:00:00. > :00:00.The BBC's Environment Analyst, Roger Harrabin, reports for Our World now
:00:00. > :00:13.on the dangers facing some of the planet's most spectacular underwater
:00:14. > :00:25.environments. These bubbles are poisoning the sea.
:00:26. > :00:28.Their carbon dioxide and as the gas dissolves in water, it makes
:00:29. > :00:34.carbonic acid `` they are carbon dioxide. This unique site off the
:00:35. > :00:50.tip of Papua New Guinea is nature's morning. These bubbles seat out
:00:51. > :00:55.volcanic vents and make the water here more naturally acidic. This
:00:56. > :01:01.gives scientists a clue as to what the world's oceans will look like as
:01:02. > :01:10.the emissions of man`made CO2 gets dissolved into seawater everywhere.
:01:11. > :01:13.There is no denial that seawater chemistry is changing and there is
:01:14. > :01:43.no way of stopping the atmospheric pollution going into the seawater.
:01:44. > :01:49.It has long been known carbon dioxide emissions are changing the
:01:50. > :02:00.climate. We are just discovering how much it is also acidifying the
:02:01. > :02:06.ocean. I have come to the southern hemisphere to see the size of the
:02:07. > :02:13.challenge that both issues present. To governments and scientists alike.
:02:14. > :02:17.Australia is in the frontline of ocean acidification and of change.
:02:18. > :02:21.The government fears that cutting the emissions of CO2 that are
:02:22. > :02:26.driving both of them because of fears for jobs in the economy. That
:02:27. > :02:33.doesn't mean that it isn't finding some of the world's fine scientific
:02:34. > :02:37.research. `` funding. The Australian economy depends on exports of the
:02:38. > :02:43.dirtiest fuel, Cole. It is thought to be worth more than $50 billion
:02:44. > :02:46.per year `` coal. Politicians realise that CO2 from fuels like
:02:47. > :02:54.coal is blamed for harming their country's climate and its oceans.
:02:55. > :02:58.Without global agreement to cut carbon dioxide, Australia, like many
:02:59. > :03:08.nations, is disinclined to leave its Colliver ground. `` coal in the
:03:09. > :03:12.ground. We have come 3000 kilometres north to Papa New Guinea. Our
:03:13. > :03:20.destination is a volcanic site which offers vital clues about the impact
:03:21. > :03:28.of increasing atmospheric CO2. I have been invited to join the
:03:29. > :03:33.expedition. It is led by Katarina FRU Brosius, a German born ecologist
:03:34. > :03:39.and she is determined to find out which creatures will be harmed by
:03:40. > :03:44.the changes to come. Seawater is already 30% less alkaline since we
:03:45. > :03:54.started burning fossil fuels in the Industrial Revolution. It is going
:03:55. > :03:57.to get much worse. The impact of acidifying oceans will be felt
:03:58. > :04:02.around the world. Especially in countries like Papa New Guinea,
:04:03. > :04:09.which depend on coral reefs for tourism and fishing. Papa New Guinea
:04:10. > :04:12.is in the middle of a mining boom. With all the pollution that that
:04:13. > :04:17.entails. People want a Western standard of living. There is a
:04:18. > :04:27.dawning awareness of the fragility of the environment. A day's sailing
:04:28. > :04:32.east Papa Guinea, we reach the remote island of Normandy. The
:04:33. > :04:37.island's volcano sits right on what is known as the Pacific Ring of
:04:38. > :04:44.Fire. The boat will be moored at this unique spot for a month. As
:04:45. > :04:50.scientists study the effects of the marine life of the CO2 bubbling from
:04:51. > :04:54.the events below. First, the scientists need permission from the
:04:55. > :05:05.villagers to carry out the research. They owned the reef under customary
:05:06. > :05:17.law. Hello. How are you? Good to see you. How are you? Do you remember
:05:18. > :05:23.Julie? The bubbles here, it is carbon dioxide. It is clean, but it
:05:24. > :05:26.is a gas in the air. Especially if Western countries burn so much fuel
:05:27. > :05:28.and coal, there is more of this gas in the air, and that goes into the
:05:29. > :05:44.ocean. Katarina is seeking lessons from
:05:45. > :05:53.this extraordinary underwater environment. These old boulder
:05:54. > :06:01.corals are tough enough to cope with the levels of acidity here. A`level
:06:02. > :06:08.that is expected worldwide by the end of the century.
