23 June 2011: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) sponsored a press conference on the launch of a report by the International Programme on State of the Oceans (IPSO) on the protection of marine species, during which marine experts panellists highlighted that changes in the oceans are being driven at an extraordinary pace, entailing a dramatic rise in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Panellists included: Alex Rogers, Scientific Director IPSO and Professor of Conservation Biology at Oxford University; Susan Lieberman, Director of International Policy with the Pew Environment Group and founding member of the High Seas Alliance (HSA); and Matthew Gianni, co-founder of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. The panel concluded that: the combination of stressors on the ocean are creating the conditions associated with every previous mass extinction of species in history; the speed and rate of ocean degeneration is far greater than predicted; many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions; and, though difficult to assess due to the unprecedented rate of change, the first steps towards a global extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reef-forming corals.

The press conference was held on the sidelines of the 12th meeting of the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (Consultative Process or ICP 12), which is taking place in New York, US, from 20-24 June 2011, on the theme “The June 2012 ‘Rio+20′ Conference.” Panellists underlined that the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) presents an opportunity for governments to protect and conserve the wealth of life that inhabited the world’s international waters. They further called on delegates attending Rio+20 to meet their international obligations, make good on the commitments they have already made, and address gaps in the management of ecologically and economically valuable species and ecosystems of the high seas.

Rogers indicated that the IPSO report had been drafted by a team of experts in different aspects of marine science, particularly marine biology, but also climate change science and legal aspects of ocean affairs. He underscored the importance of oceans for humankind and that the last five big extinctions on Earth had been accompanied by major disturbances in the carbon cycle. [UN Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage of the ICP 12]