Expert Panel on Ocean Acidification Bulletin
New York, 3 September 2009 - The Expert Panel on Ocean Acidification took place at UN Headquarters in New York on 3 September 2009. The event was organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, and the UN Foundation.
The aim of the meeting was to increase awareness and highlight options to avoid adverse impacts of ocean acidification on marine life and ecosystems by bringing together key stakeholders working on oceans and seas, climate change and sustainable development.
Dessima Williams, Permanent Representative of Grenada to the UN and current chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), stressed that oceans are critical to sustaining life, but that human activity is violently and rapidly destroying the health of ocean ecosystems. She urged restricting temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degree C and reducing atmospheric concentrations to 350 ppm. She also called on developed countries to commit to 40% reductions in emissions by 2020 and 85% by 2050. Finally, she urged all people to cut their individual carbon footprint.
> www.iisd.ca: Expert Panel on Ocean Acidification Bulletin

Acid In The Oceans: A Growing Threat To Sea Life
August 12, 2009 When we burn fossil fuels, we are not just putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A lot of it goes into the sea. There, carbon dioxide turns into carbonic acid. And that turns ocean water corrosive, particularly to shellfish and corals.
> www.npr.org: Acid In The Oceans: A Growing Threat To Sea Life
> www.physorg.com: New findings show increased ocean acidification in Alaska waters

Great Barrier Reef will be gone in 20 years, says Charlie Veron

London, 7 July 2009 - The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be unrecognisable within 20 years, an eminent marine scientist has said.
Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told The Times: “There is no way out, no loopholes. The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so.”
www.timesonline.co.uk: Great Barrier Reef will be gone in 20 years, says Charlie Veron

'Coral lab' offers acidity insight
Copenhagen, March 11 2009 - Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are acidifying the oceans and threaten a mass extinction of sea life, a top ocean scientist warns.
news.bbc.co.uk: 'Coral lab' offers acidity insight

Carbon emissions creating acidic oceans not seen since dinosaurs
Copenhagen, March 10 2009 - Chemical change placing 'unprecedented' pressure on marine life and could cause widespread extinctions, warn scientists.
Human pollution is turning the seas into acid so quickly that the coming decades will recreate conditions not seen on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs, scientists will warn today.
The rapid acidification is caused by the massive amounts of carbon dioxide belched from chimneys and exhausts that dissolve in the ocean. The chemical change is placing "unprecedented" pressure on marine life such as shellfish and lobsters and could cause widespread extinctions, the experts say.
www.guardian.co.uk: Carbon emissions creating acidic oceans not seen since dinosaurs
www.ipsnews.net: Acid Oceans Altering Marine Life
www.sciam.com: Proof on the Half Shell / A More Acidic Ocean Corrodes Sea Life
Copenhagen 2009

Coral reefs: Vital to the oceans, vital to humans

New York, February 12, 2009 - Coral reefs are dying off at record rates, thanks to pollution, disease and global warming. Scientists worldwide are trying to come up with new ideas to conserve and protect not just the coral reefs, but also the biodiversity and human economies that depend upon them for their survival.
www.sciam.com: Coral reefs: Vital to the oceans, vital to humans

Rising Acidity Threatens Oceans
New York, January 30, 2009 - The oceans have long buffered the effects of climate change by absorbing a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But this benefit has a catch: as the gas dissolves, it makes seawater more acidic. Now an international panel of marine scientists says this acidity is accelerating so fast it threatens the survival of coral reefs, shellfish and the marine food web generally.
www.enn.com: Rising Acidity Threatens Oceans
news.bbc.co.uk: Acid oceans 'need urgent action'

Coral growth slows sharply on Great Barrier Reef

London, January 2 2009 — Coral growth since 1990 in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has fallen to its lowest rate for 400 years, in a troubling sign for the world's oceans, researchers said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com: Coral growth slows sharply on Great Barrier Reef
news.bbc.co.uk: Coral reef growth is slowest ever
thefutureofextinction.wordpress.com: Death and Destruction of the Coral Reefs
www.sciam.com: Ocean Acidification Hits Great Barrier Reef

