Extreme E celebrates World Ocean Day

This year the theme for the United Nations annual day is Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean.

What is so important about our oceans and why are they increasingly being impacted? Why is this happening and why are we so vulnerable to these drastic changes with the ocean? What can we do to help stop this? How is Extreme E supporting this need for change?

Professor Lucy Woodall, a Marine Conservation Ecologist, who is Principal Scientist for the Nekton Foundation and is Extreme E’s Ocean Expert, tells us more.

Extreme E: How did your passion for the ocean begin?
Professor Lucy Woodall: I grew up beside the ocean in a small fishing village where I played in beautiful rock pools as if they were my back garden. Since my childhood, I was fascinated with marine life as I searched through the nooks and crannies, and under rocks.

XE: What is so important about our oceans and why they are in trouble?
LW: The ocean is our dominate force - we are Planet Ocean! The ocean provides food for many, energy for others and influences the weather conditions for all of us.

XE: What role does the ocean play in limiting climate change?
LW: The ocean acts like a huge sponge, absorbing heat from the atmosphere (about 90 per cent of excess heat) and capturing about 25 per cent excess carbon dioxide (a powerful greenhouse gas).

The ocean ecosystem is an important player in the sequestering of carbon and can provide renewable energy, ocean transport. Especially when supported by sails, ocean transport could be useful to reduce carbon emissions. Furthermore, with changes to how we fish and farm the ocean, and what we consider food, more sustainable practices will emerge.  

XE: We have heard that rising sea levels, ocean acidification and ocean temperature records are all on the rise. Why are we seeing such drastic changes in the ocean?
LW: The ocean, although huge, has been impacted by human activities since humans have been on the planet. These activities can have local impacts, such as mineral extractions, or global impacts, like climate change. Many have delayed consequences.

The ocean experiences multi stressors acting on it. As humans we are often slow to notice change because of the time scale involved, and when we do it takes a long time to see positive effects.

XE: How do you think we can reduce the stress factors on the oceans?
LW: The impacts of climate change, although global, are felt disproportionately by some countries and communities. Therefore, we have to do four things in tandem and increase our efforts now.

We need to:

1) dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions

2) increase protection and support for ecosystems that mitigate against climate change impacts

3) minimise other stressors on the ocean and

4) support the most impacted people with the challenges they live with day-to-day.

Surrounding all these things is the importance to remember those of us with the most privilege have the responsibility on us to do the most.

XE: Who is most vulnerable to these dramatic ocean changes like rising sea level?
LW: As climate change impacts are multi-faceted, the most vulnerable are those where more than one consequence is acting. For example, in the low-lying country of Maldives, sea level rise is problematic. In addition, sea surface temperature increases are causing coral bleaching and often widespread death of these important systems. Coral reefs dissipate energy from storms, that are increasing in strength and frequency. In Maldives, both climate change induced impacts are increasing and the natural system that can mitigate these impacts are reducing.

XE: How is Extreme E helping to protect oceans ecosystems?
LW: Extreme E is supporting future ocean health on a number of levels. Obviously, the decarbonising technology and visibility of this to a wide audience is important and on a local level many legacy projects are directly supporting ocean life and communities.

XE: Looking ahead to Sardinia for the Island X Prix, why is this blue carbon project such an important project to focus on?
LW: Seagrass is thought to be one of the most rapidly declining ecosystems in the world. Extreme E’s blue carbon project supports the conservation of Posidonia oceanica (seagrass), mitigating the detrimental effects of Blue Carbon in Mediterranean waters. In this project we will be working with the MEDSEA Foundation, helping to analyse and replant seagrass along the degraded Sardinian coastline.

Despite only occupying 0.2 per cent of the ocean floor, seagrass stores 10 per cent of the oceans carbon and can capture 30 per cent more from the atmosphere than its tropical rainforest equivalent. Preserving seagrass ecosystems is a vital step in combating the climate crisis.

Ocean habitats are invisible to many. Someone recently described this to be as a ‘blue blanket’ and that is a good analogy. If we could look under the blanket, then we would see the vast habitats that are important for long-term carbon storage. In Sardinia, the main shallow-water ecosystem is seagrass, these immense meadows of seagrass are valuable nurseries for young fish as well as valuable for blue carbon, ‘ocean carbon storage habitats’.

XE: Finally, what is your favourite marine animal?
LW: My favourite marine animal is the seahorse. I have studied these for many years and am still completed fascinated by them.

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