COP27: Canadian delegation set to talk about oceans’ role in fighting climate change

Prof. Anya Waite is leading a delegation from Dalhousie University's Ocean Frontier Institute to attend the 27th annual Conference of the Parties of the U.N.

Lying in plain sight and lapping against our shores is what scientists describe as an unsung hero that has been quietly absorbing heat and keeping the world’s temperatures under control. And over the coming days, a group of Canadian researchers hopes to persuade the world that the ocean has a crucial role to play in fighting climate change.

Prof. Anya Waite is leading a delegation from Dalhousie University’s Ocean Frontier Institute to attend the 27th annual Conference of the Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — better known as COP27 — in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, starting Sunday. They plan to share ways the deep blue carbon sink acts as a buffer and impacts climate forecasts.

Waite said most people know that rainforests are the lungs of the planet, keeping temperatures down and filtering the air.

“But oceans hold more carbon than all the rainforests on Earth,” she said in an interview. “And deep blue carbon is carbon that’s held by the deep blue sea. So the open ocean, the high seas, which go down to 4000 meters in depth ? they hold most of the carbon on Earth. And that’s something people really aren’t aware of.”

Scientists must understand the role oceans have played to date in mitigating climate change, she said, noting it’s also important for coastal communities to know how they must adapt to shifting conditions.

Oceans have absorbed 90 per cent of the earth’s heat emissions so far, Waite said. She credits oceans for the fact the world has not yet blown through the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, the international climate pact that pledged to limit warming to below two degrees Celsius and curb it to 1.5 if possible.

But there is a danger that these carbon sinks will turn to emitters as the waters warm, melting caps of frozen methane and other greenhouse gases that lie scattered on the sea floor, she said.

“The capacity of the ocean to absorb carbon is gently declining,” Waite said. “But then on top of that we’re seeing that there’s these ? extreme events or rare events that can potentially release carbon in short notice. And we don’t really understand those.”