The Ocean-Climate Connection

The ocean plays a vital role in regulating the climate and in doing so protects us from the worst impacts of climate change. Despite this, the link between the climate and the ocean is not commonly understood, talked about or integrated into the way we tackle the climate crisis. By better incorporating the ocean and the experiences of coastal communities into our conversations about climate, we hope this will change.

There is one global ocean that connects us all. Within this one ocean there are five ocean basins (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern) and around 50 seas, which are areas of the ocean partially surrounded by land. The connected nature of the ocean means that what happens in one part of the ocean can affect the others. The Ocean Visuals team recognises that the geographical terminology, naming conventions, zones and territories used are contentious and encourages participants to use their own terminology.

Similarly, the same connectivity between oceans and seas both hydrologically, geographically and culturally can be extended towards subjects concerning estuaries, rivers and large bodies of inland water. We would encourage photographers to be non-restrictive in their interpretation of these definitions and encourage images that counter the misperception that coastal communities are the only ones impacted by ocean issues.

How does the ocean help?

Without the services provided by a healthy, functioning ocean, things could be a lot worse. The ocean has taken up 93% of the excess heat from global warming and has absorbed more than a quarter of the excess CO2 from greenhouse gas emissions. It has buffered us from the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The ocean is also the world’s largest natural store of carbon, making it vital to protect.

Mangrove forests, for example, capture and store carbon dioxide at a greater rate than most tropical rainforests. Marine organisms are responsible for trapping and storing carbon, and transporting it down to the deep sea for long-term storage, via phytoplankton, fish and even whale poo. The capture and storage of carbon is crucial to limiting further increases in the global temperature.

This means that climate action is ocean action.

How is the ocean harmed?

The ocean has not remained unscathed from absorbing excess heat and CO2. The water is heating up. Ocean acidity is increasing. Oxygen levels are reducing. This means that habitats are being destroyed. Species are dying or moving to different areas. Fish stocks are reducing. Sea levels are rising as ice caps melt. Extreme weather events are forming above the water and causing flooding on coasts and further inland.

There are also a lot of other stressors that human activity is putting on the ocean, such as overfishing, pollution, fertiliser run-off, resource extraction and marine traffic, which makes it harder for it to regulate the climate in the way we need.

This damage to the ocean makes life more difficult for people across the globe and, as with climate change, disproportionately affects already-vulnerable communities. Billions of people rely on the ocean for food and livelihoods, and we all rely on a healthy ocean for climate regulation. Coastal and island communities feel the effects of this damage intensely, but it affects us all. The health of the ocean touches all of us, wherever we live.

Why is it important for the ocean to be in the climate conversation?

We cannot protect the ocean without tackling the climate crisis. Equally, we cannot tackle the climate crisis without ensuring a healthy, functioning, resilient ocean. Even though these two issues are intrinsically linked, we have not treated them this way. Action on climate and the ocean has historically been siloed - within international politics, within national governments, and even within conservation organisations. But this is beginning to change

The UNFCCC is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In 1992 the UNFCCC established an international treaty to combat climate change signed by 154 states. Each year there is a conference called the COP (Conference of Parties) which assesses progress in dealing with climate change.

It wasn’t until COP25 in 2019 that governments recognised the need to strengthen the understanding of, and action on, ocean and climate change under the UNFCCC for the first time. At COP26, governments “permanently anchored the inclusion of strengthened ocean-based action under the UNFCCC multilateral process”.

At COP27 and beyond, we want governments to take this action further.