Ocean acidification (OA) poses a significant global threat to marine ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal livelihoods. While several countries have established robust monitoring and mitigation strategies, many regions, including India, are still developing comprehensive responses. Given India’s heavy reliance on ocean-based resources, it is crucial to integrate OA considerations into national marine policies to safeguard biodiversity, support sustainable seafood production, and protect vulnerable coastal communities. In alignment with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 14.3, which calls for enhanced scientific cooperation and monitoring to address OA, this review highlights key gaps in India’s current OA research and policy landscape. It proposes a strategic framework encompassing improved monitoring systems, socio-ecological impact assessments, and targeted policy interventions. By fostering a holistic and collaborative approach, the study aims to strengthen India’s OA resilience and contribute to broader global mitigation efforts.
Continue reading ‘Ocean acidification global perspectives and India’s path forward’Posts Tagged 'policy'
Ocean acidification global perspectives and India’s path forward
Published 29 October 2025 Science ClosedTags: Indian, policy, review, socio-economy
Japan shellfish farmer perceptions of ocean acidification, adaptive strategies and comparison with global shellfish farmers
Published 24 October 2025 Science ClosedTags: fisheries, mitigation, North Pacific, policy, socio-economy
Ocean acidification (OA) poses significant threats to shellfish aquaculture. Although governments and organizations around the globe are taking actions to mitigate the impacts of OA, few studies directly report shellfish farmer perceptions of OA and corresponding responses. In this study, we document Japanese shellfish (oyster) commercial farmer perceptions of, and adaptive strategies for OA with respect to oyster aquaculture. We also review and compare our results with existing studies of shellfish commercial farmer perceptions of OA in three regions, including the United States (U.S.), the Mediterranean region and British Columbia, Canada. We found variation in the perceptions of OA around the globe; it is common among all shellfish farmers to have difficulty distinguishing OA from other environmental stressors. OA adaptive strategies from shellfish farmers were only reported for the U.S. (in the literature), and Japan (this study). Acknowledging the diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, we discussed the similarity and difference of adaptive strategies between the U.S. (as a post-event case with documented OA-related shellfish mortality) and Japan (as a pre-event case) to cope with OA. For example, farmers from both countries suggest, or are already utilizing flexibility in farm management and applying knowledge through hands-on learning. While U.S. farmers rely on networking with different stakeholders to learn about OA knowledge and solutions while Japanese farmers do not. Learning from the strategies that U.S. farmers applied to adapt to OA events, several areas of policies and actions (e.g., financial support, collaboration with scientists and OA awareness enhancement) were identified to better support and empower Japanese shellfish farmers to adapt to future OA scenarios. However, future study on suitability and transferability of implementing policies and actions in Japan is required due to different geographical and cultural contexts.
Continue reading ‘Japan shellfish farmer perceptions of ocean acidification, adaptive strategies and comparison with global shellfish farmers’A tri-national initiative to advance understanding of coastal and ocean acidification in the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America
Published 23 October 2025 Science ClosedTags: North Atlantic, policy, review, socio-economy
The Gulf of Mexico’s (also recognized by the United States government as the Gulf of America; herein referred to as “the Gulf”) valuable and diverse marine, coastal, and estuarine environments sustain many habitats, species, and economically important fisheries that are vulnerable to open ocean and coastal acidification (OOCA), including shellfish, coral reefs, and other carbonate reefs and seafloor. OOCA poses an economic threat to the Gulf’s economy, which is estimated to have a combined value of $2.04 trillion (US) per year across Cuba, Mexico and the United States (U.S.). Scientists from Cuba, Mexico, and the U.S. co-organized and co-hosted the first Gulf International Ocean Acidification Summit on Oct. 18-19, 2022 in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico to exchange information and begin development of a new tri-national network to address the socioeconomic and ecological impacts of OOCA in the Gulf based on common needs. The meeting included representatives from government agencies, universities, research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and was sponsored by the Furgason Fellowship of the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Discussions focused on each country’s challenges, including known and potential socioeconomic vulnerabilities and biological and ecosystem responses to OOCA. Shared priorities were identified for observational, biological, environmental needs, socioeconomic research, outreach, and communications. Priority geographic locations for the study and short and long-term monitoring of OOCA were identified based on the group’s knowledge of oceanographic conditions and vulnerable regions. Longer-term actions that will help support multinational collaborations include: identifying shared data and information platforms; standardizing chemical and biological sampling methodologies; coordinating communications with regulatory agencies and resource managers; and coordinating monitoring activities, collaborative research projects, and tri-national comparisons and synthesis of findings. We present guidance from this effort for an integrated, multinational approach to understanding the causes and consequences of OOCA in the Gulf.
