Ocean acidification can be defined as the change in ocean chemistry driven by the oceanic uptake of chemical inputs to the atmosphere, including carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur compounds (Guinotte and Fabry, p.320). Today, the overwhelming cause of ocean acidification is anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide. Over the past two-hundred years, the rapid increase in anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide has directly led to decreasing ocean pH through air-sea gas exchange, driven by the land-use changes such as, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrialization, and cement production (Guinotte and Fabry, p.320). The problem with the change in pH is that since the industrial revolution, the pH of surface oceans has dropped 0.1 pH
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Using partial-equilibrium analysis, the research indicates that the global economic costs of mollusks loss from ocean acidification are around six-billon USD annually under the assumption of a constant demand of mollusks and could be well over one-hundred billion USD if the demand for mollusks increases with future income rise (Narita, Rehdanz and Tol, p.1061). These estimates are determined by the effects on the globally dominant Chinese mollusks production and a presumed rise of demand for mollusks in today’s developing countries in accordance with their income growth (Narita, Rehdanz and Tol, p.1061). Because the ocean acidifies faster than the atmosphere warms, the acidification effects on mollusks would raise the social cost of carbon more strongly than the estimated damage adds to the damage costs of climate change (Narita, Rehdanz and Tol, …show more content…
Billé et al. stress that that effective acidification policy requires that we succeed where we failed so far: reducing carbon dioxide emissions, protecting marine ecosystems from various stressors, restoring the ones that have been degraded and developing last-resort technologies to cope in the worse-case scenario. The researchers stress that by better engaging in debates over energy, climate, and pollution control, the ocean community could create a new suite of interested parties, which could tip the balance from acknowledgment to better-informed decision-making and action (Billé et al.,
Using partial-equilibrium analysis, the research indicates that the global economic costs of mollusks loss from ocean acidification are around six-billon USD annually under the assumption of a constant demand of mollusks and could be well over one-hundred billion USD if the demand for mollusks increases with future income rise (Narita, Rehdanz and Tol, p.1061). These estimates are determined by the effects on the globally dominant Chinese mollusks production and a presumed rise of demand for mollusks in today’s developing countries in accordance with their income growth (Narita, Rehdanz and Tol, p.1061). Because the ocean acidifies faster than the atmosphere warms, the acidification effects on mollusks would raise the social cost of carbon more strongly than the estimated damage adds to the damage costs of climate change (Narita, Rehdanz and Tol, …show more content…
Billé et al. stress that that effective acidification policy requires that we succeed where we failed so far: reducing carbon dioxide emissions, protecting marine ecosystems from various stressors, restoring the ones that have been degraded and developing last-resort technologies to cope in the worse-case scenario. The researchers stress that by better engaging in debates over energy, climate, and pollution control, the ocean community could create a new suite of interested parties, which could tip the balance from acknowledgment to better-informed decision-making and action (Billé et al.,