Marine ecosystems at risk from pollution,climate:UN

Reuters AlertNet 19 Oct 10;

NAGOYA, Japan, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Marine ecosystems around the world are at risk of substantial deterioration in coming decades as oceans face growing threats from pollution, over-fishing and climate change, a U.N. report showed on Tuesday.

The global U.N. Environment Programme report, based on studies of 18 regions, predicted that productivity would fall in nearly all areas by 2050, with fisheries to be dominated by smaller species towards the bottom of the food chain.

The report was unveiled as envoys from nearly 200 countries gathered for a U.N. meeting in Nagoya, Japan, aimed at protecting and restoring ecosystems such as forests, coral reefs and the oceans that underpin livelihoods and economies.

Surface sea temperatures could rise by 2100 if no steps are taken to address climate change, affecting coral reefs and other marine organisms, the report said.

Another threat was a continued increase in nitrogen levels, which could trigger algal blooms and lead to the poisoning of fish and other marine life.

"Multi-million dollar services, including fisheries, climate-control and ones underpinning industries such as tourism are at risk if impacts on the marine environment continue unchecked and unabated," Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), said in a statement.

"This global report, based on 18 regional reports, underlines that ambition and actions now need to match the scale and the urgency of the challenge."

Regional reports outlined steps that could be taken for policymakers, with the study for the North West Pacific covering China, Japan, South Korea and Russia calling for more management of ships' ballast water and regulation of fish stocks.

Ballast water from ships can be harmful to seas by transporting marine invasive species to regions from elsewhere, threatening a rise in extinctions of native marine life, the global report said. (Reporting by Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Alex Richardson)

See also Marine protection: The legal route from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black

Protect Planet Ocean Now
IUCN 19 Oct 10;

With only one per cent of the world’s oceans under protection, countries are far behind the 10 per cent target promised for 2010. A greater political will and a change in the way we manage our marine capital are needed now to preserve the Earth’s oceans for generations to come.

This month Chile announced the setting up of a large marine reserve around Sala y Gómez island in the Pacific. However, current global plans for increasing the number of marine protected areas fall far short of what’s needed to save the world’s oceans, according to a new report from IUCN, The Nature Conservancy and the United Nations Environment Programme.

“Keeping our life support system healthy is what is at stake here and now,” says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of IUCN’s Marine and Polar Programme. “The creation of hope spots - special places in the ocean that need special protection - will prove that the world cares about two-thirds of our planet.”

Launched today at the UN Convention for Biological Diversity, Global Ocean Protection: Current Trends and Future Opportunities - a new book by IUCN, The Nature Conservancy, UNEP and various other partners* - looks at the state of our oceans and offers solutions that will restore our marine resources while meeting future human demands. More than 30 leading conservation authors provide the best science and policy available to encourage countries to take actions that go beyond the establishment of individual protected areas.

A total of 5,880 marine protected areas exist today, mostly in coastal areas. However, current protected areas do not represent all regions, species and habitats that are important for conservation, and there are significant financial and human capacity restrictions. One way of achieving a dramatic improvement in marine conservation, while integrating food security, human welfare and health, is through proper management and spatial planning of the ocean, according to the publication.

Traditional management of marine resources is another way of responding to escalating threats to the health of oceans.

“Countries cannot afford to ignore the call for saving our oceans this time,” says Manny Mori, President, Federal States of Micronesia. “Without effective protected areas at the village or community level, there can never be a successful global ocean protected area.”

To read the full report visit: http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/global_ocean_protection_report.pdf

Nagoya 2010: UNEP Report Shows Rising Threats to Marine Biodiversity
UNEP 19 Oct 10;

UNEP Regional Sea report Outlines Outlook for Action

Nagoya/Japan, 19 October 2010-The environmental and economic health of the World Seas-present and future-is outlined today in a report that underlines growing concern from pressures such as pollution, over-fishing and climate change.

The report, the Marine Biodiversity Assessment and Outlook: Global Synthesis by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that by 2050 productivity will have decreased in nearly all areas and with it fish catches. Worldwide fisheries will be heavily dominated by smaller species lower down the food chain.

Meanwhile climate change, if unchecked, could see surface sea temperatures rise by 2100 with important implications for coral reefs and other temperature-sensitive marine organisms.

Other predicted changes include a continued and widespread increase in nitrogen levels.

This is linked with discharges of wastewaters and agricultural run off from the land and, to an extent, emissions from vehicles and shipping.

Nitrogen can trigger algal blooms which in turn can poison fish and other marine creatures as well as contribute to the development of so called 'dead zones'-areas of sea with low oxygen concentrations. These areas have increased since the mid-1960s and now cover an estimated 246,000 km2.

