海洋研究国際計画(International Programme on the State of the Ocean=IPSO)は、今年の4月にオックスフォード大学で開催された海洋専門家による最近研究の成果をまとめた報告書「International Earth system expert workshop on ocean stresses and impacts」を公開しました。このリポートでは、海の環境を悪化させる要因は温暖化、酸性化、低酸素化の三つだとし、いずれも人間活動が直接的にもたらしたものだとしている。これらの複合的な研究は、近年行われたもので、それにより、現在の海洋生物のおかれた状況は、深海ですでに発生している種の絶滅に象徴されるように、かつてない規模での海洋生物の大量死の危機を警告するものとなった。地球の歴史において、こうした海洋生物の大量死は、5500万年前にもあり、深海生物の50％以上が死滅したそうです。
An international panel of marine experts warns in a report released today that the world’s ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.The preliminary report arises from the first ever interdisciplinary international workshop to consider the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean. Considering the latest research across all areas of marine science, the workshop examined the combined effects of pollution, acidification, ocean warming, overEfishing and hypoxia (deoxygenation).
The scientific panel concluded that:
-The combination of stressors on the ocean is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth’s history
-The speed and rate of degeneration in the ocean is far faster than anyone has predicted
-Many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions.
-Although difficult to assess because of the unprecedented speed of change,the first steps to globally significant extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reefEforming corals
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" A high-level international workshop convened by IPSO met at the University of Oxford earlier this year. It was the first inter-disciplinary international meeting of marine scientists of its kind and was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean, including warming, acidification, and overfishing.
The 3 day workshop, co-sponsored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), looked at the latest science across different disciplines.
The 27 participants from 18 organisations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats ? and a stark conclusion about future risks to marine and human life if the current trajectory of damage continues: that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
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Report Summary: long version / shorter version
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Case Study 1: The potentially deadly trio of factors ? warming, acidification and anoxia ? affecting today's oceans, by Professor Jelle Bijma, Marine Biogeosciences, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. Watch his explanation, beginning with the growing problem of anoxia, or dead zones, in the ocean.
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Case Study 2: End of paradise: Coral reefs facing multiple attacks, by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg , Director, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland
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Case Study 3: Pollution and Marine Species: new challenges of an old problem by Professor Tom Hutchinson, Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (CEFAS)
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Case Study 4: Vanishing Resource: The Tale of the Chinese Bahaba by Dr William Cheung, Lecturer in Marine Ecosystem Services, School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia
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本文
気象庁は、世界気象機関（WMO）の温室効果ガス世界資料センター（World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases: WDCGG）を運営しており、世界中で観測された温室効果ガスの観測データを収集・解析しています。今般、当庁および世界の温室効果ガス専門家の協力により、2009年12月までの世界の温室効果ガス観測データの解析が取りまとめられ、その結果が、WMOから11月24日に温室効果ガス年報（Greenhouse Gas Bulletin）第6号として発表されました。
