The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate: CCAMLR’s duty to respond

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is a Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC). The report compiles scientific evidence to make clear the devastating impacts that climate change are having on the oceans and polar regions. In this paper, ASOC provides a short overview of some of the report’s key findings and recommends that CCAMLR take collective responsibility to address the growing environmental crises of climate change and biodiversity loss with decisive action including:

1. Complete the planned representative system of MPAs as an immediate response, including areas designed to enhance climate resilience.
2. Complete and agree to a climate change response plan which includes climate change information when setting catch limits and approving conservation measures and implication statements in all working papers and fisheries reports.
3. Commit to research on climate-related changes to the Antarctic ecosystem, including ocean heat uptake, ocean acidification, and ecosystem and species changes, and incorporate this information into precautionary conservation measures.