International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification
State, local and tribal governments of the U.S. and Canada along with Chile, Nigeria and France, have formed the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification. Along with advancing the science of ocean acidification and working to reduce the cause and severity of this climate change impact, the Alliance will work in support of inclusion of ocean health and ocean acidification mitigation, adaptation and resiliency strategies in international climate agreements.
The Alliance will work to further five goals:
- advance scientific understanding of ocean acidification
- take meaningful actions to reduce causes of acidification
- protect the environment and coastal communities from impacts of a changing ocean
- expand public awareness and understanding of acidification, and
- build sustained support for addressing this global problem
Individual Alliance members commit to supporting the work of the Alliance broadly, and commit to taking meaningful actions in their location by creating their own jurisdictional Ocean Alliance Action Plan. Alliance members will be supported in their efforts through information exchange of the most recent and relevant science, best practices to mitigate and adapt, and sharing examples of existing action plans.
The following governments are founding members of the Alliance:
- British Columbia, Canada
- California, United States
- Chile
- Cross River State, Nigeria
- France
- Imperial Beach, California
- Oregon, United States
- Quebec, Canada
- Quileute Nation
- Quinault Indian Nation
- Suquamish Nation
- Washington, United States
According to the Alliance website, ocean acidity has already increased by 30 percent and is expected to double over pre-industrial levels by the end of this century as a result of the ocean absorbing one-third of the atmospheric carbon dioxide generated by human activities. Significant adverse impacts on fisheries and marine ecosystems have already been documented due to ocean acidification and these impacts will worsen in the future.
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