MarineBio Blog

International coalition advances marine conservation as part of the solution to climate change

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A large international coalition today urged the United States to support marine conservation options that will help mitigate climate change.

The ‘Blue Climate Coalition,’ comprised of sixty-six conservation groups and interests and over 150 marine scientists and professionals, from 33 countries, issued communications today addressed to President Obama and the United States Senate.

Together, the coalition letters request the option for marine conservation solutions to climate change to be considered in national climate change legislation and international climate change treaties, and support for marine science research that further explores this concept.

Eminent oceanographer and conservationist, Dr. Sylvia Earle, endorsed the letters as the first scientist to sign-on. In her latest book, ‘The World Is Blue,’ Earle reveals how dangerous oceanic change threatens the very existence of life on Earth and argues for renewable strategies that safeguard the natural systems that sustain us.

News of the coalition’s effort made its way to Hollywood, and to the notice of Gilles Marini, most recently of ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ Gilles signed the letters as a supporter of healthy oceans.

Philippe, Jr., and Alexandra Cousteau, grandchildren of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, signed-on, representing their respective conservation organizations EchoEarth International and Blue Legacy International.

A wide range of interests were represented in the coalition letters: environmental conservation, climate change education and advocacy, ecosystem restoration, the dive industry, ecotourism and sustainable travel, carbon offsetting, fishing, and scientific research.

Scientific Backing
The coalition’s message is supported by reports released recently by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). UNEP’s ‘Blue Carbon’ report highlights the carbon storage potential of coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and saltwater marsh lands.

The UNEP report found that the restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems and a reduction in the clearcutting of tropical forests could mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions by up to 25%.

The IUCN report, titled ‘The Ocean and Climate Change,’ finds that failure to recognize the ocean in climate change discussions will have profound consequences for humanity. The report also recommends for additional research to quantify the carbon value of ocean ecosystems. This recommendation is echoed in the coalition letters, to ensure full scientific backing any future natural ocean carbon policies.

“Utilizing the natural carbon functions of both the green and blue biospheres of our planet is an option that we simply cannot afford to ignore if we are serious about tackling climate change and making the transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy,” said Mark J. Spalding, President of The Ocean Foundation and signatory to the coalition letters.

The Urgency of Action
“The United States will play a crucial role in next month’s climate change discussions in Copenhagen,” said Steven J. Lutz, Executive Director of Blue Climate Solutions, the group that organized the letters. “We are asking the United States to show global leadership by advancing solutions for climate change that involve coastal and marine conservation. Many U.S. federal and state agencies are already pursuing actions that could be considered climate mitigation, such as the restoration of coastal and estuarine habitats. These actions need to be continued and encouraged.”

Recognizing the carbon value of healthy coastal and marine ecosystems may be significant for achieving consensus at the Copenhagen negotiations. The health of coastal ocean ecosystems is a critical issue for many developing countries, especially small island developing states. The need to restore the ocean’s natural carbon function could help direct billions of dollars towards conservation efforts, while simultaneously supporting local economies and countering the threat of climate change throughout the globe.

Economic stimulus associated with restoring the ocean’s natural carbon function include funding and investment for activities such as improving water quality, ecosystem restoration, coastal surveying, and the innovation of new environmental monitoring and restoration technologies.

“Restoring the ocean’s natural ocean carbon function is proposed as an alternative to potentially harmful ocean geo-engineering schemes recently discussed in Congress,” said Lutz. “Restoration activities that naturally fix carbon in to forms other than dissolved carbon will also not increase ocean acidification.”

Environmental co-benefits associated with natural ocean carbon solutions include renewed and sustainable fisheries, the conservation of endangered marine species and birds, and the restoration of certain coastal ecosystems. Mangrove forests are considered essential habitat for many fish species, and healthy seagrass meadows are indispensable for endangered sea turtles and manatees.

“Sea turtle hatchlings need healthy coastal and marine ecosystems in order to survive,” said Lutz. “It just so happens that we also need the same healthy ocean ecosystems to survive on this blue planet.”

SOURCE Blue Climate Coalition

The first high seas Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Antarctic region has been declared in an area south of the South Orkney Islands. The proposal was successfully pitched by the UK delegation to the meetings last week of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Tasmania. The South Orkneys MPA is situated in the northern Weddell Sea, east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula — a prime area for feeding humpback whales.

At just under 94,000 sq kms, the protection of the South Orkneys MPA is of a significant size. Overnight the global area of protected waters, with this announcement, increased by 4% according to Louisa Wood, from the IUCN Global Marine Programme. The global area of protected waters now stands at 0.92% of the world ocean — still far behind the land with as much as 12% protected, according to some estimates.

MarineBio’s Director of Marine Mammals, Erich Hoyt, Research Fellow and Critical Habitat MPA Programme Lead for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, stated “This is a step in the right direction for long-awaited protection of the marine component of the Antarctic Marine Region,” said Erich Hoyt,  ”We still have a very long way to go. The much larger proposed Ross Sea MPA on the other side of Antarctica urgently needs the same sort of protection. But the UK government is to be applauded for its work in submitting the proposal and CCAMLR, the Antarctic Conservation body, for approving it. Now what we need is an acceleration of this high seas protection in the Antarctic and elsewhere around the world.”

The formal protection becomes effective in May 2010.  No fishing activities and no discharge or refuse disposal from fishing vessels will be allowed in the area. The British Antarctic Survey plans to continue its research in the area, seeing the MPA designation as an opportunity to improve its monitoring of the effects of human activities and climate change on the Southern Ocean.