Continue reading ‘A tri-national initiative to advance understanding of coastal and ocean acidification in the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America’Ocean change in the northeastern Atlantic and adjacent seas: a multi-dimensional challenge for the environment, society, and economy
Published 17 October 2025 Newsletters and reports ClosedTags: chemistry, North Atlantic, policy, review, socio-economy
An ocean narrative is a powerful tool for making complex ocean changes better accessible while informing decision-making and inspiring collective action. This ocean narrative reports on ocean change in the northeastern Atlantic and adjacent seas and discusses its broader implications for Europe’s environment, economy, and society. The region is experiencing warming and acidification at rates exceeding the global average, with rising sea levels and record severe marine heatwaves (MHWs). These changes threaten marine ecosystems, biodiversity, cultural heritage, and key economic sectors, such as aquaculture and coastal tourism, which rely heavily on the balance and the health of the ocean. This ocean narrative emphasizes the importance of regional ocean indicators for the northeastern Atlantic and adjacent seas and underscores the importance of localized responses, as ocean changes affect regions differently, particularly in semi-enclosed seas such as the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The findings stress the urgency of timely action and the need to strengthen evidence-based and strategic ocean knowledge transfer at the science and policy interface for informed decision-making that balances environmental sustainability, economic resilience, and social inclusivity to address the growing challenges of ocean change in the northeastern Atlantic and its adjacent seas.
Continue reading ‘Ocean change in the northeastern Atlantic and adjacent seas: a multi-dimensional challenge for the environment, society, and economy’New Jersey ocean acidification action plan
Published 3 October 2025 Science ClosedTags: mitigation, North Atlantic, policy, socio-economy
The NJDEP created an Ocean Acidification Action Plan to address ocean and coastal acidification. Left unchecked, this global issue will negatively impact the balance of the ecosystem as well as the state’s fish and shellfish industries. Shellfish are particularly vulnerable through the impacts of acidification on shell formation.
The New Jersey Ocean Acidification Action Plan identifies steps that the NJDEP has already taken that can help mitigate ocean and coastal acidification and outlines the Department’s next steps to better understand the current conditions and prepare for additional impacts of ocean and coastal acidification.
Continue reading ‘New Jersey ocean acidification action plan’A policy analysis for climate adaptation in Japanese fisheries
Published 16 September 2025 Newsletters and reports ClosedTags: fisheries, North Pacific, policy
Japan plays a key role in the world’s production and consumption of seafood. In 2021, the fishing industry is estimated to have generated over 637 billion Japanese yen for the country’s GDP (Klein, 2024), and the Japanese government ranks as one of the top spenders globally in terms of public sector support for the fisheries sector (OECD, 2022). Additionally, Japan ranks the highest in per capita seafood consumption globally, constituting one of the top three markets for seafood (Guillen et al., 2019; Swartz et al., 2010).
Climate change is rapidly changing Japanese fisheries, which have long been a significant economic and cultural part of Japanese life. This time of change presents an opportunity for the Japanese government to reconsider its approach to fisheries management. Particularly, it presents an opportunity to center equity values in fisheries management, which have traditionally been overlooked relative to other public values such as economy, effectiveness, and efficiency. As climate impacts disproportionately disadvantage marginalized populations in fisheries, it is crucial to incorporate an environmental justice perspective into policymaking. This time of change serves as an opportunity to dismantle long-standing institutions that have been perpetuating social inequities.
