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The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change - Five Opportunities for Action (Summary)

The ocean is on the front lines of the battle against climate change. It already has absorbed 93 percent of the heat trapped by human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions. It absorbs 25-30 percent of annual CO2 emissions that would otherwise remain in the atmosphere and increase global warming. It has become a victim of climate change, putting everyone at risk. The ocean is getting warmer and becoming more acidic—a direct result of the extra CO2 being dissolved into it.

A toucan eating a fruit in the tropical wetlands of the Pantanal, Brazil. Uwe Bergwitz/Shutterstock
Animals are disappearing from forests, with grave consequences for the fight against climate breakdown – new research
October 18, 2019
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It’s tempting to think that our forests would be fine if we could simply stop trees being felled or burnt. But forests – particularly tropical ones – are more than just trees. They’re also the animals that skulk and swoop among them.

John Mailler at his tree-planting project around the Moree water park. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Australia spends billions planting trees – then wipes out carbon gains by bulldozing them
October 18, 2019
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Since 2015 the Australian government has committed more than $1.5bn of taxpayer funds to climate change projects that plant or protect native habitat. Over a slightly longer period it has also spent nearly $62m on a policy to plant 20 million trees promised under Tony Abbott.

Variable effects of local management on coral defenses against a thermally regulated bleaching pathogen

Bleaching and disease are decimating coral reefs especially when warming promotes bleaching pathogens, such as Vibrio coralliilyticus. We demonstrate that sterilized washes from three common corals suppress V. coralliilyticus but that this defense is compromised when assays are run at higher temperatures. For a coral within the ecologically critical genus Acropora, inhibition was 75 to 154% greater among colonies from coral-dominated marine protected areas versus adjacent fished areas that were macroalgae-dominated.