Why is ocean acidification still a problem?
"There is still the equipment and the desire. We are still analysing samples on an ad hoc basis; it is just that the underpinning funding is not there."
- Dr. Alex Poulton, during a consultation with the UK government on ocean acidification
- Dr. Alex Poulton, during a consultation with the UK government on ocean acidification
Ocean acidification has a number of stakeholders, such as people working in the seafood industry or other industries involving marine life. However, governments are not significant stakeholders of ocean acidification. Why? Ocean acidification does not have a significant impact on most industries unrelated to marine life, which causes its overall economic impact to be quite low; this makes governments not a significant stakeholder of this issue.
With governments not being significant stakeholders of this issue, they often end up prioritizing resolving other issues; meanwhile, the stakeholders of this issue lack the power needed to solve the issue. Therefore, the balance of power in society hinders the establishment of change needed to resolve this issue. |
Governments do recognize the problem of ocean acidification, and they are making some efforts to resolve it, such as the 2016 Our Ocean Conference shown above. However, because of its small economic impact, it is generally overshadowed by other issues.
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