The World’s Oceans Are Hurtling Toward Breaking Point

For life The earth, Ocean Is essential. They not only provide our food and resources, they also play a big role in maintaining stable climate: within one-third of all co-thirds of all₂ Emitted by humans, which otherwise will be in the atmosphere to intensify climate change, it is Capture and saved by seaThe

However, the oceans are in trouble. In the meantime, human pressure attacks with overfishing, pollution, rising temperature and acidication – the world’s seas have been twice as burdened for the next few decades. This will have a huge negative consequences for people around the world as well as biodiversity.

An international team led by Santa Barbara Ecosystem Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California, Been modeled How the pressure in the world’s ocean in the future can change. Their analysis projects that are about 2050, the growing pressure on the oceans may increase by 2.2- to 2.6-times compared to today. The maximum rapid growth of the effect will occur in the equatorial regions, in poles and coastal areas.

“Our growing impact on the ocean, which is already enough, is about to double in 2050 -in just 25 years,” explained in NCES director Ben Halparan A University statementThe “It’s perfect. And it’s unexpected, because the effects will not increase – it’s not surprising – but they will grow up so fast.”

Halpurn and his team, with the help of the University of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, have integrated 17 datasets around the world to create a wide global model of human activity on the sea. Past studies often work with the effects of specific activities separately; The present study integrates these activities to highlight the future aspect of the marine environment.

What is raised is the images of more degradation in the already heavy affected regions like coastal water, as well as rapidly expanding effects across the high sea, which is still relatively stable. In the equatorial regions, the effects of human activities can increase by about three times between 2040 and 2050.

Specific main effects include rising sea temperature, reducing marine resources due to fishing, sea levels growing, sea water acidification (which is the consequences of co -co.₂ Dissolved in the sea), and mainly due to nutrient flows flowing from the farms to the ocean, the algal flowers bloom. Although this burden is serious in each isolation, their collective effects can exceed the elasticity of the ecosystem and lead to irreversible damage.

Researchers warned that this synthesized effect would then hurt the society-for example, reduce food supply, stops tourism and fishing jobs, destroying the coral wall that protects the lower-footed floods and coastline from storms and tsunamis. Halparan said the human living and the economy would have a direct impact, which leads to regional economic instability.

Developing countries and Small island country Especially despite their heavy dependence on marine resources, they do not have economic measures. The growing effects will therefore appear unevenly in countries. Ocean change is not just an environmental problem; It is something that expressed concern over the stability of the international community as a whole.

However, the estimates of this study are simply the possibility; This national future will not come. To reduce the greenhouse gas emissions to reduce climate change and sea acidity, manage fisheries regularly, avoid coastal pollution and reduce the degradation of coastal mangroves and salt wetlands. There is still place to reduce the effect.

This story was originally attended Wired Japan And has been translated from Japanese.