World’s leading aquatic scientific societies issue urgent call to cut global greenhouse gas emissions

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14, 2020

Contact: Ed Verhamme, IAGLR President, 734-681-0577, [email protected]

Freshwater and marine resources face dire consequences without significant, immediate action

ANN ARBOR, MI — In an unprecedented statement released today, 110 aquatic scientific societies representing more than 80,000 scientists worldwide sound the alarm for the devastating impact of climate change on the world’s freshwater and marine ecoystems. The International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) joins this call to drastically curtail global greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of human-caused climate change on these aquatic ecosystems. Unless urgent action is taken to reduce emissions, scientists predict catastrophic impacts to human health, fisheries, and economies.

“The year 2020 has shown us in no uncertain terms what happens when we don’t take climate change seriously,” says IAGLR President Ed Verhamme. “The global pandemic and fires in Australia and the United States are consequences that have dominated the news. Yet the Great Lakes and other large lakes are at risk, too, and climate change worsens the risks they—and we—face. Fluctuating lake levels, harmful algal blooms, the threat of invasive species, and imperiled fisheries are all driven by climate change, which challenges our efforts to manage the lakes to support human health, our economies, and our way of life.”

In recent years, the Great Lakes have experienced record high water levels, with widespread flooding and the resulting shoreline erosion and property damage; yet just seven years ago, lake levels were very low. Scientists expect this variability to continue and anticipate a warmer, wetter future in the Great Lakes region. Trends over the past 50 years show an increase in both evaporation and precipitation, along with above average temperatures. These competing forces combined with global climate variability put the region in uncharted territory and present an additional challenge to managing the lakes.

"Natural resource managers are constantly addressing numerous, interacting stressors in the Great Lakes," notes Paris Collingsworth, a researcher at Purdue University and Great Lakes ecosystem specialist with Illinois Indiana Sea Grant. "Climate change will further exacerbate existing stressors and complicate the management of this important ecosystem. For example, stronger and more frequent spring storms and warmer temperatures will alter nutrient delivery and the thermal structure of the lakes, which could bring about more severe and prolonged episodes of harmful algal blooms and low oxygen levels in Lake Erie and other shallow, productive habitats in the Great Lakes."

The evidence is clear that climate change is already altering marine and coastal ecosystems, notes the societies in their joint statement, and increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are driving this change.  Many of these changes are and will be irreversible and will continue to worsen if we persist on our current path. “It is time to acknowledge the urgent need to act to address climate change. Delaying action to control greenhouse gas emissions is not an option if humankind wishes to conserve the aquatic resources and environmental safety of the world."

“We, the world’s aquatic scientists, spend our lives studying these systems,” the statement notes. “We see exceptional and disturbing changes in the world’s aquatic ecosystems due to climate change and believe that we must continue to share peer-reviewed scientific findings with the public and policymakers to emphasize the seriousness of this threat and the need for immediate action.” The societies call for the following actions:

• Global and national targets to protect and restore carbon dense ecosystems, such as peat, sea grasses, and other wetlands to sequester carbon, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the impacts of climate change.
• Governments, the public, industry, academia, and all other sectors of society must prioritize actions and act in a concerted way to halt human-caused climate change if they are to prevent dire consequences.
• A rapid transition towards energy sources and other products and services that do not release greenhouse gases, and research and policies that favor an efficient transition to a low carbon world.
• Robust adaptation measures; identification and easing of other environmental stressors that act synergistically with climate change; and additional resources for data collection, mapping, and research to better understand potential impacts and to arm natural resources agencies with the tools to mitigate these impacts are essential to better understand and plan for changes in aquatic ecosystems.

Done intelligently, the societies conclude, movement to curtail human-caused climate change can result in novel technologies, strong economies, healthier aquatic ecosystems, greater food security, and human well-being.