Seafood Summit 2010 – Challenging Assumptions in a Changing World
31 January – 2 February 2010
Paris, France

Seafood Summit brings together global representatives from the seafood industry and conservation community for in-depth discussions, presentations and networking with the goal of making the seafood marketplace environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

While many industry events offer companies networking opportunities to showcase their products and services, Seafood Summit is different. It is the only venue that connects large and small companies from a diverse array of industries with leaders from the conservation community to bridge the gap between the latest science and the reality of the seafood marketplace. Summit attendees include international representatives with vested interest in the seafood industry, including: fishermen, fish farmers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, food professionals (chefs, restaurateurs), conservation organizations, academic scientists, media, and policy makers.

What others are saying about the Seafood Summit: Click here for a video of what people had to say about Seafood Summit 2009

“In order to have discussions or disagreements, you have to have both parties appear. What is striking at the Seafood Summit is how the industry side has become increasingly engages year by year.”
- John Sackton, Seafoodnews.com

“I got a lot out of the Summit…sessions were informative and well presented with very few exceptions. The whole purpose of the summit is to find common ground and I think it does that very well. There will always be disagreement in the detail and pace but the broad objectives and priorities and in common and some of the innovative solutions are great.”
- Nigel Edwards, Technical Director, Seachill

“The breadth of attendees and panellists was very impressive, and the conference sessions were informative and thought provoking. Being a marketing person, I particularly enjoyed the many networking opportunities…”
- Carol Devine, VP of Marketing & Strategic Development, Australis Aquaculture

To register and for more information, visit http://seafoodchoices.org/seafoodsummit/registernow.php. Discounts for early registration available until 30 November 2009

Tuna Workshop

With tuna a global headline news item and an important part of the international seafood market, Seafood Choices Alliance will convene an extraordinary half-day event focused on tuna. This half-day event will occur on the Saturday before the Seafood Summit, January 30th, starting at 12:30 pm. This event is open and is not limited to attendees of the Seafood Summit.

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Seafood Choices Alliance is an international program that provides leadership and creates opportunities for change across the seafood industry and ocean conservation community. We’re about synergies and identifying creative solutions to long-held challenges. By building relationships and stimulating dialogue, Seafood Choices is encouraging and challenging all sectors of the seafood industry along the road toward sustainability.

SeaWeb, founded in 1996 to raise awareness of the growing threats to the ocean and its living resources, utilizes social marketing techniques to advance ocean conservation. By increasing public awareness, promoting science-based solutions and mobilizing decision-makers around ocean conservation, SeaWeb has brought together multiple, diverse and powerful voices for a healthy ocean.

Oceans play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. Not only do they represent the largest long-term sink for carbon but they also store and redistribute CO2. Some 93% of the earth’s CO2 (40 Tt) is stored and cycled through the oceans.

The ocean’s vegetated habitats, in particular mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses, cover <0.5% of the sea bed. These form earth’s blue carbon sinks and account for more than 50%, perhaps as much as 71%, of all carbon storage in ocean sediments. They comprise only 0.05% of the plant biomass on land, but store a comparable amount of carbon per year, and thus rank among the most intense carbon sinks on the planet. Blue carbon sinks and estuaries capture and store between 235–450 Tg C every year – or the equivalent of up to half of the emissions from the entire global transport sector, estimated at around 1,000 Tg C yr–1. By preventing the further loss and degradation of these ecosystems and catalyzing their recovery, we can contribute to offsetting 3–7% of current fossil fuel emissions (totaling 7,200 Tg C yr–1) in two decades – over half of that projected for reducing rainforest deforestation. The effect would be equivalent to at least 10% of the reductions needed to keep concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere below 450 ppm. If managed properly, blue carbon sinks, therefore, have the potential to play an important role in mitigating climate change.

The rate of loss of these marine ecosystems is much higher than any other ecosystem on the planet – in some instances up to four times that of rainforests. Currently, on average, between 2–7% of our blue carbon sinks are lost annually, a seven-fold increase compared to only half a century ago. If more action is not taken to sustain these vital ecosystems, most may be lost within two decades. Halting degradation and restoring both the lost marine carbon sinks in the oceans and slowing deforestation of the tropical forests on land could result in mitigating emissions by up to 25%.

Sustaining blue carbon sinks will be crucial for ecosystem-based adaptation strategies that reduce vulnerability of human coastal communities to climate change. Halting the decline of ocean and coastal ecosystems would also generate economic revenue, food security and improve livelihoods in the coastal zone. It would also provide major economic and development opportunities for coastal communities around the world…

“Out of all the biological carbon captured in the world, over half is captured by marine living organisms hence it is called blue carbon.”

“The objective of this report is to highlight the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems in maintaining our climate and in assisting policy makers to mainstream an oceans agenda into national and international climate change initiatives.”

Read/download the entire report here: http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/blue-carbon/

Like everyone else, we’re trying to find ways to stay afloat in this crazy economy. To help support MarineBio and to be the envy of all of your friends – check out the new items in the MarineBio gear shop: http://marinebio.org/shop/

You’ll find everything from apparel, our new 2010 calendar, stickers and cards, mugs, mousepads, and even skate boards!  All proceeds from purchases go toward maintaining the MarineBio Network. All MarineBio Gear can be fully customized, for example you can change shirt styles and colors, and even what the designs look like or say! Have an idea for a design related to marine life, conservation or ocean science? Tell us about it and we’ll notify you when it’s online!