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COP15 update (IUCN): Ocean acidification and mass extinction of marine species require deep and immediate cuts in emissions
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
According to ‘Ocean acidification – the facts’, a special introductory guide for policy advisers and decision makers released today at UNFCCC COP15 in Copenhagen, increased amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere are responsible for more acidic seawater and are threatening ecosystems and species precious for our food and economy. Moreover, the increased release of CO2 in the atmosphere is also reducing the ocean’s natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide and regulate our climate. In the past, ocean acidification has been linked to mass extinctions of some species; therefore it is reasonable to assume that this current episode of CO2 increase could have the same kind of consequences.
“Ocean acidification can be best described as the evil twin of climate change,” says Dan Laffoley, lead editor of the guide, Marine Vice Chair of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and member of Natural England’s Chief Scientist’s team. “We have used story-telling to paint a picture of the many ways in which ocean acidification may alter how the ocean works – given the possible far-reaching consequences we hope this guide acts as a wake-up call to decision makers to place the ocean centre stage in climate discussions and conclusions”
Most of us don’t know that the ocean absorbs no less than 25 percent of all the carbon dioxide we emit each year, and produces half the oxygen we breath. The ocean also provides us with about half the Earth’s natural resources. Over the course of the last 250 years, when industrialization began, the ocean’s acidity has increased by 30 percent. Predictions estimate that if the CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to rise like they have done in the past couple of centuries, sea water acidity could increase by 120 percent by 2060: greater than anything experienced in the past 21 million years!
Because CO2 tends to stick around for quiet a while, it could take tens of thousands of years before the ocean’s properties are restored and even longer for full biological recovery. This demands immediate and substantial emissions cuts and technology that actively removes CO2.
“There is an increasingly real and very urgent need to dramatically cut emissions. The ocean is what makes Earth habitable and different from anywhere else we know in our solar system and beyond – now’s the time to act to minimise the impacts on our life support system while we still have time,” says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of IUCN’s Marine Programme.
By Priscilla Lorenzo
Additional resources:
Epoca project
Natural England
Antinea Foundation
IUCN
Tags: carbon emissions, climate change, cop15, endangered species, IUCN, oceans, Wildlife & Flora
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