Rayfuse, Rosemary --- "Climate Change and the Law of the Sea" [2012] ELECD 741; in Rayfuse, Rosemary; Scott, V. Shirley (eds), "International Law in the Era of Climate Change" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: International Law in the Era of Climate Change

Editor(s): Rayfuse, Rosemary; Scott, V. Shirley

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800303

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Climate Change and the Law of the Sea

Author(s): Rayfuse, Rosemary

Number of pages: 28

Extract:

6. Climate change and the law of the
sea
Rosemary Rayfuse

INTRODUCTION
The oceans have been described as both a victim of climate change and as
part of the solution.1 As victim, scientific research confirms that the oceans
are experiencing rapid changes which are likely to have serious conse-
quences for marine ecosystems in coming decades. Heat absorption is
driving both thermal expansion and increases in the discharge of melt water
from terrestrial sources, leading to sea level rise, ocean stratification and
declining oxygen concentrations.2 On current estimates, sea level rise is
projected to range from 0.5 to 1.2 m by 2100.3 Declining oxygen concentra-
tions will lead to deep-ocean anoxia and hypoxia and are already implicated
in mass mortalities among some deepwater benthic communities on the
west coasts of North America and southern Africa.4 Absorption of anthro-
pogenic CO2 is acidifying the surface layers of the oceans threatening coral
reefs and other calcareous organisms, including krill, one of the keystone
species in the global food chain.5 Indeed, the tipping point of acidification
in the Southern Ocean, the point at which the shells of krill start to dissolve,


1
D. Freestone, `Climate Change and the Oceans' (2009) 4 Carbon and Climate
Law Review 383­386, 383.
2
O. Hoegh-Gulberg and J.F. Bruno, `The Impact of Climate Change on the
World's Marine Ecosystems' (2010) 328 Science 1523­1528, 1524.
3
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), `Climate Change 2007:
The ...