, S., & Lu, Q. (2007). The teleconnection between marine silicon supply and desertification in China. Chinese Journal Of Oceanology And Limnology, 25(1), 116-122.
The authors note that a number of environmental changes resulting from human actions are affecting the oceans health. These include increased UV radiation, over fishing, ocean acidification, hypoxia and pollution. They mention the efforts of various policy makers around the world to address the serious threats t...