This report presents a policy analysis for climate adaptation in Japanese fisheries. The policy analysis report is prepared for the Fisheries Agency of Japan. The objective is to provide the Japanese government with an assessment of policy options that they can consider for climate change adaptation. Findings are discussed in the form of tradeoffs between policy options. We seek to promote equitable policymaking by incorporating equity assessments into our policy analysis.
Continue reading ‘A policy analysis for climate adaptation in Japanese fisheries’New ocean acidification policy infographics
Published 15 September 2025 Educational Materials , Resources ClosedTags: policy
The Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS) Outcome 7 is focused on policy engagement for ocean acidification. The Outcome 7 working group recently published a series of infographics on the following themes:
- Ocean acidification as a risk to marine sectors and coastal communities
- Ocean acidification information can support local actions
- Global frameworks and national policies for taking action on ocean acidification
Download the ocean acidification policy infographics here.
Continue reading ‘New ocean acidification policy infographics’Ocean and coastal acidification monitoring priorities for the Northeast US and Eastern Canada
Published 20 August 2025 Newsletters and reports ClosedTags: North Atlantic, policy
The Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification Monitoring Prioritization Plan 2024 calls for Coastal Acidification Networks to identify the ocean and coastal acidification (OCA) monitoring needs most important for their regions. The Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (NECAN) organized a webinar series to study regional needs, which culminated with a workshop in November 2023. This workshop led to the identification of six priority new Monitoring Needs in addition to the maintenance of current monitoring efforts:
- Improve spatial and temporal scale of monitoring co-located OCA variables and biological measurements to better resolve variability of acidification dynamics in concert with biological processes
- Increase subsurface monitoring to understand how conditions vary at depth
- Increase the number of high-frequency monitoring assets that measure at least two of four carbon parameters
- Increase near-real-time and rapid response observing capacity for episodic events
- Determine fluxes and rates that would help parameterize and constrain regional modeling efforts to understand past conditions and project future trends
- Increase spatial coverage of “climate”-quality observations
This report presents monitoring needs and opportunities for consideration by coastal managers, decision makers, researchers, and monitoring groups. It offers options to apply new capacity or funding to the expansion of OCA monitoring in the NECAN region. Writing the report led to the identification of eight cross-cutting actions which will lead to the implementation of these Monitoring Needs:
- Expand monitoring beyond carbonate chemistry to provide a complete assessment of OCA, its effects, and future trends.
- Enhance or leverage existing monitoring platforms for a cost-effective and collaborative approach to creating a more complete OCA monitoring system in the NECAN region.
- Expand the NECAN membership to include protected area experts, terrestrial biogeochemists and hydrologists, fisheries experts, social scientists, Tribal liaisons, project leads from large assessments, and other important stakeholders, rights holders and decision makers.
- Increase funding in the Northeast to both sustain currently-stretched efforts and grow a more robust ocean acidification monitoring program.
- Pursue immediate implementation of proxy approaches or interim strategies for measurements with technological or capacity limitations, while new technologies are being developed.
- Synthesize monitoring information to advance the understanding of OCA in the region.
- Deploy monitoring assets strategically, with end-user needs in mind, ensuring that the collected data is accessible, relevant, and useful for decision-making.
- Share NECAN’s experience in developing these recommendations with other Coastal Acidification Networks and regional monitoring programs.
A collaborative climate vulnerability assessment of California marine fishery species
Published 20 August 2025 Science ClosedTags: biological response, crustaceans, fish, fisheries, mollusks, North Pacific, policy, review
Climate change and the associated shifts in species distributions and ecosystem functioning pose a significant challenge to the sustainability of marine fisheries and the human communities dependent upon them. In the California Current, as recent, rapid, and widespread changes have been observed across regional marine ecosystems, there is an urgent need to develop and implement adaptive and climate-ready fisheries management strategies. Climate Vulnerability Assessments (CVA) have been proposed as a first-line approach towards allocating limited resources and identifying those species and stocks most in need of further research and/or management intervention. Here we perform a CVA for 34 California state-managed fish and invertebrate species, following a methodology previously developed for and applied to federally managed species. We found Pacific herring, warty sea cucumber, and California spiny lobster to be three of the species expected to be the most sensitive to climate impacts with California halibut, Pacific bonito, and Pacific hagfish expected to be the least sensitive. When considering climate sensitivity in combination with environmental exposure in both Near (2030–2060) and Far (2070–2100) Exposure climate futures, red abalone was classified as a species with Very High climate vulnerability in both periods. Dungeness and Pacific herring shifted from High to Very High climate vulnerability and Pismo clam and pink shrimp shifted from Moderate to Very High climate vulnerability as exposure conditions progressed. In providing a relative and holistic comparison of the degree to which state-managed marine fishery species are likely to be impacted as climate change progresses, our results can help inform strategic planning initiatives and identify where gaps in scientific knowledge and management capacity may pose the greatest risk to California’s marine resource dependent economies and coastal communities.
