Not simply another ‘carbon problem’…

Before drawing this blog to an end, I was lucky enough to have come across a relatively recent journal published in Science called ‘Mitigating Local Causes of Ocean Acidification with Exiting Laws’ by Kelly et al. (2011). According to the authors, due to the highly localised nature of the world’s ocean acidification phenomenon (as mentioned in my previous posts), ocean acidification is not simply ‘another CO2 problem’ as Doney et al. (2007) have described! Kelly et al. (2011) argued that in fact coastal pollution and other local anthropogenic pollution sources such as point source pollution, agricultural runoff and local land-use changes can acidify coastal waters at a much higher rate than atmospheric CO2 alone, and so different state governments in the world should have no excuses not to address and mitigate ocean acidification problem within their local ‘hotspots’ as supposed to waiting for an international ‘one-world’ solution.  

The different 'non-carbon' causes of ocean acidification (Kelly et al., 2011)

In one of the video I’ve posted earlier on, it has mentioned that ocean pH in coastal regions are relatively lower due to constant ocean upwelling. So previously, I thought that this ‘localised’ ocean acidification must be due to natural processes. But after reading this article by Kelly et al. (2011), the video has actually further implied that human activities in coastal regions should also bare the biggest responsibility for this localised problem.  

Different scientific media reports on the web, including Science Daily, the National Oceanography Partnership Program (NOPP) and the Californian Ocean AcidificationNetwork  have described that Kelly et al. (2011) have provided a first roadmap to tackle local ocean acidification hotspots. Kelly et al. (2011) suggested four approaches to address these problems using existing laws and jurisdictions e.g. in the US: 

1. Use existing environmental laws e.g. the Clean Water Act in the US to direct different state government agencies to ensure the amount of precipitation runoff and pollutants are limited and monitored to allow sustainability of aquatic ecosystems to be maintained
2. Control coastal erosion by regulatory measures on limiting anthropogenic nutrient loading to coastal waters
3. More careful local and regional land-use planning and zoning to control localised emissions including more carefully designed transportation and antisprawling land-use policies 
4. Enforce existing federal emission limits for pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide to limit major drivers of ocean acidification

Following the failures of previous attempts (Climate Conference in Durban, Copenhagen, Kyoto…) in initiating international cooperation to limit CO2 emissions across the world, there is indeed an urgent need for all state government leaders and even individuals to take responsibility for their own behaviours and actions, especially those living in the local ocean acidification hotspots. Instead of trying to seek for a global legally binding agreement on the globalised environmental problems, countries should now shift their focus on taking up own initiatives and responsibilities in limiting pollution stresses to the environment, in the context of ocean acidification mitigation at least. However, this does not imply that countries will not have to communicate with each other, especially neighbouring countries or regions on solving the ocean acidification problem as the lack of effective communication often cause undesirable environmental consequences, such as drying up of the Aral Sea caused by over-abstraction of water resources among five transboundary nations. 

To sum up, ‘Think globally, act locally’ is perhaps the most appropriate attitude in limiting this ocean acidification problem.