Posted on 02/25/2010 1:47:25 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) – UN environmental experts Thursday issued an urgent call to study the crucial role the oceans -- as massive carbon stores -- can play in the fight against global warming.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the "Blue Carbon" initiative together with the Indonesian government Thursday on the resort island of Bali.
"A global scientific study of the role of marine and coastal ecosystems in meeting the climate change challenges is urgently needed in order to improve understanding," UNEP director Achim Steiner said on the sidelines of the gathering of climate experts and environment ministers.
"There is now growing evidence that marine and coastal ecosystems, such as sea grasses, mangroves and salt marshes, may play an important role in climate mitigation," he said.
Unlike when dealing with emissions from land, scientists have said a lack of knowledge on how oceans and climate interact means discussions on including oceans in a future global climate agreement are at an early stage.
"It is estimated that the equivalent of half the world's transport emissions may be sequestered by marine ecosystems," said Steiner.
"Combined with reducing emissions from deforestation, the restoration of these ecosystems could deliver up to 25 percent of the emissions reductions needed to avoid dangerous climate change," by limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), he said.
The increasing appreciation of the importance of the seas and oceans, which cover more than 70 of the Earth's surface, can be compared with the growing interest in the climate role of forests 10 years ago, according to experts at the Bali meeting.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Hey UNEP!!
Go Fish!!
TRANSLATION:
We are going to study fish farts...................
We have the ARGO buoys, they just didn’t like what it told them ... Yes the oceans are cooling as well, sigh.
Options for curbing carbon emissions, in descending order of feasibility. The United States on Tuesday pressed China, India and other emerging powers to make clearer commitments to fighting climate change, warning that last year's Copenhagen accord risked being "stillborn. "(AFP/Graphic)
We need to regulate how much water vapor the oceans are allowed to generate. Tax the oceans if they exceed the allotment.
A. Phytoplankton ‘fix’ (biologically sequester) CO2 by the gigaton every year through the recently discovered phenomenon labeled photosynthesis. (credit ALgore)
B. The limiting growth factor (aside from certain dissolved minerals like iron and magnesium) for phytoplankton is dissolved CO2 (temperature as a direct coefficient).
C. If we increase dissolved CO2 in the marine ecosystem, then more phytoplankton grow. Phytoplankton are at the bottom of pretty much every food chain we care about.
D. Raising atmospheric and thereby dissolved CO2 is a good thing.
E. Dissolved CO2 does not just hand around and lower pH as carbonic acid. It stay (OMG!! who knew) mostly in the photic zone to the beenfit of our friends, the phytoplankton.
F. REAL Marine Biologists knew this back in the 70s.
G. If we grow more phytoplankton, we save the whales (at least the baleen whales.)
hand = hang
I did a study based on "settled science" and it indicates that any temperature increase less than 25 degrees Farenheit should be ignored.
I can even produce a funny little hockey stick graph to prove it.
Ignore al the actual data. Just keep on as if the East Anglia hacks never happened and the UN Himalayan revelations never happened and the s8nce-1995 cooling isn’t happening and...
I'm glad you brought that to its logical conclusion.
Lower CO2 emissions = starve the whales.
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