Towards improved socio-economic assessments of ocean acidification's impacts

Abstract

Ocean acidification is increasingly recognized as a component of global change that could have a wide range of impacts on marine organisms, the ecosystems they live in, and the goods and services they provide humankind. Assessment of these potential socio-economic impacts requires integrated efforts between biologists, chemists, oceanographers, economists and social scientists. But because ocean acidification is a new research area, significant knowledge gaps are preventing economists from estimating its welfare impacts. For instance, economic data on the impact of ocean acidification on significant markets such as fisheries, aquaculture and tourism are very limited (if not non-existent), and non-market valuation studies on this topic are not yet available. Our paper summarizes the current understanding of future OA impacts and sets out what further information is required for economists to assess socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification. Our aim is to provide clear directions for multidisciplinary collaborative research.

Fig. 1

Percentage changes in average global surface ocean ion concentrations resulting from up to a fourfold change (300 % increase) in atmospheric carbon dioxide, compared with pre-industrial values. Values for atmospheric CO₂ change from 280 to 1,120 ppm; bicarbonate ions from 1,770 to 2,120 μmol kg⁻¹; carbonate ions from 225 to 81 μmol kg⁻¹; and pH from 8.18 to 7.65 (where pH is defined as the negative decimal logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity, a linear relationship is assumed between activity and concentration, and a uniform and constant upper ocean temperature is assumed, of 18 °C). From Williamson and Turley (in press)

Fig. 2

CO₂ impact pathway and flow of information