The World’s Oceans Are in Danger, Major Climate Change Report Warns

WASHINGTON — Earth’s oceans are under severe strain from climate change, a major new United Nations report warns, threatening everything from the ability to harvest seafood to the well-being of hundreds of millions of people living along the coasts.

The warming world is disrupting aquatic life and
ocean patterns, with dire global consequences.

Rising temperatures are contributing to a drop in fish populations in many regions, and oxygen levels in the ocean are declining while acidity levels are on the rise, posing risks to important marine ecosystems, according to the report issued Wednesday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists convened by the United Nations to guide world leaders in policymaking.

In addition, warmer ocean waters, when combined with rising sea levels, threaten to fuel ever more powerful tropical cyclones and floods, the report said, further imperiling coastal regions and worsening a phenomenon that is already contributing to storms like Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Houston two years ago.

Read the story from The New York Times by Brad Plumer - “The World’s Oceans Are in Danger, Major Climate Change Report Warns.”

World Needs an Ambitious New Deal for Nature & People

From the fresh air we breathe to the clean water we drink, nature provides the essentials we all rely on for our survival and well-being. The loss of nature threatens these essentials. Loss of biodiversity is therefore not only an environmental issue, but also a developmental, economic, security, social and moral issue. It affects us all and all aspects of our lives.

We need a better deal for narture and people.

Yet, worryingly, a series of recent major intergovernmental scientific reports which will inform policy making all over the world from the IPCC, IPBES and others have issued a siren warning: Our natural world is now under unprecedented pressure. At the current rate of nature loss, we stand to face the extinction of an estimated 1 million species within decades and significant declines of food and water supplies and many other services that nature provides to us everyday, for free.

This is supported by WWF’s Living Planet 2018 report, which has found population sizes of wildlife decreased by 60% on average globally between 1970 and 2014.

Read the story from Medium by the Director General of WWF International, Marco Lambertini -  "World Needs an Ambitious New Deal for Nature & People.”

Short video on coffee is timely and salient warning

Should you be like most people, coffee is essential to your daily well-being.

However, climate change is changing the conditions in which coffee prospers and so what is considered by many to “just a beverage” actually provides work for millions of people.

A short video entitled: “Your morning caffeine hit is at risk” has been circulated by the Climate Council and is both a salient and timely warning.