:06:09. > :06:22.The team 's experiments are comparing this site with an
:06:23. > :06:35.unpolluted reef a few hundred yards away. Then mash tents captured soon
:06:36. > :06:42.clanked in `` plankton, to see how they will fare in the wall acidified
:06:43. > :06:49.water. `` more acidified. This site is absolutely unique in it is the
:06:50. > :06:52.only place where we can analyse the effects of acidification on whole
:06:53. > :06:56.ecosystems `` the only place in the world where we can analyse the
:06:57. > :07:06.effects. We can simulate the effects of ocean acidification. 's events
:07:07. > :07:10.produced extreme conditions. As the scientists move further away, they
:07:11. > :07:15.find the Essar point where acidification reaches the level
:07:16. > :07:21.expected elsewhere `` exact point. Further still, here is part of the
:07:22. > :07:26.reef that is unaffected by CO2. It is a festival of colour with the
:07:27. > :07:31.convoluted architecture that gives shelter to juvenile fish. Many of
:07:32. > :07:43.these spectacular corals cannot survive under acidified water. We
:07:44. > :07:46.are losing a lot of biodiversity. The reefs are suffering under high
:07:47. > :07:51.CO2 because they are built out of calcium carbonate, which is highly
:07:52. > :07:55.sensitive to more acidic waters. Once we lose the structure in the
:07:56. > :08:01.Coral Reef, we lose its biodiversity. Politicians have known
:08:02. > :08:07.for 20 years that they ought to cut CO2 to why do you think knowledge
:08:08. > :08:10.about ocean acidification would make them think differently? There is no
:08:11. > :08:16.denial that the seawater chemistry is changing. We are measuring it
:08:17. > :08:22.from a year`to`year basis. What is in the air is in equilibrium with
:08:23. > :08:32.the ocean. There is no way stopping the atmospheric pollution from going
:08:33. > :08:41.into the sea. People pollute the environment in so many ways. Here in
:08:42. > :08:46.Papa New Guinea, the UN is trying to raise awareness to keep local water
:08:47. > :08:58.supplies clean. Campaigners in tribal dress are helping to sell the
:08:59. > :09:03.message. Your water is your life! Even the emissions from the campaign
:09:04. > :09:15.truck contribute in a timely way to the global CO2 pollution that is
:09:16. > :09:21.harming the oceans. At the research site, another experiment is under
:09:22. > :09:28.way. They are retrieving boxes they fixed to the seabed two years ago.
:09:29. > :09:35.The boxes attract creatures seeking a home. By comparing the species at
:09:36. > :09:40.the polluted and unpolluted sites, they can gauge how increasing CO2
:09:41. > :09:53.will affect the entire oceans in the future. The experimental boxes come
:09:54. > :09:56.on shore for analysis. One of the scientific team members wants to
:09:57. > :10:03.establish how many species have taken up residence. We need to work
:10:04. > :10:08.very quickly, because a lot of the creatures are releasing toxins as we
:10:09. > :10:16.speak and those toxins are killing the creatures living in the sampling
:10:17. > :10:25.device and we are losing their DNA. Sorting the creatures by size. This
:10:26. > :10:29.crate helps us keep the organisms inside. The boxes are part of a
:10:30. > :10:38.worldwide network of counting the variety of species in the sea. We
:10:39. > :10:45.put a very fine mesh around the samplers, so that no creatures
:10:46. > :10:49.escape. It is only by studying the creatures together, in their natural
:10:50. > :10:52.environment, that researchers can really understand the effects of
:10:53. > :10:59.increasing CO2 on the whole ecosystem. There are too many things
:11:00. > :11:05.we don't control in vibratory settings and we can have their
:11:06. > :11:09.diversity we have in here. The contents of this book suggest the
:11:10. > :11:13.levels of biodiversity we might expect on reefs worldwide by the end
:11:14. > :11:20.of the century. I am extremely surprised by how poor destruction
:11:21. > :11:27.is. I am used to seeing a lot of groups, a lot of different crabs and
:11:28. > :11:31.molluscs, but here I only see a few. A day later, the team examined
:11:32. > :11:38.material from the unpredicted site. The difference is startling. Today,
:11:39. > :11:46.this trade is full of organisms. Lots of different species. `` tray.