Continue reading ‘A collaborative climate vulnerability assessment of California marine fishery species’Management considerations for establishing a coastal acidification monitoring system from U.S. Coastal Acidification Networks
Published 15 August 2025 Science ClosedTags: chemistry, field, methods, policy
Ocean acidification (OA), caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, is a concern for ocean resource users in coastal regions where the phenomenon is compounded by variable processes. Sustained OA monitoring systems are critical for characterization of baseline ocean conditions and identification of changes and impacts to coastal ecosystems and communities. Establishing an OA monitoring network is best accomplished through iterative planning, sustained funding, and comprehensive understanding of the coastal system. This paper offers decision-making considerations for entities interested in establishing a local to regional scale OA observing system. Such considerations include which carbon system parameters can be measured in each system, which sensors and platforms will provide applicable information for interested partners, and best practices for observing data management. Because every region faces unique circumstances, we present context-specific examples of effective decision-making processes from established U.S. OA observing networks. These regional case studies offer information on specific scientific questions, observing techniques, and methodology employed to establish and manage OA observations in the coastal zone.
Continue reading ‘Management considerations for establishing a coastal acidification monitoring system from U.S. Coastal Acidification Networks’Accelerated ocean acidification (1985–2022) threatens tropical coral reefs and highlights biogeochemical refugia for marine conservation
Published 14 August 2025 Science ClosedTags: chemistry, field, policy, review
Highlights
- Ocean acidification rose post-2009 in pH, Ωₐᵣ, Ωca across all oceans.
- Coral Triangle faced frequent acidification extremes from 2015 to 2022.
- Stable carbonate zones (Ωₐᵣ ≥ 3.0, Ωca ≥ 1.5) span 12 % of tropics.
- Coral nations lack protection despite stable zone overlap.
- Chemistry-based refugia aid climate-smart MPA planning.
Abstract
Ocean acidification (OA) poses a growing threat to tropical coral reef ecosystems, yet the spatiotemporal dynamics of acidification and their implications for conservation remain undercharacterized. Here, we present a comprehensive global assessment of surface ocean carbonate chemistry from 1985 to 2022, using an observation-constrained, neural-network–based CMEMS dataset. We quantify long-term trends, detect structural accelerations, and identify regions of extreme and stable carbonate conditions based on pH, aragonite saturation (Ωₐᵣ), and calcite saturation (Ωca). Piecewise regression analysis reveals significant accelerations in the decline of all three parameters, with breakpoints in the late 1990s (Ωₐᵣ, Ωca) and post-2009 (pH). Spatial trend and Z-score analyses (Z ≤ −2.0) indicate that the Coral Triangle and adjacent Indo-Pacific regions have experienced the most intense acidification exposure, both in trend magnitude and extreme event frequency. Concurrently, we identify chemically stable zones, defined by Ωₐᵣ ≥ 3.0 and Ωca ≥ 1.5, that persist in approximately 12 % of tropical ocean surface waters from 2015 to 2022. Critically, these stable zones show substantial overlap with major coral reef provinces, yet protection gaps remain. In Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea, less than 35 % of coral reef area falls within marine protected areas (MPAs), despite high stable zone prevalence. Our findings highlight an urgent opportunity to integrate carbonate chemistry stability into marine spatial planning. Designating MPAs within these refugial zones offers a climate-informed strategy to sustain coral ecosystem resilience under intensifying anthropogenic CO₂ forcing.
