The current environmental condition of our oceans

The current environmental condition of our oceans is anything but good. The biggest threat to our oceans is the ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is direct result of the excessive carbon emissions, and it causes huge problems for corals and some other sea creatures. Ocean acidification could in the end result in total disruption of marine food chain and lead many marine creatures towards the extinction.

In order to stop further ocean acidification world needs to drastically reduce current level of CO2 emissions. Unfortunately Cancun climate talks haven't done much for oceans as world has once again failed to agree on new international climate deal so the acidification will likely further continue.

World needs to protect as much marine areas as possible. According to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity the countries have committed to protect 10% of marine areas by 2012 but this commitment looks unlikely to become reality. For instance, if we take a look at the situation in EU we can see that at this moment less than 1% of marine areas in Europe are protected.

Current conservation efforts are not enough and there are already many marine species that look to be heading for extinction, and in years to come when climate change strengthens its impact it is very likely that many sea creatures will perish from the face of the planet.

This year's situation in The Gulf of Mexico has created tremendous damage to marine life by affecting thousands of marine species and habitats. Sadly, Gulf oil spill is only one of the dangers facing marine ecosystems. Offshore platforms are still operating in many parts of the world, and the environmental disaster of this magnitude could once again occur, even sooner than we expect it would.

Many people still fail to see that global biodiversity depends directly on the amount of species present in the oceans, and biodiversity in our oceans is currently in the state of rapid decline.

Unless we improve the environmental condition of our oceans we will leave tremendous environmental mess to our future generations and they will be the ones that will be paying for our mistakes.

Protecting marine biodiversity is the priority, and this can be done with the establishment of new protected marine areas, as well as increasing marine research because science should play key role in developing management and conservation measures that will ensure the future of our oceans and the resources on which humanity depend.

Climate change impact on US forests

Forests not only absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2), they also have other vital functions such as help retain rainwater and keep it from flowing down mountains immediately, not to mention the fact that they are areas of very rich biodiversity, and habitat for many plants and animals.

Climate change will no doubt have negative impact on all US forests but some forests will be more vulnerable to increased temperatures compared to others, and the most vulnerable forests in US will likely be the forests in Southwestern US. At least this is what the new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) says.

Park Williams, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara, the lead author of this study, said that "forests in the Southwest are most sensitive to higher temperatures in the spring and summer, and those are the months that have been warming the fastest in this area."

In not just United States but in entire world it has been confirmed many times that higher temperatures lead not only to wildfires but also to insect outbreaks, for instance the well known bark beetle outbreak.

The researchers also predict that disappearing of forests will have have "large implications for everything from snowpack and the river flows that our society depends on, to the intensity and frequency of fires, to the visual appearance of these landscapes that drives much of the tourism in this region".

It will be very difficult to preserve the forests in the Southwest, and the forest managers should be already thinking about the possible strategies that would help these forests to at least up to some point adapt to climate change. Especially since saving forests means also saving many plants and animals that depend on these forests to survive.

Why are mountain gorillas endangered?

Mountain gorillas are among the most famous of all endangered animals. These majestic animals live in the tropical mountain forests in central Africa, but they are lately finding it very hard to survive, and a couple of years back they were brought at the brink of extinction.

There are several reasons why mountain gorillas are endangered such as habitat loss and deforestation which moves gorillas to more and more isolated areas, and gives them tough time in finding the food. Other reasons include poaching because some cruel "collectors" are ready to pay handsomely for their heads, hands, and feet. And they have been also very unfortunate to live in the areas where civil wars are quite frequent, a fact that certainly doesn't help the conservation cause, as it means that sometimes they have been also killed because of their meat.

Mountain gorillas have lately become quite a touristic attraction in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda which has somewhat put more emphasis on their conservation efforts. Fortunately, it looks like the most recent conservation efforts have been quite successful, as according to the latest reports mountain gorillas that live in the Virunga Massif have experienced a significant increase in population.

If the latest reports are correct then the Virunga mountain gorilla population has experienced increase of 25% in the last seven years, and today accounts for 480 individuals living in 36 groups. This means that the current world population of mountain gorilla is now close to 800 individuals.

Young mountain gorilla.

The main factor responsible for this positive trend was a collaborative transboundary effort by organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda to protect the gorillas and their habitat.

However, even despite these positive numbers, mountain gorillas are still under threat of extinction, and it will take lot more conservation efforts to remove gorillas from the endangered animals list.

Virunga Massif is still one of the most popular areas for poachers in Africa, and the latest proof to this was the discovery of 200 poachers' snares in this area. Though poachers usually do not set their sight on gorillas, snares set by them are still a great threat.

Hopefully, positive news will continue to overshadow the negative ones, and mountain gorilla population will continue its road to recovery. These incredible animals need to survive, and conservation efforts must continue.

The consequences of ocean acidification

The new United Nations study yet again warns us about the ocean acidification issue. The report called "Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification" says that the chemistry of the world's oceans is changing at a rate not seen for 65 million years, and that this will soon have tremendous negative impact on marine biodiversity. Like we didn't know that already.

Though scientists are trying to warn the public there's really a little use of these reports because world leaders are doing nothing to tackle climate change issue, and I seriously doubt that latest climate change talks in Cancun will change current situation for better.

In the meantime our oceans will become more and more acidic, and this will totally disrupt the functioning of the marine food web. Sea creatures such as coral and shellfish will find it increasingly hard to survive, and these organisms play key role for many marine ecosystems, providing food for billions of different sea creatures.

Corals are among sea creatures most affected with ocean acidification.

Our oceans currently absorb around quarter of our global carbon emissions, but if we continue to increase our emissions in years to come, oceans will find it very hard to continue with this useful ability. If the world continues with current trend by the end of this century ocean acidity should increase by 150 percent, and this is literally the state of total environmental disaster.

This latest UN report also says that there are around three billion people worldwide who rely on fish for key nutrients, and if oceans continue to become more and more acidic there won't be enough fish for all these people. What this means, is that ocean acidification could also become one of the key factors that will cause even more hunger in the world.

Oceans are not only becoming more and more acidic but they are also becoming warmer. The combination of ocean acidification and increased warming could prove fatal for many marine species because this could extremely limit their habitats, and therefore lead this species to the brink of extinction.

The consequences of ocean acidification are therefore a decreased ability of our oceans to sink CO2 from the atmosphere, devastating impact on marine food web and extinction of many marine species, and to top it all even more hunger in the world.

This should be more than enough for world leaders to start working instead of just talking all the time. Or perhaps talk is the only work they are capable of.