Global ocean acidification monitoring network to launch at Rio summit

Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post:   Efforts to deal with increasing acidification of the oceans will get a signal of support Sunday with a U.S. announcement that it will provide $1 million over the next three years to launch a global monitoring network.

The creation of the International Coordinating Office for Ocean Acidification, which will be housed within the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Environment Laboratories in Monaco, marks the first worldwide effort to track how increasing carbon emissions are making the world’s oceans more acidic.

Officials from the United States, which, along with Australia and New Zealand, will establish the office, will make the announcement Sunday afternoon at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, a once-in-a-decade meeting that is convening in Rio de Janeiro this week. Also known as the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, the gathering aims to assess the state of the planet and take steps to solve its most critical problems.

Still, Sunday’s announcement also highlights some of the fiscal constraints global policymakers face when it comes to the environment. Scientists have estimated a robust global ocean acidification monitoring effort will cost $50 million....

Hokusai's "Ocean Waves"