Continue reading ‘Accelerated ocean acidification (1985–2022) threatens tropical coral reefs and highlights biogeochemical refugia for marine conservation’Ocean acidification impacts: exploring Bhutan’s role in global marine conservation
Published 6 August 2025 Web sites and blogs ClosedTags: policy
Ocean acidification, a consequence of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, poses a significant threat to global marine ecosystems by altering ocean chemistry and disrupting marine life. While Bhutan, a landlocked Himalayan nation, may seem distanced from direct oceanic impacts, its commitment to environmental conservation and sustainable development positions it as a unique contributor to global marine conservation efforts. This paper explores the broader impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity and human communities, examining Bhutan’s potential role within the international framework of marine conservation. Through an analysis of intergovernmental organizations, treaties, and Bhutan’s environmental policies, the study highlights how a non-coastal nation can indirectly support marine conservation through climate mitigation, sustainable practices, and international collaboration. Recommendations are provided for Bhutan to enhance its role in addressing ocean acidification through policy advocacy, capacity building, and partnerships with global environmental bodies.
Continue reading ‘Ocean acidification impacts: exploring Bhutan’s role in global marine conservation’Building ocean acidification research and policy capacity in the wider Caribbean region: a case study for advancing regional resilience
Published 1 July 2025 Science ClosedTags: policy
To meet scientific, policy, and community goals, there is a critical need to strengthen research capacity, increase monitoring, and inform adaptation and mitigation policies to enhance resilience against ocean acidification (OA) and associated multi-stressors in the Caribbean. In 2023, an OA Needs Based Assessment survey of ocean professionals was conducted, engaging 59 participants from across the wider Caribbean to evaluate regional challenges and opportunities in OA research and monitoring. To understand differences in OA research capacity related to training and funding, we divide the respondents into four groups: those that have received 1) training and funding, 2) training only, 3) funding only, and 4) neither training nor funding. Results indicate regional strengths include awareness of local oceanic conditions, access to nearshore sites, and strong social support networks in ocean research. Regional barriers include limited technical capacity and funding to conduct oceanographic research and monitoring, and in particular, carbonate measurements. The four training and funding groups vary significantly, suggesting that access to training and funding are important factors to increasing the amount of access that respondents have to different types of equipment, the number of different types of measurements they conduct, the number of different habitats they research, and the amount of experience they have conducting OA research. This study also demonstrates the community-led efforts to address local OA challenges by presenting a case study on the formation of the Global Ocean Acidification Network (GOA-ON) OA Caribbean Hub that was founded by local leaders (co-authors of this study) who were inspired through the survey process and engagement that was conducted by co-authors. This study provides examples of avenues and challenges to build OA capacity for research and monitoring from the ground up within the wider Caribbean to advance towards global sustainability goals.
Continue reading ‘Building ocean acidification research and policy capacity in the wider Caribbean region: a case study for advancing regional resilience’Revisiting wastewater pH standards: a policy lever for mitigating coastal acidification and enhancing blue carbon
Published 25 June 2025 Science ClosedTags: mitigation, policy, socio-economy
Global ocean acidification driven by atmospheric CO2 uptake is well recognized; however, coastal zones are subject to additional, localized acidification pressures. Among these, the chronic discharge of low pH treated wastewater (often pH 6.0), permitted under many current regulations, represents a significant but often overlooked stressor. This practice introduces highly acidic loads into sensitive nearshore ecosystems that are chemically incompatible with ambient seawater (pH ∼8.1). This perspective argues for reframing effluent pH not only as a pollutant parameter to be bounded but also as a modifiable policy lever. Revising discharge standards to require a minimum effluent pH > 8.0 for marine outfalls offers a novel pathway to mitigate localized coastal acidification. Furthermore, this approach aligns with emerging ocean alkalinity enhancement strategies, potentially enhancing coastal carbon sequestration and offering cobenefits such as reduced metal toxicity. Such a policy shift necessitates technological adaptation but promises significant benefits for coastal resilience and broader ocean sustainability goals.
