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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Impact of pollution (priority chemicals and micro-plastic) on plankton productivity and biodiversity

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#OceanAction41666
Description
Description
Why should we care what happens to the Oceans ?

https://youtu.be/1nAnJ3LO19Q
https://youtu.be/09Fe7VZpWyM
https://youtu.be/uI0eFDwDO3Y
https://youtu.be/XDXRXBXnh68


80% of the worlds oxygen is produced in the oceans by microscopic plants, and 30% of the carbon dioxide is fixed by organisms smaller than 0.05mm. We know that atmospheric oxygen levels are dropping and carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing.

Most life on earth lives in the oceans, and is too small to seen by eye, according to NASA, the microscopic life forms are dying off at a rate of 1% every year. This means that almost 1% off all life on the planet is dying every year. Research from Universities such as Dalhousie in Nova Scotia, published in Nature, report that more than 40% of all microscopic life has died since the 1950s, the start of the chemical revolution as opposed to the industrial reveolution. As a consequence, the oceans are losing their ability to sequester carbon dioxide which means that carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing, making the oceans more acidic.

The pH (acidity) has dropped from 8.26 to 8.06 over the last 50 years. Over the next 25 to 40 years it will drop to pH7.9, at which point there will be a cascade failure of the marine ecosystem, and we lose all the teleost fish, whales, seals, birds and food supply for 2 billion people.

Increasing temperatures and carbon dioxide, as well as all the nutrients from pollution should increase primary productivity, yet we are see a drop of 1% every year. This situation is not sustainable, but why is it happening? we know that it is certainly not climate change.

Priority chemical pollution in combination with hydrophobic micro and nano particles is the explanation. Reducing CO2 emissions is not going to have any impact, we need to also reduce and eliminate priority chemicals such as PCBs, PBDE, mercury and organic tins.

The position of the Goes Foundation is to use ocean yachts, and any means possible to collect plankton samples for analysis of priority chemicals. We need the evidence to relate ocean pollution to primary productivity. If we can stop priority chemical pollution, we can prevent a cascade failure of the marine ecosystem, protect the food supply for 2 billion people, and maybe reverse climate change.
Partners
Ocean Cruising Club (private) Ocean Blue (private) StAndrews University (academic) Edinburgh University
Impact of pollution (priority chemicals and micro-plastic) on plankton productivity and biodiversity
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Action Network
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Timeline
01 January 2020 (start date)
01 January 1970 (date of completion)
Entity
Goes Foundation
SDGs
Geographical coverage
Edinburgh, Scotland
Ocean Basins
Global
Communities of Ocean Action
Marine pollution, Ocean acidification
More information
Countries
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Contact Information

Howard Dryden, Dr