Water in Penang

IN A RECENT workshop I attended, Abe Woo, a senior lecturer from Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), posed a question: If 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, why do we still call it planet Earth?

While water is essential for all life on Earth, most of the planet’s water is salty ocean water. Only a tiny fraction—2.5%—is freshwater, towing the lifeline of all living things, from towering trees in rainforests to microscopic creatures and everything in between.