The BBC is reporting that "The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists."
The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) has just published a report saying that "the ocean's health is in a critical state" and worse than previously thought. The ocean is important because it creates more than half of our oxygen, absorbs excess heat and carbon dioxide, and provides the basis for all food systems and, in fact, for life, itself. But oceanic ecosystems are collapsing as species are pushed to extinction and natural habitats are destroyed", and "drastic action" is required within a decade.
"The biggest threat to our Ocean's health is climate change, with its twin super-dangers of rising sea temperatures and acidification", according to the IPSO website. However, pollution and overfishing are also threatening our existence.
"The findings are shocking," said Dr. Alex Rogers, IPSO's scientific director and professor of conservation biology at Oxford University. "As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the oceans, the implications became far worse than we had individually realised."
"The rate of change is vastly exceeding what we were expecting even a couple of years ago," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a coral specialist from the University of Queensland in Australia.
As Dr. Rogers said, "If the ocean goes down, it's game over".