Climate change turning seas acid, academies warn

Submitted by hlowengard on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 21:39.
12/31/1969 - 20:33
Etc/GMT-4
Story Link: 
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLV214036
Source: 
Reuters
Pub Date: 
31 May 2009
Category: 
International
Seventy academies from around the world urged governments meeting in
Bonn for climate talks from June 1-12 to take more account of risks to
the oceans in a new U.N. treaty for fighting global warming due to be
agreed in Copenhagen in December. Carbon emissions, when absorbed by the
ocean, turn to carbonic acid, and affect the development of shells and
corals upon which much of ocean life depends.  To avoid substantial
damage to ocean ecosystems, deep and rapid reductions of carbon dioxide
emissions of at least 50 percent (below 1990 levels) by 2050, and much
more thereafter, are needed," the academies said in a joint statement.
"These changes in ocean chemistry are irreversible for many thousands of
years, and the biological consequences could last much longer," it
said.