• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit August 15, 2022
Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature August 15, 2022
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

Protecting Half of the World’s Oceans Could Deliver Massive Global Gains

April 1, 2021
Reading time: 3 minutes

Pxhere

Pxhere

 

Protecting 45% of the world’s oceans would deliver a “triple win” of increased biodiversity, restored fisheries, and a greater capacity to sequester carbon, says a new report just published in the journal Nature.

“The ocean is the kind of unwaveringly supportive friend who tolerates our toxicity and shields us from the worst consequences of our actions,” writes The Washington Post. But, it adds, it is also “the friend people have taken for granted for far too long” by choosing rapacious extraction of all its bounties (especially fish) rather than demonstrating respect, gratitude, and love.

Now, an international and interdisciplinary study says it doesn’t have to continue this way.

More than two dozen marine experts working for the past three years have determined that formally protecting just under half of all ocean regions would substantially improve biodiversity, the Post reports. Critical spillover effects would include a correspondingly healthier fisheries industry, and greater capacity for carbon sequestration. 

The research group, which included Enric Sala, explorer-in-residence at National Geographic, generated this hope-filled conclusion after it “carved the ocean up into 50-kilometre-by-50-kilometre squares, then evaluated each plot for the threats it faced, the number of species it contained, and the uniqueness of those creatures, as well as the abundance of any of the 1,300 most economically important fish.”

In the process, they built a landmark map of the carbon stored across the entire sea floor, and “developed a model that could calculate a conservation strategy that optimized for all three benefits—biodiversity, fisheries, and carbon sequestration—where establishing a robust marine protected area could deliver a ‘triple win’.” They also found that marine sediment “stores twice as much carbon as terrestrial soil.”

Many of the areas most likely to deliver these wins are within about 235 miles of the coastline, “in the ‘exclusive economic zones’ where nations have jurisdiction over natural resources.” They include parts of the China Sea and the Adriatic Ocean, as well as “species-rich coral reefs, unique kelp forests, and carbon-rich wetlands.”

Although they fall outside any such zone, the nutrient-rich seas that surround Antarctica were also flagged as a priority region for protection. 

The new study lands ahead of a United Nations biodiversity conference due to be held this year in Kunming, China—a meeting as important as the 2015 United Nations climate conference in Paris, Sala told the Post.

Citing UN data, the Post writes that “just 7.65% of the ocean is currently in a marine protected area,” or less than 3% with protections that have any real teeth.  

While many countries, the U.S. included, have pledged to protect 30% of their waters (and land) by 2030, Sala said that would be the minimum required. Activists like Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, founder and executive director of ocean conservation group Azul, are hoping the Nature study will push biodiversity conference attendees to greater efforts.

Recalling the damage wrought by the “false narrative of conservation versus the economy,” Gutiérrez-Graudiņš told the Post the new study “shows you can have a win-win.” She added that, “if you’re actually doing this as a long-term enterprise, it’s in your best interest that this resource stays out there.”



in Biodiversity & Habitat, Climate & Society, Climate Impacts & Adaptation, Food Security, International, Jurisdictions, Legal & Regulatory, Oceans, Soil & Natural Sequestration

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

TGEGASENGINEERING/Wikimedia Commons
Energy Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit

August 15, 2022
748
Steve Jurvetson/flickr
International Security & War

The Other Kind of Climate Change: Even a ‘Limited’ Nuclear War Would Trigger Starvation, Kill Billions

August 15, 2022
2
/Pikist
United States

Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature

August 15, 2022
221

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

TGEGASENGINEERING/Wikimedia Commons

EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit

August 15, 2022
748
Brocken Inaglory/wikimedia commons

State-Wide Megastorm Driven by Global Heating Could Drench California for a Month

August 15, 2022
437
/Pikist

Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature

August 15, 2022
221
Vinaykumar8687/WikimediaCommons

Solar On Track for ‘Staggering’ 30% Growth This Year

August 15, 2022
157
UK Black Tech/wikimedia commons

U.S. Tech Workers Leaving High-Paying Jobs to Focus on Climate Crisis

August 15, 2022
122
United States Marine Core/Wikimedia Commons

Distributed Energy Gains Ground With Mobile Microgrids, Vehicle-to-Grid Technology

August 15, 2022
114

Recent Posts

Steve Jurvetson/flickr

The Other Kind of Climate Change: Even a ‘Limited’ Nuclear War Would Trigger Starvation, Kill Billions

August 15, 2022
2
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Arctic Warms 4 Times Faster than Global Average, Surpassing Estimates 

August 15, 2022
116
rawpixel

Common Medications Foil Body’s Ability to Cope with Hot Weather

August 15, 2022
92
Max Pixel

Slashing Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution Can Improve Crop Yields, Study Finds

August 15, 2022
50
David Hawgood/Geograph

E-Bikes a ‘Faster and Fairer’ Emissions Solution than Electric Cars

August 15, 2022
103
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region/wikimedia commons

Researchers Study Carbon Loss, Forest Impacts of Northwest Territories ‘Zombie Fires’

August 15, 2022
23
Next Post
Secl/Wikimedia Commons

Planned Plastics Plant in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Fails to Pass Economic Muster

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}