• Wednesday, June 22, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The world’s ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history, says a report released by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) in London.

Marine scientist from the world over came together at Oxford University to review recent research by world ocean experts under the auspices of IPSO and the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN).

They reached an alarming conclusion: If the current course of damages continues, a new extinction event would be inevitable and the ocean as well as the ecosystems within would be unable to recover.

'I hope it (the report) changes the urgency with which many of these issues are being dialed with,' said Professor Alex Rogers, Scientific Director of the International Programme on State of the Ocean (IPSO), adding, 'I think, many of the people think that these things are going to happen in the future… But the simple fact is, that we are seeing a manifestation of many of these impacts now and have been seeing them for the last twenty or thirty years.'

Whenever a mass extinction event has happened, there have been three factors responsible for it: Warming of the ocean, acidification and low oxygen levels, so-called hypoxia, as well as absence of oxygen, also known as ocean dead zones.

According to Rogers, there is strong scientific evidence that these factors are combining in the ocean again and are exacerbated by several other human induced impacts like overfishing and nutrient run-off from farming.

As example, the report mentioned, among others, the single coral bleaching event in 1998, which killed 16 percent of the world’ tropical coral reefs. Coral bleaching is caused by increased or reduced water temperatures and leads to the die-off of corals.

It also points out the issue of overfishing, which has reduced some commercial fish stocks and populations of by-catch species by more than 90 percent.

For the first time ever this year, the U.N. General Assembly will conduct an open review of regional and national actions to protect deep-sea species and ecosystems in the high seas from the harmful impacts of fishing and bottom trawl fishing in particular.

But the preservation of the ocean is not only important for the preservation of its ecosystems.

'The food security of billions of people depends on a healthy ocean,' said Susan Lieberman, from High Seas Alliance and director of Pew Environment Group.

This week the 12th Meeting of the U.N. Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP) is in session to develop and ensure that concrete steps are taken to improve high seas governance will be taken at Rio Plus 20 in June 2012.

'The oceans are in crisis for a number of threats which are caused by humans and it’s time for governments to take action…it is a matter of raising the political awareness, the awareness of the public and people that all is not well', said Lieberman.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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