Climate change: The ocean will be impacted, but it is also part of the solution

by Thierry Chopin, Professor Marine Biology, New Brunswick University, Canada

Ocean-based climate action can play a much bigger role in shrinking the world’s carbon footprint than was previously thought. It could deliver up to a fifth (21%, or 11.82 GtCO2e/year) of the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cuts needed by 2050 to keep global temperature rises below 1.5°C. Reductions of this magnitude are larger than annual emissions from all current coal fired power plants worldwide.

This is a key finding of a new scientific report, The Ocean as a Solution for Climate Change: Five Opportunities for Action, timely published on September 23rd, 2019, for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York.
 

I am very pleased to be one of the nineteen researchers and policy analysts from around the world, who prepared this report for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (HLPSOE) – a unique group of 14 serving heads of state and government (Canada was fully involved in the development of this Call to Action; however, as it is holding a general election, the Government of Canada is not currently in a position to sign the document).

Established in September 2018, the HLPSOE is committed to catalysing bold, pragmatic solutions for ocean health and wealth that support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030, and build a better future for people and the planet. The HLPSOE is working with governments, experts and stakeholders from around the world to develop a road map for rapidly transitioning to a sustainable ocean economy.

 The members of the HLPSOE (Australia, (Canada), Chile, Fiji, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Palau and Portugal) represent approximately 30 percent of the world’s coastlines, 30 percent of the world’s exclusive economic zones, 20 percent of the world’s ocean catch, and 20 percent of the world’s shipping fleet.

 Climate change poses stark risks to the health of the ocean and to the realisation of a prosperous and sustainable ocean economy. Acidification and rising ocean temperatures are negatively impacting important industries such as fisheries, aquaculture and tourism, as well as the well-being of coastal populations. There is an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and limit further temperature rise, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Read the full article, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

---