Africa: Drifting Architects - Plankton, Climate, and the Race to Understand Our Changing Ocean

Africa: Drifting Architects - Plankton, Climate, and the Race to Understand Our Changing Ocean

Drifting with the currents, plankton are the ocean's lifeblood - invisible yet essential, regulating the climate and sustaining entire ecosystems. On the French Riviera, scientists are racing to decipher their secrets before the silence of their decline echoes across the planet.

Drifting architects: Plankton, climate, and the race to understand our changing ocean

(Credit: Unsplash) This article is published in association with United Nations. They drift unseen, but everything depends on them. Plankton– the ocean’s lifeblood– regulate the climate, feed the seas, and shape life on Earth. Scientists along the French Riviera are in a race against time to unlock the mysteries of these tiny organisms before their decline reverberates across the planet. On a sun-drenched morning off the coast of Villefranche-su…