Oceans seen as new front to fight climate change

Preventing the destruction of marine life, from plankton to sea grasses and mangrove forests, could help offset between three and seven per cent of current fossil fuel emissions, according to a UN environment report.

The Blue Carbon report found that of all the biological carbon captured in the world, slightly more than half is captured by marine- living organisms.

"Healthy oceans (are a) new key to combating climate change," said the report, which highlighted how marine organisms such as sea grasses naturally absorb greenhouse gases. Life in seas and estuaries captured and stored up to 1,650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, the equivalent of almost half of the emissions from the entire global transport system, it said.

"We already know that marine ecosystems are multi-trillion-dollar assets linked to sectors such as tourism, coastal defence, fisheries and water purification services," said Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme.

"Now it is emerging that they are natural allies against climate change," he said, launching the report in Cape Town. The report proposed that governments consider a "blue carbon" fund to help protect marine life.