Arctic Ocean Fund
The goal of The Ocean Foundation’s Arctic Ocean Fund is to protect the Arctic Ocean’s tremendous marine resources from the threats associated with global warming and harmful impacts from humans, including shipping, resource extraction, and fishing. Global warming and ocean acidification have many significant negative effects on the Arctic, including:
- Loss of ice
sheets, resulting in: adverse consequences to
marine mammals such as polar
bears, walruses and ice seals; detrimental
impacts on the benthic environment
in the Bering Sea and elsewhere; loss of
critical habitat for some pelagic
species; increased warming due to loss of
albedo; and greater threats to the
health and traditional cultural survival of
native communities
-
Warmer oceanic
and riparian waters, resulting in: increases in
some marine diseases; changes
in upwelling and other circulation patterns;
modifications in species
distribution patterns; enhanced invasive
species; marine bird mortalities; dead
zones; and coral
bleaching
- Greater storms,
resulting in: shoreline erosion; loss of
community infrastructure; polar bear
drownings; increased fishing risks; and adverse
health
consequences
- Sea level rise,
resulting in habitat loss from inundation;
infrastructure damage; community
relocation needs; and substantial
costs
- Ocean
acidification, resulting in potential failures
in coral reef building in both
deep and shallow waters; destruction of calcium
carbonate plankton; destruction
of shellfish larvae; food chain disruptions;
and other serious
consequences
As the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change has stated: “Most of
the observed increase in globally
averaged temperatures since the mid-20th
century is very likely
[90%] due to the observed
increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas
concentrations.” Similarly, the Arctic
Climate Impact Assessment observed: “There is
an international scientific
consensus that most of
the warming
observed over the last 50 years is attributable
to human causes.” The
corollary, ocean acidification, is caused by
the absorption into the oceans of human
generated carbon dioxide, and the
resulting creation of carbonic acid.
Approximately 50% of all
of the carbon dioxide emitted since
the Industrial Revolution has been absorbed by
the ocean.
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