'Include ocean acidification to save marine ecosystem'

Bangladesh Academy of Science and the academies of 69 other countries around the world in a joint statement yesterday warned that ocean acidification, one of the world's most important climate change challenges, may be left off the agenda at the United Nations Copenhagen conference.

The statement, which was published through the membership of the Inter-Academy Panel during the 13th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) subsidiary bodies -- SBSTA and SBI, 6th session of the AWG-LCA and the 8th session of the AWG-KP taking place today, said Copenhagen must address this very serious threat.

The framework conference in Bonn this week will ultimately shape the Copenhagen negotiations at the UN Conference on Climate Change from December 6 to 18, it added.

Ocean acidification is expected to cause massive corrosion of coral reefs and dramatic changes in the make-up of the biodiversity of the oceans and to have significant implications for food production and the livelihoods of millions of people, the statement said.

It called on the world leaders to explicitly recognise the direct threats posed by increasing atmospheric CO2 emissions to the oceans and its profound impact on the environment and society.

The statement called for acknowledgement that ocean acidification is a direct and real consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, is already having an effect at current concentrations and is likely to cause grave harm to important marine ecosystem as CO2 concentrations reach 450 parts per million (ppm) and above.

It also called to recognise that reducing the build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere is the only practicable solution to mitigating ocean acidification and implementing action to reduce global CO2 emissions by at least 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2050 and continue to reduce them thereafter and also to reinvigorate action to reduce stressors, such as overfishing and pollution on marine ecosystem to increase resilience to ocean acidification.