Continue reading ‘Revisiting wastewater pH standards: a policy lever for mitigating coastal acidification and enhancing blue carbon’Ocean acidification: another planetary boundary crossed
Published 20 June 2025 Science ClosedTags: policy, socio-economy
Ocean acidification has been identified in the Planetary Boundary Framework as a planetary process approaching a boundary that could lead to unacceptable environmental change. Using revised estimates of pre-industrial aragonite saturation state, state-of-the-art data-model products, including uncertainties and assessing impact on ecological indicators, we improve upon the ocean acidification planetary boundary assessment and demonstrate that by 2020, the average global ocean conditions had already crossed into the uncertainty range of the ocean acidification boundary. This analysis was further extended to the subsurface ocean, revealing that up to 60% of the global subsurface ocean (down to 200 m) had crossed that boundary, compared to over 40% of the global surface ocean. These changes result in significant declines in suitable habitats for important calcifying species, including 43% reduction in habitat for tropical and subtropical coral reefs, up to 61% for polar pteropods, and 13% for coastal bivalves. By including these additional considerations, we suggest a revised boundary of 10% reduction from pre-industrial conditions more adequately prevents risk to marine ecosystems and their services; a benchmark which was surpassed by year 2000 across the entire surface ocean.
Continue reading ‘Ocean acidification: another planetary boundary crossed’Open science for the ocean. Recommendations from the perspective of marine carbon observations in Germany, Brazil, and beyond
Published 8 May 2025 Science ClosedTags: policy
The ocean plays an essential role in regulating the global climate, absorbing around 25 % of global CO2 emissions. Scientific knowledge of the ocean’s capacity as a carbon sink is therefore essential for policy-making at the national and international level. However, the capacity of the existing marine science system to deliver this information at sufficiently high quality, without geographical and temporal gaps, and with equitable contributions by and access for less affluent national science systems, is far from assured. This contribution applies the six guiding principles of Open Science as a yardstick for science in the service of society to assess the current state of marine (carbon) science, pointing out strengths and shortcomings, and deriving specific recommendations for science policy. This contribution results from a three-year interdisciplinary research project with researchers from Brazil and Germany and was discussed within the UN Ocean Decade Program Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS) to validate the applicability of insights and recommendations beyond these particular contexts.
Continue reading ‘Open science for the ocean. Recommendations from the perspective of marine carbon observations in Germany, Brazil, and beyond’Long-term successional dynamics and response strategies of harmful algal blooms to environmental changes in Tolo Harbour
Published 18 April 2025 Science ClosedTags: biogeochemistry, biological response, BRcommunity, chemistry, community composition, communitymodeling, field, mitigation, modeling, North Pacific, otherprocess, physiology, phytoplankton, policy
Highlights
- Long-term monitoring reveals significant shifts in harmful algal bloom species and toxin dynamics in Tolo Harbour.
- Government actions reduced nutrient levels, but climate change and organic nutrients influenced HABs’ species succession.
- Number of HABs decreased, meanwhile frequency and types of new toxin species emerged, highlighting complex ecological changes.
- Balanced dual nutrient reduction strategies are essential for controlling HABs and restoring coastal ecosystem health.
ABSTRACT
The production and succession of harmful algae blooms (HABs) are attributed more to excessive nutrient concentrations and unbalanced nutrient stoichiometry than to other environmental drivers as the absence of long-term monitoring data. This study analyzed HABs succession patterns and key drivers in Tolo Harbour from 1986 to 2023, leveraging nearly 40 years of data. Effective governmental measures significantly improved water quality, with dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), and Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations decreasing by 53%, 80%, 45%, and 59%, respectively. Annual HABs events dropped from 28 to 3, and species diversity declined from 6 to 2. However, toxic species frequency rose from 21% to 46%. Dinoflagellates emerged as dominant initial species, with a shift in secondary dominance from diatoms to ochrophytes and toxin types from diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) to hemolytic toxins (HT). These shifts likely result from combined human and natural influences. Model simulations confirmed that red tide outbreaks, species succession, and shifts in toxin types were driven by declining pH, rising temperatures, unbalanced nitrogen-phosphorus ratios, organic nutrient increases, and algal antagonism. The study emphasizes the importance of the dual reduction of both DIN and DIP, meanwhile inorganic and organic nutrients, suggesting that overly focusing on or distract from one nutrient (e.g., DIP or DON) could lead to unintended ecological consequences, like the proliferation of rare and toxic species. We highlight the combined impacts of climate change (warming and ocean acidification) and anthropogenic activities (nutrient pollution and eutrophication) on HABs, particularly the number and toxin production. This research links policy changes to HAB dynamics, offering strategic recommendations for managing red tides and contribute novel perspectives on the impact of nutrient reduction in comparable bay ecosystems.
