Home | Webinars | OceanICU – Webinar 7 – Impacts of the green transition and food security on the ocean’s role in climate

OceanICU Webinar: COP29 - Virtual Ocean Pavillion: "The Ocean Carbon Cycle: Bridging science, policy development and concrete action"

The Ocean carbon cycle plays a crucial role in regulating the global climate, taking up approximately 25% of the CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere and separately storing massive quantities of carbon in the Ocean interior, much of it via a series of processes known as the biological carbon pump. The ocean carbon cycle thereby increases the ocean’s ability to reduce atmospheric carbon. While recent evidence indicate that terrestrial carbon sinks appear to absorb less carbon than previously assumed, the potential of the oceans remain largely unexplored and untapped, as it so far has not been considered in management. As international law and policy is evolving, this may however be about to change. 

This online seminar hosted by the EU Horizon Project OceanICU discusses the ocean carbon cycle from different perspectives. Integrating presentations on recent scientific findings with perspectives on how ocean carbon should be considered in policy and how it connects to the UNFCCC as well as the new global oceans agreement (BBNJ), it aims to promote a more focused discussion on ocean carbon in climate negotiations.

Niels Krabbe – MODERATOR

Dr. Niels Krabbe is a researcher in the law of the sea and policy adviser, particularly interested in ocean governance, focusing on the intersection of biodiversity and climate regulation. His written production includes research on the regulatory implications of promoting ocean carbon and the recently published Hart anthology, Marine Bioprospecting, Biodiversity and Novel Uses of Ocean Resources New Approaches in International Law. Apart from his research and regular lecturing, he has extensive experience with working with law of the sea policy. As deputy director with the Department for International Law at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden he was lead on oceans negotiations during Sweden’s EU Presidency in 2023 and led the EU council during the final negotiations of the new UN oceans agreement (BBNJ). He has been co-chair of the EU working party on the law of the sea (COMAR) and has been commissioned as an expert in BBNJ ratification processes by several states.

PANELLISTS

Richard Sanders

Dr. Richard Sanders is the Director of the ICOS Ocean Thematic Centre in Bergen Norway, a key component of the ICOS research infrastructure. Prior to his move to Bergen in 2019, he was the chair of the Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems Research group in NOC Southampton. He is the coordinator of the Horizon Europe project OceanICU, focused on understanding Industrial impacts on the ocean C cycle and TRICUSO (Three Research Infrastructures, Carbon Uptake Southern Ocean) project, which aims to integrate efforts from multiple platforms together to better measure ocean C uptake in the Southern Ocean.

Rachel Tiller 

Dr. Rachel Tiller is a Chief Scientist at SINTEF Ocean with special responsibility for research on sustainable multi-level Ocean governance and global environmental politics. She is also the Director of the strategic research area of Biodiversity and Area Use in SINTEF. Her expertise is in inter and transdisciplinary global environmental politics from the high seas to land-sea interactions in coastal regions at all levels of governance analysis, from local stakeholder participatory perceptions to global governance frameworks and agreements – and synergies and compatibilities of these with one another. She has worked on the biological carbon pump from an interdisciplinary, multi-level governance and stakeholder co-production of knowledge perspective in two EU projects – the FP7 project Ocean Certain (2013-2017) and the Horizon2020 project SUMMER (2019-2024).

Fuad Bateh

Mr. Fuad Bateh consults for a variety of organisations and institutions working in development, law and negotiations related to environment and natural resources. On behalf of the State of Palestine as 2019 Chair of the Group of 77 & China, he coordinated the positions of the Group and led negotiations at the Intergovernmental Conference to elaborate an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction under the UNCLOS framework (BBNJ). Support to the State of Palestine continued throughout the BBNJ intergovernmental negotiations process expanding to also respond to a request from Pakistan to join the 2022 G77 & China Chair ́s BBNJ team in coordination and negotiation of the group ́s positions. Previously, Mr. Bateh served as the Water Governance and Infrastructure Advisor to the Office of the Quartet (Jerusalem); Advisor on Environment and Water to the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat; Advisor to the Palestinian Minister of Water working on water sector development and reform, as well as resource mobilisation; Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Chief Negotiator and negotiations team; and also legal consultant for the International and Environmental Law unit of the World Bank. He started his legal career in the area of project finance in Washington, DC.

Karen Stone

Ms. Karen Stone is the Director of the Vava’u Environmental Protection Association (VEPA) in Tonga. She leads a local community based conservation organisation that implements ocean and terrestrial programs to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change and habitat destruction including community based fisheries, marine spatial planning, awareness campaigns and research initiatives to ensure healthy and productive ocean habitats.

Emma Cavan

Dr. Emma Cavan is a Senior Lecturer in Ocean biogeochemistry and ecology at Imperial College London. She has spent over 10 years researching how carbon is sequestered through the biological pump, and how human pressures work to impact this carbon sink. She is part of many UK and internationally funded projects on all aspects of the biological carbon pump, but has a particular interest in the Southern Ocean, Antarctic krill and fishing. Emma co-chairs the ICES working group WKFISHCARBON, bringing together international experts to address the impact of fishing on the biological carbon pump.

Natalya Gallo

Dr. Natalya Gallo is a marine ecologist and biological oceanographer working at the Norwegian Research Centre as part of the Horizon EU OceanICU and Marco-Bolo projects. Her overarching interests are in how climate change impacts deep sea ecosystems and how scientific research can support sustainable ocean management and development. She is passionate about the science-policy interface and has participated in eight climate- and ocean-focused United Nations Conferences. She is involved in the Early Career Ocean Professionals group of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the IOC-UNESCO Global Ocean Oxygen Network, and the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative. She is also on the advisory council for the Norway-Pacific Ocean-Climate Scholarship Programme, an interdisciplinary PhD programme between the University of Bergen and the University of the South Pacific.