Southern Ocean Changing But Still Major CO2 Sink
Singapore, November 25, 2008 - The Southern Ocean has proved more resilient to global warming than previously thought and remains a major store of mankind's planet-warming carbon dioxide, a study has found.
www.planetark.com: Southern Ocean Changing But Still Major CO2 Sink

Ocean turning to acid at lightning speed
Chicago, November 24, 2008 - Increased carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is making the Pacific coast acidic far more rapidly than previously believed, potentially wreaking havoc for creatures living in it that are unable to tolerate the swiftly changing environment.
www.planetark.com: Ocean turning to acid at lightning speed
www.independent.co.uk: Acidic seas threaten coral and mussels

Rising CO2 Accelerates Coral Bleaching - Study
Sydney (Aus), October 29, 2008 - Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world's oceans due to climate change, combined with rising sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050, says a new Australian study.
www.planetark.com: Rising CO2 Accelerates Coral Bleaching - Study

Rising Acidity in the Ocean: The Other CO2 Problem
October 6 2008 - Emissions of CO2 are making the oceans more acidic, threatening sea life.
www.sciam.com: Rising Acidity in the Ocean: The Other CO2 Problem

Pollution slowly killing world's coral reefs
Cancun, September 29 2008 - Dainty blue fish dart around coral shaped like moose antlers near the Mexican resort of Cancun, but sickly brown spots are appearing where pollution threatens one of the world's largest reefs.
www.reuters.com: Pollution slowly killing world's coral reefs

Ocean "dead zones" spread, fish more at risk: study
Oslo, September 29 2008 - The number of polluted "dead zones" in the world's oceans is rising fast and coastal fish stocks are more vulnerable to collapse than previously feared, scientists said on Monday.
www.reuters.com: Ocean "dead zones" spread, fish more at risk

Modest CO2 cutbacks may be too little, too late for coral reefs
New York, 22 September 2008 - How much carbon dioxide is too much? According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need to be stabilized at levels low enough to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." But scientists have come to realize that an even more acute danger than climate change is lurking in the world's oceans—one that is likely to be triggered by CO2 levels that are modest by climate standards.
www.physorg.com: Modest CO2 cutbacks may be too little, too late for coral reefs

Cut Greenhouse Gases to Save Coral Reefs
Washington, August 28, 2008 - To keep coral reefs from being eaten away by increasingly acidic oceans, humans need to limit the amount of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a panel of marine scientists said on Wednesday.
www.planetark.com: Cut Greenhouse Gases to Save Coral Reefs

Oceanic Acidification - The Scenario In 100 Years' Time
July 31, 2008 - A new study by scientists into the future effects of acidic sea water shows that the reduced pH value of the oceans’ surface waters will have drastic results in around 100 years’ time. The scientists, from Sweden and Australia, carried out the world’s first research into how a lowered pH of the sea’s surface water affects marine animal life.
www.enn.com: Trade Oceanic Acidification - The Scenario In 100 Years' Time

Acidifying oceans add urgency to CO2 cuts
New York (USA), 3 July 2008 - It's not just about climate change anymore. Besides loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, human emissions of carbon dioxide have also begun to alter the chemistry of the ocean—often called the cradle of life on Earth. The ecological and economic consequences are difficult to predict but possibly calamitous, warn a team of chemical oceanographers in the July 4 issue of Science, and halting the changes already underway will likely require even steeper cuts in carbon emissions than those currently proposed to curb climate change.
www.physorg.com: Acidifying oceans add urgency to CO2 cuts

Oceans absorbing less CO2 may have 1,500 year impact
Vienna, April 16 2008 - Global oceans are soaking up less carbon dioxide, a development that could speed up the greenhouse effect and have an impact for the next 1,500 years.
www.reuters.com: Oceans absorbing less CO2 may have 1,500 year impact

Warming Trends Rise In Large Ocean Areas – Study
Hanoi, April 10, 2008 - Warming trends in a third of the world's large ocean regions are two to four times greater than previously reported averages, increasing the risk to marine life and fisheries, a UN-backed environmental study said.
www.planetark.com: Warming Trends Rise In Large Ocean Areas