14 DAY TRIAL // This October 3, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean announced that, according to recent investigations, our planet's seas and oceans are now absorbing record amounts of carbon dioxide.
What's more, they are getting warmer and experiencing a noteworthy drop in oxygen levels.
Researchers say that, while each of these phenomena in itself constitutes a threat to marine biodiversity, their combined effect is “greater, faster and more imminent” than previously assumed.
“The ocean is shielding us from the worst effects of accelerating climate change by absorbing excess CO2 and heat from the atmosphere.”
“The twin effects of this – acidification and ocean warming – are combining with increased levels of deoxygenation to produce what has become known as the ocean's ‘deadly trio’ of threats whose impacts are potentially far greater because of the interaction of one on another,” researchers working with the International Programme on the State of the Ocean explain in a press release.
“The scale and rate of this change is unprecedented in Earth's known history and is exposing organisms to intolerable and unpredictable evolutionary pressure,” they add.
Specialists warn that, as previous studies have already shown, coral reefs are the ones most vulnerable to the environmental changes brought about by this so-called deadly trio of phenomena.
They say that, unless emission targets of 450 ppm CO2 are implemented as soon as possible, it is only a matter of decades until most of the world's coral reefs cease to be effective and productive systems capable of sustaining marine wildlife.
Apart from curbing carbon emissions, human society must put a leash on the amount of pollutants that end up in our planet's seas and oceans, and push for more sustainable fishing practices.
“Continued overfishing is serving to further undermine the resilience of ocean systems, and contrary to some claims, despite some improvements largely in developed regions, fisheries management is still failing to halt the decline of key species and damage to the ecosystems on which marine life depends,” the researchers write in their report.