Oceans are an essential part of our planet. They provide us with food to eat and keep our atmosphere healthy. Without the oceans, we simply wouldn’t exist.
But climate change means that ocean temperatures are increasing, icebergs are melting, and sea levels are rising. We need action to reverse these trends, and raising awareness is the first step. To do so, FAO hosted an online discussion titled Talking Oceans and Climate Change presented by France24’s Environment Editor, Mairead Dundas. A panel of oceans experts and enthusiasts convened to exchange views and discuss what we can do to help our oceans in the fight against climate change.
So, what’s happening to our oceans right now?
The latest research shows that, as a direct result of global warming, the oceans have now hit their highest recorded temperatures. Coasts are flooding more regularly, and species are struggling to adapt to warmer temperatures. In fact, with every degree that the oceans' temperatures rise, we lose five percent of biomass in the oceans.
This is having an impact not only on biodiversity and ecosystems, but on millions of people whose livelihoods depend on oceans. According to Manuel Barange, Director of FAO’s Fisheries Division, we need to pay particular attention to the relationship between humans and nature: we are not separate, but intrinsically linked.
“Let’s not forget that 10 percent of the [world’s] population depends on oceans and fisheries for livelihoods. Many of these are in the poorest sectors of society, operating small businesses or relying on the ocean for their survival,” he says.
Panel member, Flower Ezekiel Mbaye, is particularly familiar with this issue. As a seaweed farming and aquaculture innovation expert working in Tanzania, she has seen first-hand the effects that climate change has had on fish and fishers. Many of the local women in Zanzibar earn their money through seaweed farming, but Flower explains that the warming of the ocean in this region is affecting their crops. Certain high-value seaweed types are suffering, forcing coastal dwellers to change what they grow and where they grow it.