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| Change in sea surface pH caused by huma produced CO2 between 1700s and 1900s |
By Barry Bates, IPS, March 12, 2012
Brussels--Our oceans face a grim outlook in the coming decades. Ocean
acidification, loss of marine biodiversity, climate change, pollution and
over-exploitation of resources all point to the urgent need for a new paradigm
on caring for the earth’s oceans—"business as usual" is simply not an
option anymore, experts say.
The extreme rate of
acidification – the term used to describe the decrease in ocean pH levels
caused by man-made CO2 emissions – has happened before, Carol Turley of
Plymouth Marine Laboratory said, a claim that might have been comforting if she
hadn’t been referring to the time when dinosaurs died out.
This is a
"huge environmental crisis," she told attendees at an information
session at European Parliament this month, addressing challenges and solutions
for the world’s oceans months ahead of the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development, Rio+20, slated to be held in Brazil in June.
Turley joked that
she’s often called the "acid queen" because of her bleak message,
though the plight of more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface is not in the
least bit humorous.
Each year, the
ocean absorbs roughly 26 percent of total CO2 emissions, which have increased
by 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1750, according
to the International Ocean Acidification Reference User Group.
Ocean acidification
affects marine life with calcium carbonate skeletons and shells, making them
sensitive to even small changes in acidity. Acidification also reduces the
availability of calcium for plankton and shelled species, which constitute the
base of the entire marine food chain, creating a disastrous domino affect that
could wipe out entire ecosystems.
"[The] earth
system is truly under the influence of man," said Wendy Watson-Wright,
assistant director general and executive secretary of the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Education, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The oceans could be
150 percent more acidic by 2100, she added. This means drastic decreases in
yields from fisheries, and mass extinction of marine life.
The world is
currently losing natural resources at a rate humans haven’t even begun to
describe, she said.
Changing public
opinion
Sadly, rallying the
public behind the necessity of ocean preservation has proved difficult.
Global attention
has largely been focused on the economy, particularly on the latest bout of
economic chaos in the United States and Europe.
"Our greatest
challenge is to convince citizens that environmental targets (don’t go) against
economic progress," European Union Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and
Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, stressed.
For some, it’s a
problem of "out of sight, out of mind," said Watson-Wright, arguing
that people disregard oceans as a priority since they live on land. But even
landlocked countries have a great stake in ocean sustainability, she stressed.
With Rio+20,
designed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the first United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, only a few months away, it is past
time to discuss solutions.
Raphaël Billé,
program director for biodiversity and adaptation at the Institute for
Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), called for
stronger language on environmental goals, in order to improve political
momentum in the priority themes articulated by the conference organisers.
He noted that
Rio+20 is less than concrete in terms of political agreements, but is an
opportunity to assess progress and renew political commitments, in the hopes of
paving the way for hard decisions later.
Can Rio+20 be a
game changer?
Rio+20 will feature
oceans as one of seven themes, which also include food, energy, cities, water,
and disasters.
Since the first
meeting in Rio 20 years ago, there has been some progress on protections for
the oceans, according to UNESCO, which includes decisions made within the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, agreed upon during the Earth Summit in
2002.
Plans for the world’s
oceans at Rio+20 are outlined as ten proposals under four main objectives,
according to UNESCO’s IOC: taking concrete action to reduce stressors and
restore the structure and function of marine ecosystems; support for a
"Blue-Green" economy; moving toward policy, legal and institutional
reforms; and supporting marine research and monitoring, evaluation, and technology.
The concerns over
our planet’s oceans are not new, IDDRI pointed out in an article submitted to the U.N. in early November 2011; most
of these problems have been recognised for decades, and, according to the
article, "The only way forward is to recognise the overall failure of
oceanic governance, to study the successes at hand, and to develop strategies
that seriously take both into account."
The article also
mentioned the conflicts between oceanic governance and resistance to make it
more sustainable, especially when costs begin to add up.
Though various
experts have expressed doubt that the meeting in Rio will yield sufficient
results for the planet, activists and scientists alike are turning up the heat
on conference attendees to leverage political power at the gathering to make
tough, lasting decisions that might give the oceans and their essential
ecologies a shot at survival.
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