Scientists Urge Governments to Stem Ocean Acidification
A panel of marine scientists from 70 nations issued a report this week imploring the world's governments to take swift action to stem ocean acidification at the climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. With marine acid concentration at its highest level in 800,000 years, the report warns of dire consequences for marine ecosystems and ocean-based economies the world over if ocean acidification is not dealt with.
The scientists warn that ocean acidification is irreversible and, if it continues unmitigated, will affect all of the world's coral reefs by 2050. In order to avoid a significant loss of marine biodiversity, the report recommends that governments work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to half of 1990 levels within the next 40 years.
Ocean acidification happens as a result of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. As CO2 concentration in the air rises, the oceans begin to absorb the gas, which reacts with ocean water to form carbonic acid. As the oceans become more acidic, it becomes difficult for corals to secrete their life-sustaining calcium carbonate shells. Scientists estimate that as much as one quarter of man made CO2 has been absorbed by the world's oceans since the start of the industrial revolution, and there is already evidence that marine ecosystems have been damaged because of it. If gas emissions continue to rise, experts predict the mass extinction of corals and shell fish, and even the disintegration of existing reefs. Coral reefs serve as an anchor of marine ecosystems, and their extinction will have a ripple affect across the food chain, which will hurt food supplies for millions of people.
The report was issued by a panel of 70 science academies--including those from China and the United States--in advance of last week's pre-Copenhagen climate change talks in Bonn, Germany. Preliminary conversations between the UN states in attendance will likely shape the Copenhagen negotiations to set global greenhouse gas emission targets that will replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Environmental policymakers in Bonn have drafted a 53-page negotiating document that they hope will serve as an easy blueprint come December, complete with guidelines for long-term cooperative action and international financing for new green technology.
photo credit: Adam Blicharski's Flickr photostream (creative commons)
- Categories: Environment,Education
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Thank you very much for the recommendation.
I definitely agree that there is a dearth of information in the mainstream media about the impact of ocean acidification, and the danger that it will pose to food supplies and the millions worldwide who make their living from the oceans. With all the press on all other "side effects" of global warming, coral bleaching tends to get lost in the static.
Halting climate change is an important task for the global community. We're already seeing the beginnings of the ocean acidification you write about as well as continued desert expansion and threats to tourism in the Caribbean.
You may be interested in Newsy.com's recent video about climate change. Rather than focusing on the political or scientific aspect as much, they're concerned with the effects it will have on humans, which is really the big question at the end of the day, imo.