Effects of climate emergency on the ocean worry researchers
The ocean has seen a variety of effects from the climate emergency accumulate. Abnormal warming of the waters, massive coral bleaching, displacement of polar species, decline in fish reproduction, and changes in ocean current patterns are some of these impacts.
Experts gathered in Rio de Janeiro warn of the urgent need for measures to protect this ecosystem, with a special focus on international waters, which account for two-thirds of the ocean and over which no country has jurisdiction.
The 3rd Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) symposium brings together scientists, politicians, representatives of international organizations, and society organizations from Monday (Mar. 9) to Wednesday (11) to discuss the implementation of the High Seas Treaty. The agreement came into force in January this year.
The text, ratified to date by 86 countries – including Brazil – is the starting point for regulating biodiversity protection, marine technology exchange, the creation of new governance bodies, and access to genetic resources.
There are seven references to climate change in the treaty. In summary, the signatory countries recognize the need to combat the loss of biological diversity and the degradation of ocean ecosystems. Problems such as warming, oxygen loss, pollution, and acidification are given special attention. There is also a directive for vulnerable areas to be identified and protected.
“The United Nations has institutions, such as the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], that bring together climate experts. But the reports still address the ocean in a timid way. The High Seas Treaty puts the ocean at the center of discussions,” says Segen Farid Estefen, director-general of the National Institute for Oceanic Research (INPO).
Socioeconomic impacts
Regina Rodrigues, professor of Physical Oceanography and Climate at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), highlighted the social effects of global warming.
“Rising sea levels threaten more than one billion people living in low-lying coastal areas. Three billion people depend on seafood as their main source of protein. Thus, the decline in fish reproduction threatens food security,” Regina Rodrigues pointed out.
There are also risks of population displacement, she went on to note.
“The risks of climate-induced conflicts are high in regions dependent on the ocean – especially in the Pacific, the Bay of Bengal, and West Africa,” she added.
To achieve effective resolutions, the professor advocates for a closer connection between the work of the High Seas Treaty and that of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Today, the treaties operate in parallel.
“We need to ask ourselves whether our national and international governance systems are commensurate with the scale, speed, and cross-border nature of climate impacts,” she argued.
Regina Rodrigues noted that governance needs to be adaptable because climate change will continue to evolve. “We must apply the precautionary principle. And we must learn from the UNFCCC process so as not to repeat the same mistakes,” she added.
Fishing
Juliano Palacios Abrantes, a Brazilian researcher at the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, in Canada, highlighted how global warming has impacted fishing worldwide.
Abrantes pointed out that the way fish stocks are managed in international waters is complex because they cross multiple jurisdictions and involve many interested nations.
“In a recent study, we found that many tropical fish stocks are moving from exclusive economic zones toward the high seas. This can lead to international conflicts, as we have already seen in Europe with the case of mackerel,” Abrantes stated.
Another possibility, the researcher said, is the displacement of stocks to areas where there are no agreements or where they are not protected or managed. “And it can increase inequalities, because only a limited number of rich countries have the capacity to fish on the high seas.”
