| Summary: | Healthy oceans are essential to maintain a healthy planet, but the ocean is facing many challenges that need urgent attention. Robust scientific data and innovative technological, policy, and industrial solutions are essential to support sound management of the deep-ocean natural capital, both within and beyond national jurisdiction, to ensure future healthy and productive oceans. As with many systems on Earth, there is a delicate ecological balance in the deep ocean that must be maintained. Understanding the interactions of the different components of natural capital in the deep sea is complex, as many of the variables are interlinked and many have cumulative and synergistic effects on the ecosystem. Add to this the global and changing effects of climate change and ocean acidification, and legislators and managers have a tough job ahead to account for all of these issues when designing appropriate conservation measures. It is important that scientists work hand in hand with multiple stakeholders to identify issues and research needs that contribute to enhancing knowledge and the science needed for decision-making to help towards securing a healthy future for our deep-ocean ecosystems and their long-term natural capital.
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