The report also flags concerns over the rise in marine invasive species, transported to regions from elsewhere often in ballast water of ships or attached to its hull. Furthermore, it highlights that the cumulative impacts of all of these factors will have serious consequences in the rise of extinctions of native marine species across all regions.

The continuing decline in marine biodiversity will compromise the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems to the impacts of climate change, as well as their ability to mitigate the effects of climate change, says the report released alongside individual regional seas reports at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan.

Why will extinctions happen?

Other areas of concern are linked with the fate of shell-building marine organisms, such as corals and copepods at the base of the food chain, as a result of rising concentrations of C02-so-called acidification.

Such organisms need minerals like aragonite to make their calcium skeletons. There is already evidence that concentrations of aragonite is falling across the regions as atmospheric C02 concentrations increase and are absorbed by the oceans-a trend that is set to continue and at ever lower depths unless global greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Decoupling growth from rising levels of pollution is the number one challenge facing this generation-this is nowhere more starkly spotlighted than in the current and future health of the world's sea and oceans."

"Multi-trillion dollar services, including fisheries, climate-control and ones underpinning industries such as tourism are at risk if impacts on the marine environment continue unchecked and unabated. Governments are rising to the challenge through actions under the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans. This global report, based on 18 regional reports, underlines that ambition and actions now need to match the scale and the urgency of the challenge," he said.

Way Forward

The Global Synthesis report forms a baseline for understanding the main drivers of change and management responses relating to marine biodiversity.

Given that the nature and dynamics of oceans are transboundary, actions must be taken by all regions. While there are good regional examples, the report identified that management performance in many areas is generally insufficient and inadequately coordinated to address the growing problems of marine biodiversity decline and ecosystem change.

Moving forward, the preparation of National Programmes of Action (NPAs) for protecting the marine environment from land-based activities will be key in the years to come for each country. Already a number of countries have adopted NPAs or equivalent instruments.

For instance, in 2007 Japan enacted an equivalent of the NPA: the Basic Act on Ocean Policy, and established a legal system that regulates land-based activities in order to protect the marine environment.

However, further actions must include cross sectoral approaches such as ecosystem-based management to address activities and impacts affecting marine ecosystems, given that the combination of pressures from increasing human uses and the expected effects of rising temperatures and acidification of sea water promises an unwelcoming outlook for marine biodiversity and human activities that depend upon it.

Regionally, countries are working together to find solutions and adopting international provisions of Conventions and Protocols. For example, the protocols of the Regional Seas Conventions and Actions provide useful policy platforms for countries to collaborate towards meeting targeted goals to manage their shared marine environment.

Similarly, in many parts of the world, countries have adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments: one important step towards cutting introductions of marine invasive species.

Currently, the total number of contracting parties to the Convention is 27, signaling keen interest to turn the Ballast Water Convention into national law.

The challenge is underlined in the report with shipping figures. Growth in total shipping traffic reflect regional variations, however, the global annual average growth of shipping traffic is between 9% - 10% with faster growth of bulk cargoes on some routes which pose the most threat to introducing invasive species.

Extending Marine Protected Areas (MPA) worldwide has so far reached 1.17% of global ocean surface, or 4.32% of continental shelf areas. However, current levels fall far short of the target of 10% of the marine environment to be included as Protected Areas set by the 7th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2004.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are being established as primary biodiversity management measures in all regions. Well managed marine protected areas can, for example, improve spawning rates and fish stocks.

The series provide a snapshot of the situation in 2010. Their preparation has revealed major differences in data availability, analytical protocols and in preparedness and approaches for the management of marine biodiversity, natural resources and ecosystem services. They stand as a baseline for future assessments as part of the Regular Process for the Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment (GRAME).

Notes to Editors

The Marine Biodiversity Assessment and Outlook Series report for UNEP is available on www.marinebiodiversityseries.org

The series provide many lessons and insights and a basis for a consistent set of indicators for Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans to monitor the impact of global and regional measures on protecting and managing marine biodiversity.

About UNEP's Regional Seas Programme

The Regional Seas Programme, launched in 1974 in the wake of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, is one of UNEP's most significant achievements in the past 30 years.

The Regional Seas Programme aims to address the accelerating degradation of the world's oceans and coastal areas through the sustainable management and use of the marine and coastal environment and by engaging neighbouring countries in comprehensive and specific actions to protect their shared marine environment. It has accomplished this by stimulating the creation of the Regional Seas Programmes' prescriptions for sound environmental management to be coordinated and implemented by countries sharing a common body of water.

Today, more than 140 countries are participating in the13 Regional Seas Programmes. Six of these Programmes are directly administered by UNEP. www.unep.org/regionalseas/