See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260217160 Ensuring survival: Oceans, climate and security Article in Ocean & Coastal Management · March 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.08.007 CITATIONS READS 14 309 5 authors, including: Janot Mendler de Suarez Kateryna Wowk Boston University Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 16 PUBLICATIONS 92 CITATIONS 16 PUBLICATIONS 141 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Rolph Payet Ove Hoegh-Guldberg University of Seychelles The University of Queensland 8 PUBLICATIONS 289 CITATIONS 449 PUBLICATIONS 40,605 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: The role of oxidative stress in differential coral bleaching View project Africa Water Governance View project All content following this page was uploaded by Kateryna Wowk on 02 January 2018. 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Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights Author's personal copy Ocean & Coastal Management 90 (2014) 27e37 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman Ensuring survival: Oceans, climate and security Janot Mendler de Suarez a,*, Biliana Cicin-Sain b, Kateryna Wowk b, Rolph Payet c, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg d a Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University, 67 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, USA b Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of Delaware, 301 Robinson Hall, Newark, DE 19716, USA c Ministry of Environment and Energy, Seychelles d Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland, Australia article info abstract Article history: The oceans play a vital role in the global carbon cycle, regulate climate and temperature, provide food Available online 24 September 2013 security and support the livelihoods of billions of people around the globe, especially in coastal areas (where over half the global population resides) and in small island states, where some of the most vulnerable populations rely on marine resources. However, the provision of these life-sustaining services is at riskdclimate change and ocean acidification are already affecting marine ecosystems and coastal populations, threatening the ability of the oceans to continue providing economic resources and envi- ronmental services on which we so critically depend. Citing evidence of these key points, this paper calls for improved governance, the use of ecosystem-based approaches in coastal and ocean management, and urgency in transition to a low-carbon economy. With enhanced governance frameworks and a reliance on science and best practices, we can improve food security, enhance ecosystem resilience, secure sustainable livelihoods, and provide man-made and, perhaps more importantly, natural protections to threats to human health and environmental security from rising seas, acidifying oceans, coastal hazards and extreme weather events. The oceans play a vital role in combating climate change impacts, which, as much current evidence shows, will be more extensive and disastrous than previously forecast by in- ternational experts. It is urgent that the international community concertedly and decisively act to protect this function, including with the improvement of climate change cost estimates and development of financing mechanisms. We must act to increase resilience of key ocean and coastal ecosystems that provide shoreline and infrastructure protection, water quality maintenance, food security, and livelihood support. In effect, we must act to protect our own security through “ocean security”. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction driver of climate variability and long-term climate change (UNEP, 2007). As will be shown throughout this brief, climate change is The global oceans play a vital role in sustaining life on Earth. already affecting the ability of coastal and marine ecosystems to Oceans are generating half of the world’s oxygen, providing the provide food security, sustainable livelihoods, protection from nat- largest active carbon sink and absorbing a significant portion of ural hazards, cultural identity, and recreation to coastal populations, anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2)(WBGU, 2006). Our oceans are especially for the most vulnerable communities in tropical areas. continually regulating climate and temperature, while providing There is now global recognition of the importance of forests and economic resources and environmental services to billions of terrestrial ecosystems in addressing climate change. An emerging people around the globe. The oceans of our planet serve as an understanding of the complex and intimate relationship between intricate and generous life-support system for the entire biosphere. climate change and the oceans offers new hope and should be Ocean circulation, in constant interaction with the earth’s atmo- examined to foster nature-based approaches to mitigate the negative sphere, regulates global climate and temperature, and e through impacts of global warming, and to build ecosystem and community multiple feedback loops related to ocean warming e is a principal resilience to climate-related hazards that cannot be averted. Ecosystem-based ocean and coastal management generates multiple co-benefits, ranging from food security and health, to livelihoods and * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (J. Mendler new technologies that contribute to progress in equitable and envi- de Suarez). ronmentally sustainable development toward a low-carbon future. 0964-5691/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.08.007 Author's personal copy 28 J. Mendler de Suarez et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 90 (2014) 27e37 Recent observations indicate that impacts of our changing global climate on oceans and coasts e especially in the Arctic e now far exceed the findings of the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (USGCRP, 2009). Moreover, we know that increasing ocean acidification, a consequence of rising atmospheric CO2, is impacting coral reefs and marine invertebrates, in turn changing the structure and nature of ocean ecosystems (WBGU, 2006). The oceans offer an important key to averting some of the potentially far-reaching, devastating and long-lasting humanitarian and environmental consequences of climate change. Out of all the biological carbon captured in the world, over half is captured by marine living organisms, hence the term “blue carbon.” In a 2009 Fig. 1. Past and contemporary variability of ocean pH. Future predictions are model derived values based on IPCC mean scenarios (Turley et al., 2006). report, leading scientists found that carbon emissions equal to half the annual emissions of the global transport sector are being captured and stored by marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt and presents key recommendations for a comprehensive frame- marshes and seagrass meadows. A combination of reducing work to address concerns, and better integrate vital ocean and deforestation on land, allied to restoring the coverage and health of coastal contributions for effective climate change policy and action. these coastal ecosystems could deliver up to 25 percent of the emissions reductions needed to avoid ‘dangerous’ climate change. However, the report warns that instead of maintaining and 1.1. The oceans have a vital role in combating climate change enhancing these natural carbon sinks, humanity is damaging and impacts degrading them at an accelerating rate. It estimates that up to seven percent of these ‘blue carbon sinks’ are being lost annually, or, The oceans, which are part of the climate system, are the blue seven times the rate of loss of 50 years ago (Nellemann et al., 2009). lungs of the planet e breathing in CO2 and exhaling oxygen. Over With good governance and ecosystem-based management, the the last 200 years, oceans have been responsible for absorbing world’s oceans and coastal regions can play a vital role in tran- nearly half of the increased CO2 emissions produced by burning sitioning to a low-carbon economy that also provides improved fossil fuels (WBGU, 2006) as well as a significant portion of food security and sustainable livelihoods, as well as natural pro- increased greenhouse gas emissions due to land-use change tection from hazards, extreme weather events and threats to hu- (Sabine et al., 2004). Importantly, acting as the largest active carbon man health. sink on earth, ocean absorption of CO2 reduces the rate at which it In this vein, “oceans” and “coasts” must be integrated into the accumulates in the atmosphere,