Continue reading ‘Long-term successional dynamics and response strategies of harmful algal blooms to environmental changes in Tolo Harbour’Safeguarding South-East Asia’s marine ecosystems from ocean acidification threats
Published 28 March 2025 Newsletters and reports ClosedTags: Indian, policy, South Pacific
The increasing carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are being absorbed by the oceans, leading to a decrease in seawater pH levels worldwide. South-East Asia is particularly vulnerable to this problem, as the projected trend of ocean acidification severely threatens marine life in the region, as well as marine industry productivity and food safety. Urgent action must be taken by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and its Member States to sustain coastal populations’ livelihoods and economic prosperity.
Recommendations:
- Improve marine protected areas (MPAs) by applying science-based design and grass-roots community participation
- Establish a regional task force and collaborative funding
- Increase public awareness and implement marine educational programmes through curriculum integration
Beyond climate change obligations: which lessons from the ITLOS advisory opinion on climate change and ocean acidification for the progressive development of the law of the sea?
Published 24 March 2025 Science ClosedTags: policy
Although scholars largely agree that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is a “living instrument”, the case law shows UNCLOS tribunals’ reluctance to fully engage with questions other than those strictly speaking regulated under the Convention. Amongst these are questions relating to the protection of marine biodiversity and human rights, which have frequently arisen in the context of UNCLOS disputes but received considerably little attention. This is particularly surprising, given the interconnected nature of the marine environment with biodiversity and ecosystems, and with the rights of the communities thriving on them.
Against this background, the present paper unpacks the principle of systemic integration as discussed by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in its 2024 Advisory Opinion, investigating two mechanisms regulating the relationship between UNCLOS and other international instruments, namely the rule of reference technique and Article 237 UNCLOS. Then, it shifts the focus onto international biodiversity law and international human rights law, critically assessing to what extent the Tribunal’s cautious approach to these two regimes was justified in the light of systemic integration. Finally, it offers some remarks on the prospects of litigating the conservation of marine biodiversity and the protection of human rights before UNCLOS international dispute settlement mechanisms.
Continue reading ‘Beyond climate change obligations: which lessons from the ITLOS advisory opinion on climate change and ocean acidification for the progressive development of the law of the sea?’Council adopts resolution on ocean acidification and hypoxia
Published 13 March 2025 Web sites and blogs ClosedTags: North Pacific, policy
A Resolution on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia was adopted by the Ocean Protection Council at its March 3, 2025 Council meeting to elevate and communicate the state’s commitment to addressing ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). The actions within this Resolution reflect and build upon ongoing efforts to understand and mitigate OAH, given the potential for OAH to cause large or irreversible effects on California’s coast and ocean.
Over the past decade, OPC made significant investments to advance understanding of OAH off California’s coast, consistent with the West Coast OAH Science Panel Major Findings, Recommendations, and Actions and California Ocean Acidification Action Plan. This includes the development of a coupled physical-biogeochemical model for the West Coast to help managers better predict and understand the impacts of OAH in California. The model also assesses the extent to which local nutrient levels exacerbate acidified and hypoxic ocean conditions, leading to waters that are too acidic or lack sufficient oxygen to support vulnerable marine life. Recent model results have shown that in the Southern California Bight, land-based nutrient inputs are contributing to OAH and impacting the health of California’s marine environment, with implications for ecologically and economically important marine species. OPC continues to pursue additional questions to better understand these impacts, advance monitoring of OAH off California’s coast, and expand the state’s understanding of OAH along the entire coast of California.
Continue reading ‘Council adopts resolution on ocean acidification and hypoxia ‘
