CSM invited by the IPCC to participate in discussions on ocean acidification


Professor Denis Allemand, Director of the Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), attended the workshop on the impacts of ocean acidification on the biology of marine ecosystems, organized by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in Okinawa (Japan) between the17th to 19th of January.

His participation in the workshop was made possible by the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Principality of Monaco.

Eighty scientists and international experts met at the workshop to discuss the biological and economic effects of ocean acidification, which happens to be a field of expertise among Monegasque researchers.

Theses scientists have begun preparing a critical review of knowledge in this rapidly changing field to allow editors to write the fifth IPCC report "Climate Change 2014", which should be released in May 2014. Indeed, data published in the IPCC reports are based on data verified by the scientific community.

Participation of the Scientific Centre of Monaco in the workshop is consistent with the ongoing research activities in the Principality in the field of ocean acidification. In November 2010, the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), organized a "workshop on the potential economic impacts of ocean acidification". The workshop, which had received funding from the Foundation Prince Albert II, the French Ministry of Ecology and the Government of Monaco, was in keeping with intentions set out by the Monaco Declaration on Ocean Acidification, adopted in October 2008 at the symposium on "Oceans in a world with high levels of CO2," which was held under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.