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Press release on Climate | Energy and Water

Climate protection through protection of the oceans

Global warming is changing our oceans. Polar bears who can no longer hunt on isolated icepacks are but one sad consequence that global warming might have on the complex interdependencies that exist in marine ecosystems. Oceans are warming up, with the measuring site at Helgoland Reede registering a 1.5 °C increase in water temperature since recording began in 1962. The mean sea level worldwide is on the rise, at a rate of 3.1 millimetres per year in the 1993-2003 period. Oceans are also acidifying as the increasing carbon dioxide concentration and declining pH value of waters exacerbate the formation of limestone vital to life for algae and corals.  ”As a result of the global rise in temperature, marine food chains are being disturbed or even harmed. Only intact marine ecosystems dispose of the resistance necessary to withstand the consequences of climate change. Therefore, protection of our oceans is particularly important”, said Dr. Thomas Holzmann, Vice President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), on the occasion of the United Nations’ sponsored World Oceans Day that was launched on 8 June 2009. read more

The Umweltbundesamt

For our environment