Coral reefs are dying, declining fish stocks, and extreme weather events are a sign that the sea was at a dangerous tipping point.
Seafood plays an important role in the fight against global warming by absorbing about 93 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by human activities. ( David Doubilet / National Geographic Creative )
Oceans, the planet most likely to bear part of global warming, finally reached the limits of its capacity. These corals are dying, declining fish stocks, and other extreme weather events became a sign that the sea was in a dangerous tipping point. So reports the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)."We all know that the oceans sustain the planet, but we also are making the oceans 'sick'," said director general of IUCN, Inger Andersen.Since 1970, the waters around the world have played an important role in the fight against global warming by absorbing about 93 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by human activities."Without the oceans as a buffer, global temperatures will rise much more quickly," said Andersen in the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Monday (5/9).It also expressed by the major advisor marine science and conservation Global Water Program and the Pole IUCN, Dan Laffoley."Frankly, if the oceans did not exist, our atmosphere will already be heated only with a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius," says Laffoley.Andersen said that, because of global warming continues, the oceans will continue to heat up between one to four degrees Celsius by 2100. "In an ecological time scale, 2100 is like tomorrow."A total of 80 scientists from 12 countries have contributed to the study of ocean warming the most comprehensive and systematic."We observed from microbes to whales, from pole to pole, all the major ecosystems, including the deep ocean," says Laffoley. Impact of global ocean warmingOne of the most worrying phenomenon that is the entire population of the species, such as plankton, jellyfish, turtles and sea birds, moving toward the poles in search of colder waters.Fish species are moved out of the area can also shake the stability of the world's fisheries.In Southeast Asia, for example, due to the fish leave the area, marine fisheries predicted would fall by 30 percent in 2050. In East Africa and parts of the Indian Ocean, which has a lot of dead coral reefs due to global warming, many species of fish that eventually took off, eliminating the livelihood of many fishermen.This grim prospects also threaten countries that rely on coral reef ecotourism, because some areas have lost up to half its coral reefs. In Australia, for example, nearly https://steemit.com/story/@squadron/93-percent-of-reefs-great-barrier-reef-dying in early 2016.The latest simulation models predict that by 2050, ocean warming will cause bleaching of almost all the world's coral reefs. (Read how coral bleaching occurs )Stay near the sea or ocean interacts with can also increase the risk of disease. Because the warming of the ocean can quickly spread pathogens such as cholera bacteria and algal blooms that can cause a variety of neurological diseases. In addition, warmer sea can also lead to bad weather, such as major storms and hurricanes.According to the report, the number of major hurricanes increased by 30 percent each time the global temperature rises one degree Celsius. El Nino, periodically heating the water in the Pacific Ocean also has increased over the last two decades.So, how to stop all these terrible things?There are many ways that we can do to lower global temperatures. One of them, we must stop polluting the atmosphere with carbon, though of course this is not easy. Other solutions, by setting the area that should be a marine protected area.Inevitably, that we had been the cause of this situation. We know what the solution, and we must act soon, before it really is too late.( Lutfi Fauziah. Source: Christine dell'Amore / nationalgeographic.com/ )