Questions from the Audience

Answered by Matthias Haeckel

These types of experiments will be more challenging to conduct.  A solution could be Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) could be deployed to collect information at different water depths. This would allow for research to be conducted in three dimensions compared to the current work being done in two dimensions with equipment that is confined to the seafloor. .

Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) the deep sea exploratory division of the Deme Group, is aiming at testing their next collector stage around 2027, which will include a riser system to transport the nodules to the surface and re-inject the wastewater stream. We hope to be at the site to do the monitoring when this test happens.

 We have elevated particle concentrations, leading to flocculation and increased sinking of particles and scavenging of natural particles from the water column. Therefore, I would expect that we get an increased export of organic and inorganic matter to the seafloor with the re-injection of a wastewater stream.

It is critical to regulate at which water depth the re-injection of this wastewater stream is allowed to take place. If the re-injection of waste water is done in the surface waters, where we have most phytoplankton and zooplankton, we can expect that the impacts –at least on a regional scale— will probably be severe. However, if the re-injection takes place below two or three km deep, the impact on the carbon cycle process will be much smaller. This is because typically 98% of the organic carbon has already been re-mineralized by the time it reaches depths of two to three km.

In terms of the particle concentrations we measured, those in the far field were still significantly higher than the background concentrations—about 10 to 100 times higher— reaching several hundred micrograms per litre. However, we don’t know whether this has a significant impact. These findings align with sediment plume dispersion modelling research conducted in studies 20 to 30 years ago, which predicted that around 95% of the particles would settle within a few hundred metres, leaving approximately 5% in suspension for a period of weeks, months, or possibly even years. What we observed was a limited mixing of this sediment plume with the surrounding bottom waters within distances of a few kilometres. These results were surprising and suggest that these high particle concentrations behave as a dense gravity flow and remain relatively distinct from the surrounding water mass.

The release of the metals into the water column was a surprising result in our study. What remains unclear is the duration for which these metals persist in dissolved form. It’s important to note that dissolved metals generally exhibit a higher toxicity compared to solid metals, as demonstrated in ecotoxicity studies. Investigating the time frame during which these metals remain in their dissolved state and in situ ecotoxicity studies on deep-sea fauna are the critical next steps.

Further research into ecotoxicity is imperative, but it presents significant challenges. Successful transfers of live deep-sea fauna to the surface have not been achieved due to the depressurization effects that the fauna does not survive, making it essential to conduct ecotoxicity studies directly in the deep ocean. Existing experiments on the impacts of polymetallic nodule mining have largely focused on shallow water species, which are often used to higher metal concentrations in their natural environment, leaving uncertainty about the applicability of these findings to deep-water organisms. Therefore, understanding the ecotoxic effects of deep-sea mining requires dedicated research conducted in situ, where deep-sea organisms naturally reside.

Another critical area requiring further research involves understanding of the species connectivity in deep-sea ecosystems. Will disturbances caused by nodule mining result in the separation of populations, thereby disrupting genetic connectivity between different populations? We do know that species exhibit connectivity over vast distances, spanning thousands of kilometres across the entire Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), and for some species, this connectivity extends across the entire Pacific Ocean. The potential consequences of deep-sea mining on this species connectivity remain largely unknown, but are critical for assessing far-reaching and long-term consequences of deep-sea mining.

Furthermore, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem dynamics in the deep sea, particularly regarding the food web and the connections between the benthic and pelagic systems. Many questions remain unanswered in terms of how these interactions and relationships function.

The particle size range in the plume in the Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSM) area that was observed with a particle camera was 61-313 micrometres (D25-D75 range), the smallest detected particles were 15 micrometres (Gazis et al., accepted, Nature Communications).  Grain size analyses of sampled plume material are still ongoing.

In addition to the answer to Q6, it is also important to establish threshold values of suspended particle concentrations and thickness of depositional blanketing impacting the pelagic and benthic fauna and the ecosystem functioning.

Our recommendation is to only permit injection of the waste discharge at the seafloor – as scientists have suggested already 25 years ago. Injection into the upper 1000-1500 m should certainly be forbidden.

 I do not know if the industry is looking into this. There have been lab experiments on flocculation in general and in the context of deep-sea mining. Colleagues at BGR (Geological Survey of Germany) have studied how adding carbonates (they are known to do this) increase flocculation of suspended Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ)  sediment in the lab. However, the additional environmental impacts of adding flocculants to the suspended plume can also create other environmental impacts (e.g. toxic effects) and legally this may possibly fall under dumping (for the waste discharge). The heated debate on adding dispersants into oil spills may be a helpful example in this discussion.

The Metals Company is conducting research in the area directly adjacent to the BGR (Geological Survey of Germany) contract area. I have watched one or two of their webinars but the information they have provided is limited. I’m looking forward to more detailed information to be able to compare my findings with theirs.

This depends on the location of the mining operation. For the Solwara project In Papua New Guinea impacts on fishing and tourism was debated. In The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) fishing may be impacted – Van der Grient and Drazen published a paper on this issue last year.

For mining of polymetallic nodules (containing oxidized metal species) this may be the case, but for seafloor massive sulphides (containing reduced metals) this is likely different. In addition, we also need to consider cumulative impacts from both (and additional) effects. Overall, we need to establish the ecotoxicity in situ as discussed earlier (see answers to Q5 and Q6).

Answered by Richard Sanders

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