Building on the findings of IPCC AR5 (5th assessment report), the scientific conference “Our common future under climate change”, Paris, Unesco (7-10 July 2015), will present updated knowledge and address key issues concerning climate change in the broader context of global change.
The deadline for abstract submission is 2nd March, http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org. When submitting your abstract, select the session “Ocean impacts”.
Session title: Ocean Change: Understanding and projecting the impacts of warming and acidification on natural and human systems
Conveners: Jean-Pierre Gattuso and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Structure of the session: 3 keynote talks of 15 min each including discussion followed by 4 talks of 10 min each including discussion. Also: posters.
Keynote speakers: Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, and Hans-Otto Pörtner
The Ocean is critical to life on Earth through its regulation of atmospheric gases, stabilisation of planetary heat, and provision of food and resources to well over 3 billion people worldwide. Despite its importance, however, our understanding of its responses to key drivers such as ocean warming and acidification has been relatively limited. The recent consensus report from WGII of the IPCC AR5 significantly corrects this deficit by including a number of ocean-focused chapters for the first time. In doing so, AR5 has identified a plethora of fundamentally important changes that pose serious risks to components such as ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal livelihoods. This session brings together the latest IPCC consensus on the Ocean, and provides an integrated and updated perspective on the changes, risks and projections for both natural and human systems. Using information accumulated and the consensus achieved during the IPCC process, this session will also explore the implications of emission scenarios for key assets such as coral reefs, fisheries, mangroves and coastal processes. In doing so, a number of key questions will be discussed, such as: What will be the likely impacts of ocean warming and acidification on organisms, ecosystems and dependent human communities under different emission trajectories? Are there are significant adaptation and policy options available to the over 100 countries that have a significant dependence on ocean and coastal systems? The ensuing discussion will also facilitate the construction of key messages for the COP21 negotiation process on the Ocean and associated issues.
