Australia's oceans under pressure: report

Nicky Phillips ABC 27 Nov 09;

Scientists have given the state of Australia's marine environment a low grade in the country's first Marine Climate Change report card released today.

The report, compiled by CSIRO and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, details how Australia's marine environment has already changed as a result of a warming planet, and how it is expected to change in the future.

Marine biologist and contributing author Dr Alistair Hobday of CSIRO says "our marine environment is vulnerable of dropping out of school."

But he says the report does offer strategies to help marine environments adapt to the projected impacts of climate change.

The report card will be a valuable tool for scientists, policy makers and anyone with an interest or investment in Australia's marine systems, says Hobday.

"It's like a mini-marine IPCC report for Australia ... it's all you need to know about the impact climate change is having on Australia's marine environment in one place."

Hobday says the report, which took over a year to prepare, demonstrates that climate change is already having an impact.

The temperature is going to rise by 2°C to 4°C even if greenhouse gas emissions were regulated from today, he says.

"Over the next 30 years the kind of changes we're expecting to see are already locked in now because of the amount of greenhouse gases we've put into the atmosphere," says Hobday. "Nothing we do today can change that."

He says mitigating greenhouse gases will only slow down, or possibly reverse, the effects of climate change in the long term - between 30 and 70 years.
More to be done

He says, climate change impacts on the marine environment and the projections are rated on a confidence scale, which is based on current literature and the consensus of leading scientists in the field.

Hobday hopes the report's adaptation strategies will be used in the short-term while more drastic longer term solutions are negotiated.

"These strategies [are what] scientists feel will help these marine systems adapt to climate change [in the short term]."

He admits there will need to be more studies undertaken to assess the efficacy of these adaptations before they are reproduced on a large scale.

Hobday says the report is presented in various formats to ensure the information is accessible to everyone.

"The first level of information is a very simple summary that we hope is accessible to everyone from students to politicians," he says. More detailed technical reports are aimed at scientists.

Hobday hopes the report, which will be reviewed every two years, will convince everyone that the effects of climate change are already happening and that "we need immediate action on today".

Ocean 'report card' released
CSIRO, Science Alert 27 Nov 09;

The first-ever Australian benchmark of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and options for adaptation was released in Brisbane on 27 November 2009.

The Marine Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Report Card for Australia, and an accompanying website, will provide a biennial guide for scientists, government and the community on observed and projected impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems.

"The objective of compiling this information is to consider options available to environmental and resource managers in their response to changes in ecosystem balance," says project leader, CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship scientist Dr Elvira Poloczanska.

"On both sides of the continent there is clear evidence of ocean warming and this is already bringing sub-tropical species south into temperate waters, and in the case of the giant kelp forests in Tasmania, appears to be having a severe impact in just a few years.

"This research is relevant for anyone with a recreational interest or financial investment in our coasts and oceans," Dr Poloczanska says.

The Report Card highlights observations over the past decade, projects forward to 2030 and 2100 with assessments of likely status and confidence ratings, and offers adaptation responses that can also inform policy makers.

Key concerns include; waters around Australia becoming warmer and more acidic, increases in strengths of major warm-water currents such as the East Australian Current, changes in the productivity of marine ecosystems and shifts in the distribution and abundance of species. The Report Card identifies where change is already occurring, likely trends and confidence levels in those trends depending on the state of knowledge.

The research team comprises scientists from CSIRO, Australian universities, State and territory environmental agencies, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Bureau of Meteorology.

The Director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Professor Jean Palutikof, says the Report Card reflects both the increased bank of knowledge about impacts, and the responses of government, industry and the community.

"Australia needs a guide to likely changes in the marine environment and we feel well-positioned now to bring together the science and the latest climate projections to consider options for adaptation,” Professor Palutikof says.