PML takes message to the United Nation’s climate change
negotiations in Doha, Qatar
23 November 2012
A PML-led international partnership will be spearheading the
message that the ocean is facing major ocean stressors that are
changing the very basis of the ocean as we know it at the global
climate change negotiations in Qatar.
From 26 November until 7 December 2012, the 18th
Conference of the Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th
Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP8) will be held in
Doha, Qatar. Last year COP17 was held in Durban, South Africa and
attracted over 15,000 delegates from government representatives to
observer organizations.
Driving home the message at COP18, that the
ocean is facing growing threats and we need to act now to protect
this great resource, Dr Carol Turley OBE stressed: “The health of
the ocean is of vital importance to each and every one of us,
making it crucial that its value and benefits are recognised in
such discussions. With the ocean facing a multitude of stressors,
as a global society we need to ensure that the marine environment
is protected for the benefit of future generations. We have
produced an Ocean Stress Guide
in English and Arabic
(www.oceanunderstress.com)
to increase awareness of these issues of warming, acidification and
deoxygenation on ocean systems as a result of a high CO2
world. We hope that government officials and policymakers will read
and take heed. The message has already received support from a
number of internationally significant bodies including the World
Bank, European Union and various UN bodies. COP18 at Doha is a
great opportunity to now bring this to the attention of many oil
producing and coastal nations.”
A busy schedule of activities has been
arranged for the PML team at this conference, ranging from an
internationally supported exhibition stand to meetings with
government representatives and environmental managers. PML has been
bringing together international research programmes and
organizations at the UNFCCC meetings since 2009 and at the UN
Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. These partners
include the European Programme on Ocean
Acidification (32 partners from 10 countries), UK Ocean Acidification
Research Programme (27 partners from the UK), Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a
Changing Climate Programme (16 partners from 10 countries),
Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification
Programme (19 partners from Germany), SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography,
OCEANA and the Ocean Acidification
International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC).