France, June 9 -- A new initiative to monitor the health of the world's oceans was unveiled Sunday at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice. The Starfish barometer provides an annual snapshot of ocean conditions - from biodiversity loss and sea level rise to human impact and emerging solutions.

This initiative, accessible onstarfishbarometer.org, was presented at the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice.

The barometer is accompanied by a scientific article published in the journal State of the Planet, but was designed to reach citizens with serious data that is easy to understand.

Its symbol wasn't chosen at random, explains Pierre Bahurel, director of Mercator Ocean.

"With a five-armed starfish, we illustrate th...