Windmills on the coastline of Tenedos, Turkey. Photo by Efe Kurnaz/Unsplash
For decades, warning signals sent by ocean ecosystems such as increased sea surface temperature, sea-level rise and ocean acidification have illustrated the urgent need to reduce global greenhouse emissions. As most global economic activity and ultimately man-made carbon emissions occur on land, abatement policies tend to focus on land-based reductions. Meanwhile, the ocean is traditionally viewed as a victim of climate change, rather than a source of solutions. That needs to change.
As the IPCC made clear, limiting the damaging effects of a changing climate requires policies to incorporate an entire ecosystem approach that properly accounts for contributions from the ocean, its ecosystems and economic sub-sectors.