Alex Rogers, Professor of Conservation Biology at the Department of Zoology at Oxford, and scientific director of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean describes the main problems affecting the global ocean — and discusses some of the things we could do to address them in this new video. The IPSO has just launched the summary of its forthcoming report on the state of the oceans ((Rogers, A.D. & Laffoley, D.d’A. 2011. International Earth system expert workshop on ocean stresses and impacts. Summary report. IPSO Oxford, 18 pp)) — PDF here. The key findings make sobering reading:
- Human actions have resulted in warming and acidification of the oceans and are now causing increased hypoxia.
- The speeds of many negative changes to the ocean are near to or are tracking the worst case scenarios from IPCC and other predictions. Some are as predicted, but many are faster than anticipated, and many are still accelerating.
- The magnitude of the cumulative impacts on the ocean is greater than previously understood.
- Timelines for action are shrinking.
- Resilience of the ocean to climate change impacts is severely compromised by other stressors from human activities, including fisheries, pollution and habitat destruction.
- Ecosystem collapse is occurring as a result of both current and emerging stressors.
- The extinction threat to marine species is rapidly increasing.
The bottom line is not pretty:
[…] we now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation. Unless action is taken now, the consequences of our activities are at a high risk of causing, through the combined effect of climate change, over exploitation, pollution and habitat loss, the next globally significant extinction event in the ocean.
The report recommends immediate action on reduction of CO2 emissions, calls for a long list of actions to restore and protect marine ecosystems, and the formation of a new Global Ocean Compliance Commission to establish rules and regulations for the protection of the “high seas” — the ocean beyond national jurisdictions.
This is a cri du coeur from the world’s ocean scientists. We ignore it at our peril…
[See also Climate Progress, and the NZ Herald. The IPSO site also has more videos from workshop participants, and a great ocean cycles graphic.]
On the day that the egregious Monckton finally had to be disowned by Abbott, Bolt and Watts, it’s interesting to ponder what will most-likely happen here.
For the quondam fellow-travellers of the fabulist-in-chief will in all likelihood proceed to – not to put too fine a point on it – heap shit on the IPSO findings. Deride, ridicule, nit-pick, cherry-pick, dissemble, mis-quote, spin, divert… the whole grab-bag.
My question is to any actual remaining conservatives out there who have thus far let themselves be carried along into Denial by the radical reactionaries that have taken over your philosophy by putsch, turning it inside-out in the process.
When are you going to stop being stupid?
Are you planning on following these idiots to the grave, or what? Or your kids graves, at any rate.
Are you planning on drifting with utter dolts who pop up and announce that these IPSO guys are only in it for the ‘$trillions’ in funding? Or will you perhaps choose to believe that these scientists are part of an amazing conspiracy, where somehow all the really bright people have simultaneously decided to enslave the rest via the installation of Carbon Taxes and Environmental Regulations, the clear first step to Total World Government?
Are you looking forward to standing in the straining, screaming wreck of a world in 2035, and whining ‘If only we’d known! Why didn’t anyone tell us?’ or ‘we thought all those sciencey people were just communists!’?
Speaking personally, I don’t much care what happens to the maladapted. You make your bed, and all that.
But I really resent being dragged down with you. I really resent all the poor blameless bastards in the 3rd world who’ve never had a chance to be affluent voluntary ignoramuses being dragged down with you. And I really resent so many of the non-human inhabitants of this amazing droplet in space that is apparently scarcely worth the effort to save being dragged down with you!
Amen to that.
And a three fold amen sung in four part harmony here too!
Well said bill.
The sad realization is that probably evolutionary success IS correlated to intelligence afterall! ….
Great comment Bill!
I look forward to the next episode of the climate show. A highlight every fortnight 🙂