UN report sounds alarm to clean up oceans

In a giant tent not too far from the sandy beaches and beautiful coastline of Rio de Janeiro, ocean experts were sounding sirens over the condition of the ecosystem covering three-fourths of the Earth's surface.

Saturday was The Oceans Day at Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Daylong events had experts talking about the challenges of forming a Rio+20 Oceans Declaration and Rio+20 Ocean Commitments, which will be submitted to around 130 world leaders attending the summit from Wednesday to Friday.

"This is not the situation we would find ourselves to be in 20 years ago, so we bear collective responsibility for the fact that the oceans are as polluted as they are," said Rachel Kyle, vice-president and head of Network Sustainable Development at World Bank.