Committed to protecting the environment, the Principality of Monaco has been active in efforts to combat ocean acidification for some years. The carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming are largely absorbed by the oceans, and this leads to changes in the chemistry of seawater itself – its pH falls and the oceans become more acidic.
This has a damaging impact on marine ecosystems, particularly organisms that have limestone skeletons or shells, such as corals and shellfish.
The skeletons and shells of these organisms are at risk of dissolving since seawater becomes corrosive to limestone above a certain acidity threshold.
Conscious of this threat, Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Prince Albert II Foundation have long been working to raise global awareness about this poorly understood danger.
The Second International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World was held in the Principality in 2008, at the end of which the Monaco Declaration was signed, drawing the attention of the general public and decision-makers to the issue of ocean acidification for the first time. Through this Declaration, 155 major names in marine science from 26 countries launched an appeal to world leaders on the danger posed by this phenomenon.
Monaco has since been using a variety of platforms and tools to attract attention to the problem, including the Association Monégasque pour l’Acidification des Océans (AMAO, Monaco Ocean Acidification Association), the Ocean Acidification International Reference User Group (OA-iRUG) and the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC), which is hosted and coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Principality.
In addition, the Monaco Scientific Centre has been carrying out research on the impact of ocean acidification on tropical corals for more than 20 years. In partnership with the IAEA, it has organised a workshop on the economic impact of acidification since 2010.
Based in the Principality, the IAEA’s marine laboratory has, for its part, launched an Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre. The AMAO was founded in 2013 as an initiative of the Prince Albert II Foundation. Its goals are to communicate, promote and facilitate international efforts on ocean acidification and other global stress factors affecting the marine environment.
