United Nations General Assembly President Peter Thomson, UNESCO's Irina Bokova and U.N. Environment Programme's Erik Solheim. Photo by: World Economic Forum / CC BY-NC-SA

More scientific research is needed on the world’s oceans — but enough is understood to know that immediate action is necessary to fight the “gamut of problems” circulating under the sea and on its shores, United Nations leaders said Tuesday afternoon.

U.N. General Assembly President Peter Thomson, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Erik Solheim, the recently appointed executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, jointly called for a defense of cli