The emission of carbon dioxide, and other gases, from industrial and household activities and motor vehicles have lead to the progressive rise of the earth's surface temperature. The gases have produced a "Greenhouse Effect", whereby the gases build up in the earth's atmosphere. Here they allow the suns radiation to pass through to the earth but prohibit it to escape back into the atmosphere by simply bouncing the radiation back towards the earth, thus acting like a greenhouse. The greenhouse effect is actually a natural, and essential, process for, without it, the earth would be frozen. The problem is the increasing amount that humans are contributing to this process (an estimated extra 7-8 billion tonnes per year - an increase of about 30%).
Common greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, water vapour, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), nitrous oxide and methane.
KYOTO PROTOCOL
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement between 159 nations made at a conference held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997, to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases. Larger developed countries agreed to decrease emissions by a collective 5.2 percent. Less developed countries were not required to reduce their emissions, while certain countries were actually allowed to increase their emissions. A follow-up conference in 1998 set a deadline of late 2000 for all guidelines to be set in place.
CARBON SINKS
Carbon "sink" or carbon sequestrian are terms used to describe the ability of a body to capture carbon thus keeping it out of the atmosphere. The ocean is perhaps the most well known carbon sink, as are terrestrial forests. The role of forests as sinks is still being researched, but it has been observed that as trees mature, they actually start to release their stored carbon. Only about 50% of the carbon dioxide emitted actually ends up in the atmosphere, the majority of the other 50% is widely believed to end up in the ocean. A less researched area is the role that coral reefs play as a sink. Millions of tiny plants found on the coral, produce oxygen as part of photosynthesis. This process requires the uptake of carbon dioxide and the production of food energy and oxygen. Coral also uses carbon (in the form of carbonate), which it combines with calcium to make its skeleton. By measuring the carbon in a coral reef, the actual amount of carbon sequestered by the reef can be ascertained. Research already undertaken has discovered that the waters around reefs appear to be a slight source of carbon dioxide, whereas the reef itself is a strong sink for aqueous carbon dioxide, with the reef found to be more productive than forests, and therefore utilise more carbon per square metre. This is not found in actively developing reef systems, however, which tend to emit carbon dioxide. Although, coral requires carbon to grow, research has also shown that as the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the oceans increases, the reefs become adversely affected and actually start to die off. This is caused by the production of carbonic acid in the surface waters of the ocean, which shifts the carbon away from the carbonate ion, thus depriving the coral of the carbonate it needs. It appears then that global carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced in order to allow the carbonic acid levels to drop in the oceans, and thus allow the reefs to flourish. More research is required in this area.
CARBON TAXES, CREDITS AND TRADEABLE PERMITS
In order to discourage the use of fossil fuels, with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, a surcharge has been placed on carbon containing products, such as coal, petroleum products and natural gas. As a further incentive to reduce pollutant emissions, permits are issued by governments to source producers of the pollutants, which allow them to release a certain number of tons of that pollutant. Only a certain number of permits are issued, consistent with desired levels of emissions. A value is placed on the permits (estimated at approximately US$1.60 to US$2.00) and the owners may trade any unused permits, if they are able to reduce their emissions. Should a reduction occur, the amount of the reduction is registered as a credit for the organisation or individual and it is these credits (or Certified Tradeable Offsets - CTO's) are able to be traded. As suggested, the carbon credits must be certified before they can be traded.
WHERE DOES REEF-FARM FIT IN TO ALL OF THIS?
Currently, the world's ocean reefs are estimated to cover some 600,000 square kilometres, with 255,000 square kilometres of this being attributed to near-surface reefs. These are the most productive. These near-surface reefs have a carbon productivity of 2,500 grams of carbon per square metre (compared to 2,200 grams per square metre for tropical forests and 125 grams of carbon per square metre per year in the open ocean) - World Resources Institute. We at Reef-farm realise that more work is required in the mapping of coral reefs and the monitoring of carbon uptake and emissions within the various reef structures and stages of development. This is the first and most important step if we are to understand the role that coral reefs will play in the world's initiative to reduce the greenhouse effect.
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