A study due to be published in Nature Climate Change journal (released to press) suggests that the current rate of ocean acidification, caused by increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, could be up to two orders of magnitude greater than that at the end of the last Ice Age. This has serious implications for ocean ecology, contributing to the ‘bleaching’ of coral reefs as well as apparent physiochemical effects on fish.

However, despite the severity of its potential impact, ocean acidication is relatively poorly covered in international policy. It had not yet emerged as an issue when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established in 1992 and, consequently, is absent from its contents. Meanwhile most treaties concerning the ocean focus on matters such as shipping access, fisheries and localised pollution.

The upcoming Rio+20 conference could provide an important platform to redress this policy gap and actors including Unesco’s International Oceanographic Commission are pushing for ocean acidification to be made a priority issue on the agenda. The first draft of the conference agenda – the ‘zero draft’ – is available to view online.

Text based on original article by Richard Black, Environment Correspondent for the BBC

A panel of scientists has today concluded that the planets oceans are in an even worse state that previously considered, with some referring to the results as “shocking”.

The report, written by experts on coral reefs, fisheries, climate and pollution that form the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) concludes that ocean life is “at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history”. The reason for this decline in marine life is human induced climate change, pollution and over-fishing.

“What we’re seeing at the moment is unprecedented in the fossil record” said Alex Rogers, Scientific Director of the IPSO and Professor of conservation biology at Oxford University. In the past, mass extinctions took place over millions of years, not overnight as often perceived. The rate of decline seen today exceeds the speed at which the previous 5 mass extinctions took place, which some say indicates that we are now moving into a 6th period of mass extinction. The report concludes that is too early to say definitively that this is the case, but warns that current trends indicate that such a situation is likely to occur in the future.

The report presented to government at the UN headquarters in New York later this week during discussions on the reform of ocean governance. The publication will recommend three main changes to marine policy:

1. Making swift reductions in green house gas emissions
2. Reducing the input of pollutants
3. Bringing a stop to exploitative fishing

Pressures to implement action are supported both economically and in terms of human welfare. At present, coral reefs are estimated to be worth millions through tourism and for sea-defense, but 75% are at risk of severe decline. While a huge 70% of the world’s population reply on fish as their main source of protein, yet 50% of fisheries still remain classified as unsustainable in the UK alone.

Report contributor Dan Laffoley, an advisor to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) however remained positive, saying that “unlike previous generations, we know what now needs to happen”.

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn MP, is due to address policy-makers assembled at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen today, as part of ‘Oceans Day’. The Secretary of State is due to highlight the dangers posed to marine life and human well-being by ocean acidification, and the limited attention which this issue receives compared to others being discussed by climate change negotiators.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now 30% higher than during pre-industrial times. A proportion of the carbon dioxide which has entered the atmosphere over the past 200 years has been absorbed by the oceans – with constant gaseous exchange between the seas and air. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, carbonic acid is formed, which dissociates into hydrogen and carbonate ions. The Ph of the ocean, measuring hydrogen ion concentration and hence acidity, is now 0.1 unit lower, with a total decrease of 0.3 or 0.4 Ph units expected by the end of the century. An increase in the acidity of the seas will affect the ability of corals and other organisms to build calcium carbonate shells; studies have shown that coral growth in the Great Barrier Reef is already slowing.

Mr Benn told the BBC News that ocean acidification “doesn’t get as much attention as other problems; it is really important”. Destruction of corals will affect all those who depend on the reefs – from the fish which forage there to the populations which depend on these fish for protein; over 1 bilion people worldwide. He will recommend to policy-makers today that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) investigates ocean acidification during its next major assessment of world climate, scheduled for release in 2013.

Original source; ‘Acidifying oceans’ threaten food supply, UK warns, Richard Black, BBC News Website

The Royal Society has managed the impressive feat of co-ordinating with 69 other science academies from around the world to write a formal Inter-Academy Panel statement on ocean acidification. The statement is to be launched this week in a very deliberately timed act to coincide with the UNFCCC talks currently under way in Bonn.

The acidification of the world’s oceans, like climate change, is a direct consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The Academies argue that deep and rapid cuts in CO2 emissions are the only solution, and point out that ocean acidification is not yet on the agenda for the UNFCCC Bonn or Copenhagen talks. The Academies therefore hope to use this statement to raise the profile of ocean acidification within the UNFCCC talks, and to encourage climate negotiators to consider the additional impacts of ocean acidification when discussing global emission reduction targets.

The statement emphasises the critical role of the oceans in the global carbon cycle: they have absorbed about a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere by human activities since the industrial revolution. Rapid and irreversible changes in ocean chemistry have occurred as a direct result, with our seas now more acidic than they have been for 800,000 years. This acidification has significant implications for marine ecosystems. At current emission rates models suggest that all coral reefs and polar ecosystems will be severely affected by 2050 or potentially even earlier. Marine food supplies are likely to be reduced with significant implications for food production and security in regions dependent on fish protein, and human health and wellbeing.

The statement concludes that deep and rapid reductions of global CO2 emissions by at least 50% by 2050 and much more thereafter are needed, and calls on world leaders to:

-acknowledge that ocean acidification is a direct and real consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, that it is already having an effect at current concentrations, and that it is likely to cause grave harm to important marine ecosystems as CO2 concentrations reach 450 ppm and above;

- within the context of the UNFCCC negotiations, recognise the direct threats posed by increasing atmospheric CO2 emissions to the oceans and therefore society, and take action to mitigate this threat;

- reinvigorate action to reduce stressors, such as overfishing and pollution, on marine ecosystems to increase resilience to ocean acidification.

To view a copy of the Inter-Academy Panel Statement, please click here.

The Natural Environment Research Council and Defra will jointly fund an £11m study to examine the effect of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems, it has been announced. The focus of the study will be the Atlantic, Antarctic and Arctic oceans. The likely impacts of ocean acidification; resulting in loss of coral reefs due to the breakdown of the shells of calciferous organisms such as coral polyps, on humans and the economy will also be studied.

Ocean acidification has increased by 30% since the industrial revolution, resulting in a pH decrease of 0.1 units since pre-industrial times. The Independent Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that pH will fall further, by between 0.14 – 0.35 units, over the course of the 21st Century.

See full story at BBC News Website