Open AccessClimate impacts on the ocean are making the Sustainable Development Goals a moving target travelling away from us
Author(s) -
Singh Gerald G.,
Hilmi Nathalie,
Bernhardt Joey R.,
Cisneros Montemayor Andres M.,
Cashion Madeline,
Ota Yoshitaka,
Acar Sevil,
Brown Jason M.,
Cottrell Richard,
Djoundourian Salpie,
GonzálezEspinosa Pedro C.,
Lam Vicky,
Marshall Nadine,
Neumann Barbara,
Pascal Nicolas,
Reygondeau Gabriel,
Rocklӧv Joacim,
Safa Alain,
Virto Laura R.,
Cheung William
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
people and nature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2575-8314
DOI - 10.1002/pan3.26
Subject(s) - climate change , sustainable development , marine ecosystem , environmental resource management , ecological forecasting , goods and services , ecosystem , global warming , environmental planning , ecosystem services , environmental science , natural resource economics , business , ecology , economics , market economy , biology
Climate change is impacting marine ecosystems and their goods and services in diverse ways, which can directly hinder our ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set out under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through expert elicitation and a literature review, we find that most climate change effects have a wide variety of negative consequences across marine ecosystem services, though most studies have highlighted impacts from warming and consequences of marine species. Climate change is expected to negatively influence marine ecosystem services through global stressors—such as ocean warming and acidification—but also by amplifying local and regional stressors such as freshwater runoff and pollution load. Experts indicated that all SDGs would be overwhelmingly negatively affected by these climate impacts on marine ecosystem services, with eliminating hunger being among the most directly negatively affected SDG. Despite these challenges, the SDGs aiming to transform our consumption and production practices and develop clean energy systems are found to be least affected by marine climate impacts. These findings represent a strategic point of entry for countries to achieve sustainable development, given that these two goals are relatively robust to climate impacts and that they are important pre‐requisite for other SDGs. Our results suggest that climate change impacts on marine ecosystems are set to make the SDGs a moving target travelling away from us. Effective and urgent action towards sustainable development, including mitigating and adapting to climate impacts on marine systems are important to achieve the SDGs, but the longer this action stalls the more distant these goals will become. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.