Nov 8, 2011
Project CLAMER finds 'disturbing' evidence of changes to Europe's seas
Project CLAMER, an 18-month initiative involving 17 European marine institutes, has amassed some 'convincing' and 'disturbing' evidence of changes in the European marine environment, according to its organisers.
The project, which has now come to an end, synthesized an extensive collection of academic papers published since 1998 on climate change and Europe's marine environments and combined this with a groundbreaking opinion poll. The online survey of 10,000 residents in 10 European countries reveals widespread concern about climate change, led by worries about sea-level rise and coastal erosion.
The poll also found that those worried by climate change largely blame the phenomenon on other groups of people or nations, and assign governments and industry responsibility for mitigating the problem (though they perceive government and industry as ineffective on the issue). Some 86% of respondents said climate change is caused entirely, mainly or in part by human activities. Only 8% thought it was mainly or entirely caused by natural processes; in the US, around 32–36% hold this view.
Co-ordinated by the Marine Board of the European Science Foundation, with contributions from more than 20 scientists, the CLAMER synthesis and related book examine the environments of the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean, North East Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
The study found that Europeans face greater risk of illness, property damage and job losses because of the impacts of climate change on the seas around them.
"Millions of euros in health costs may result from human consumption of contaminated seafood, ingestion of water-borne pathogens, and, to a lesser degree, through direct occupational or recreational exposure to marine diseases," states the CLAMER synthesis. "Climatic conditions are playing an increasingly important role in the transmission of these diseases."
The researchers found that sea-level rise, combined with higher waves being recorded in the North Atlantic and more frequent and severe storms, threaten up to 1 trillion euros' worth of Europe's physical assets within 500 m of the shore. Some 35% of Europe's GDP is generated within 50 km of the coast, the synthesis notes. "Sea-level rise of 80 to 200 cm could wipe out entire countries…causing sea floods, massive economic damage, large movements of populations from inundated areas, salinity intrusion and loss of wetlands including the ecosystem services that they provide."
The CLAMER synthesis also suggests the need for Europe's commercial fisheries to reduce catch in some places and make adjustments in others due to warming water, ocean acidification, and altered salinity and oxygen content. "Some of the biggest [changes] will be required in Europe's seas, where temperatures are rising faster than the open North Atlantic," according to one research paper in the CLAMER collection.