COP21 - Don't forget the oceans!

Though not entirely relevant to the focus of my blog, it feels only right to make some comments about the United Nations COP21 discussions that are currently being held in Paris. Articles relating to oceans express concern that the negotiations are largely ignoring the vital resources that oceans provide. When you do some general reading around the negotiations the same discussions/focus on climate reparations, carbon tax, liabilities etc. dominate much of the commentary. The general lack of attention to marine and fisheries in the agenda for discussion has been stressed by various fisheries and conservation experts. Indeed, as highlighted by RFI, the World Ocean Day which was held by COP21 organisers was resigned to an area outside the registered-only badge area, exemplifying the muted role concerns over oceans will play over the course of the negotiations. East African researchers and activists have particularly stressed the importance of consideration of oceans and in particular coral reefs in sustaining the coastal economy of many countries.

In the negotiations themselves, on the 5th of December environmental leaders from the Pacific Islands were stressing the importance of the oceans to their countries, as they could suffer most from sea level rice, ocean acidification and indeed the degradation of coral reefs. Pressing for the target of a maximum 1.5 C increase, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu stresses the issue is not merely academic, for pacific islands like Tuvalu, it is a matter of life and death. 

Further to this, marine biologists have attended COP21 with the premise that in order to save our coral reefs we need to halt climate change immediately. The reasons listed in a Huffington post article outline they will become softer due to acidic waters, less diverse as less species will be able to thrive, less appealing due to proliferation of algae, less able to feed us, provide less protection from coastal erosion and less economic benefit from tourism. Marine biologists lament the fact that at best we could commit to 1.5 degree Celsius increase where other countries could still lead to a 6 degree increase. To avoid significant damage to corals, a cap on total carbon emissions would be needed, and this isn't even being considered at the negotiations.

So, from the marine perspective COP21 does not seem to hold ocean environments as a key concern and point of discussion. This is extremely worrying for the pacific islands as its not a matter of future impacts, it is a matter of now. Though oceans don't feature prominently on the agenda, one could argue severe impacts on the oceans can be mitigated by efforts to reach agreements on elements that do feature high up on the agenda, whilst it seems that this sphere is being neglected, the benefits of large scale multilateral agreements would most likely trickle down to the oceans.