Home


Crowdfunding Countercurrents

Submission Policy

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

CounterSolutions

CounterImages

CounterVideos

CC Youtube Channel

Editor's Picks

Press Releases

Action Alert

Feed Burner

Read CC In Your
Own Language

Bradley Manning

India Burning

Mumbai Terror

Financial Crisis

Iraq

AfPak War

Peak Oil

Globalisation

Localism

Alternative Energy

Climate Change

US Imperialism

US Elections

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Book Review

Gujarat Pogrom

Kandhamal Violence

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

About Us

Disclaimer

Fair Use Notice

Contact Us

Subscribe To Our
News Letter

Name:
E-mail:

Search Our Archive



Our Site

Web

 

Order the book

A Publication
on The Status of
Adivasi Populations
of India

 

 

 

Don't Underestimate The Carbon-Regulating Capacity Of The Ocean

 By Marianne de Nazareth

10 December, 2014
Countercurrents.org

 The feeling of peace with the ebb and flow of the vast ocean, as you stand like a little speck on the shore is overwhelming. Peace seems to flow through your mind and your feet encased in sand, as you watch the sun sink below the horizon of the waters. But do we know the amazing clean- up operation which these waves and the vastness of this water-body does to help us humans with Climate Change which is threatening to over- take the planet? It is definitely underestimated and we need to focus on what the ocean does for us for free and see how best we can prevent human destruction there as well.

Top marine scientists scientists' - Laffoley, D., Baxter, J. M., Thevenon, F. and Oliver,J. d have written a paper The Significance and Management of Natural Carbon Stores in the Open Ocean in which they reveal how important it is to protect key carbon-absorbing areas of the ocean and conserve fish and krill stocks which are critical for tackling climate change. This is one of the findings of a report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in which the scientists describe how atmospheric carbon is captured, stored and moves in the ocean. Take a look at the image below which graphically shows one how the ocean is a wonderful carbon sink.

Source: 2014 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources  

The report,  The Significance and Management of Natural Carbon Stores in the Open Ocean , underlines the significant role of the open ocean in absorbing, moving and storing carbon and, for the first time, using the latest science, looks in detail at its role in climate regulation. Over half of all absorbed carbon emissions end up in the ocean. The report suggests poor ocean management practices are putting this vital ecosystem service at risk.

At the heart of this report is the new concept of marine beings such as plankton, fish and krill, which provide an important service that must be addressed in ocean management. The report defines the critical role that the food chain plays in basic ocean processes, including those that regulate climate. It also warns that the role of the ocean in storing and managing carbon must now be factored into policy and decision making at all levels.

“ The world is at a crossroads in terms of ocean health and climate change, ” says the report's  co-editor Dan Laffoley, Vice Chair, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas . “ Neglect the ocean and wonder why our actions are not effective, or manage and restore the ocean to boost food security and reduce the impact of climate change. The choice should be an easy one

The ocean is already showing signs of stress, tending to more acidic conditions. It is also warming and holding less oxygen, which in turn is leading to dead zones.

“ A sick ocean is one that loses its capacity to support planetary processes. As governments convene for climate talks in Lima in the hopes of getting an international carbon reduction agreement back on the rails, these results highlight the need for immediate action on ocean carbon, ensuring that it is taken into consideration in climate policies, ” said  Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director of IUCN's Global Marine and Polar Programme .

The aim of the report has been to start to quantify the role that particular habitats and species make to open ocean carbon processes. The report has been developed to challenge current thinking – in fact we now show that all aspects of carbon management, not just on the land and at the coast but in the ocean, are critical. Evidence in the report shows the impacts and possible future implications for ocean systems of not addressing them in on-going climate change adaptation and mitigation discussions.

Addressing the management of natural carbon pools and sinks in the open ocean may appear technically and attribution-wise more complex, but this complexity is no longer a reason for not doing so. The ocean has been a major buffer for the rate of atmospheric CO2 increase, shielding us from more rapid climate change impacts, albeit with the “side-effect” of ocean acidification. It is now time that the ocean gets more prominent recognition, both as an impacted ecosystem as well as solution provider, in the climate change debate.

One of the problems with such work, and in fact any work on carbon around climate change, is that the subject – carbon dioxide – and the processes of carbon sequestration are invisible. Few if any of us have a sense of the scale of the figures quoted when it comes to carbon management through natural systems. The challenge is to explain the significance of the numbers that have been identified in a way people can more readily relate to, making the figures visible and tangible.

The paper explains the whole concept through the empirical example of a large family car which weighs about 1.5 tonnes. So if we imagined the weight of carbon processed by the ocean each year, what would it look like by weight in terms of numbers of family cars per person per year based on the population of the UK? Look at the figures provided below to get a sense of the concept.

According to the paper, Diatoms, the microscopic plankton that are a food source for many larger organisms, are estimated to transfer about 150 million tons of carbon per year to the deep ocean (at depths of more than 1,000 metres) – the equivalent carbon capture of about 250,000 square kilometres of restored tropical rainforest (as it grows), or an area the size of the United Kingdom. Krill are believed to capture about 22.8 million tons, but ongoing climate change due to human activities could undermine their carbon removal potential. Sargassum, a golden floating seaweed covering large tracts of the vast Sargasso Sea close to Bermuda, is a carbon sink of regional importance and a critical habitat for a number of endangered species, including turtles and eels.

Research on the Antarctic Krill by marine scientists So Kawaguchi and Steve Nicol throw up actual carbon sequestration which the Antarctic Krill help the planet with.

• Antarctic krill is reputed to have the largest biomass of any single metazoan species (all multi-cellular animals besides sponges) on the planet, playing a key role in the structure and function of the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

• Krill sequester 2.3 x 1013 gC annually, which offsets ~0.26% of annual global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Krill also play a key role in cycling elements other than carbon, some of which may limit primary production (e.g. iron).

• Declines in krill density and possible recruitment failures in the South Atlantic in recent years have been Suggested and have been linked to reductions in sea ice area caused by global warming.

• Marine organisms are expected to be affected by ocean acidification in a number of ways and long lived pelagic animals, such as Antarctic krill, may be especially vulnerable.

• The krill population is a large biological carbon reservoir, but krill are probably more important

through their control of the carbon cycling processes.

Adult Antarctic krill (Photo Credit: Rob King)

The report has been developed to challenge current thinking that carbon sinks are mainly on the land – in fact we now show that all aspects of carbon management, not just on the land and at the coast but in the ocean, are critical.

Marianne de Nazareth

( Freelance science and environment journalist and registered PhD scholar, MKU University Bangalore. )

 

.

 

 

 




 

Share on Tumblr

 

 


Comments are moderated