The ocean, a giant at breaking point
The ocean is the Earth’s main climate regulator, as it absorbs over 90% of the heat generated by global warming and produces 50% of the oxygen we breathe thanks to phytoplankton. An essential system for life and which has begun to show serious signs of saturation. During an event at the Donostia Sustainability Forum to mark World Oceans Day, Rogelio Pozo, the AZTI general manager, pointed out that the seas’ buffering capacity is reaching a dangerous threshold.
As he explained, the scientific community is concerned about the so-called tipping points or points of no return from which a balanced system begins to behave in a completely different way. These are irreversible events, such as the Greenland or the West Antarctica losing ice and the thawing of the permafrost, which would release millions of tonnes of additional greenhouses gases into the atmosphere. A change to the ocean currents, such as the Golf Stream, could dramatically alter Europe’s mild climate and lead to extreme conditions.
The impact on the Basque Country: a changing scenario
The climate crisis is no longer a distant phenomenon and its impact is already being felt of the Basque coast. The sea temperature in the Basque Country is rising by 0.25 ºC per decade; temperatures of 24 ºC have already been recorded in its surface waters, which was unheard of prior to the year 2000. Future climate projects likewise point to a rise in sea level that could cause 70% of the beaches’ surface to be lost at high tide.
Furthermore, the Azti director explained, occupancy of the coastline is exacerbating the risk for people living on the coast. Around 40,000 people in the Basque Country currently live in floodable areas, meaning that there is a pressing need for institutions to make ‘brave decisions about spatial planning and the awarding of building permits’.
The Basque fishing sector is already suffering the consequences of the warming of the oceans. Iconic species such as mackerel are moving further north to spawn or looking for deeper waters as the Bay of Biscay gets warmer. In turn, the anchovy has physically adapted by shrinking in size, which directly affects its commercial value and the profitability of the fleet.
A call to courage
The solution does not lie in a single measure, but rather in a far-reaching transformation, Rogelio Pozo pointed out; he made the case for shifting from the ‘selfish ego’, which represents short-term comfort, to the ‘selfless ego’, which is concerned for future wellbeing. In his opinion, this involves changes in education, syllabuses focused on students understanding from very young the ramifications of their lifestyles for the environment.
He likewise referred to the circular economy, the commitment to recycling to reduce the dependency on raw materials and CO2 emissions, and to the importance of global governance, an international coordinated action using tariffs or other mechanisms to penalise products manufactured to poor environmental standards. Accordingly, he pointed out that “we are not paying enough for what things costs; we are kicking down the road all those surcharges that we are not assuming and which future generations will have pay.’
Rogelio Pozo stressed the importance of trusting in science and emphasising that scientific data and models are not created for scaremongering, but rather to anticipate risks and to design realistic adaptation measures before major catastrophes occur. ‘Science does not have an answer for all questions, but the best answers lie in science. It is not about believing or not believing; this is based on mathematics and physics, of laws being met,’ he explained.
His final message in this talk was of the need for urgency, but also for the importance of resilience: change is inevitable, but our ability to react will determine the scale of the impact for coming generations.