:11:47. > :11:49.It is very diverse. All of these tiny species, they are the building
:11:50. > :11:57.blocks of the diversity of the reef. They are the base of the food
:11:58. > :12:02.chain. Some of the most humble species play a crucial role by
:12:03. > :12:10.glueing the reef together. They are in abundance here at the unpolluted
:12:11. > :12:16.site. This is covered in a lot of different organisms. We have
:12:17. > :12:22.sponges, , it is very colourful. It provides the matrix, the building
:12:23. > :12:34.blocks for other organisms to come and hide and live, basically.
:12:35. > :12:42.To work is not finished, but it is a warning about how CO2 will affect
:12:43. > :12:47.marine life, a warning that will be heard by scientists worldwide, and
:12:48. > :13:23.welcomed by the people in the front line.
:13:24. > :13:31.Australia, like other nations, is slowly waking up to ocean
:13:32. > :13:34.acidification. I have tracked the acid oceans story for nearly a
:13:35. > :13:40.decade now, but it is still largely unknown to the public. As with
:13:41. > :13:46.climate change, some of the science of acidification is very firm, but
:13:47. > :13:49.in other areas there is uncertainty. Could the risks of ocean
:13:50. > :13:53.acidification have been exaggerated? That is a question that
:13:54. > :13:58.has brought me here, to Townsville on the north`east coast of
:13:59. > :14:06.Australia. It is a major centre for Reef research. It looks like with
:14:07. > :14:11.the most difficult part is catching a fish. In one trial here, at James
:14:12. > :14:15.Cook University, a research is chasing a fish to see if acidifying
:14:16. > :14:24.the sea effects its athletic ability. It is definitely tired.
:14:25. > :14:28.This government funded university produced a controversial report last
:14:29. > :14:37.year, which was seized on by climate change sceptics. Professor Terry
:14:38. > :14:41.O'Neill revealed that some corals could still survive under more
:14:42. > :14:49.acidic conditions. Sceptics said it proved that fears for the Reef were
:14:50. > :14:53.overblown. Was this true? There is nothing in the study that has said
:14:54. > :14:59.that climate change and boson, ocean acidification is a huge problem for
:15:00. > :15:04.coral reefs, so my science was misrepresented in that sense. The
:15:05. > :15:09.study we did was to look at the mix of corals, and the result we found
:15:10. > :15:14.was surprising to us. It shows that it is very flexible, in terms of
:15:15. > :15:18.which species are abundant all rare at any particular location. Species
:15:19. > :15:23.compensate for each other, so if one becomes more abundant, another
:15:24. > :15:26.becomes less so, and the overall abundance of all the species
:15:27. > :15:29.combined is about the same everywhere. So you have the same
:15:30. > :15:34.amount of total cover of coral in the Coral Reef, why should we worry?
:15:35. > :15:42.There is good news in that there is winners as well as loses, but the
:15:43. > :15:46.most susceptible corals to global warming and ocean acidification are
:15:47. > :15:50.branching corals and table corals. They are the ones that make all the
:15:51. > :15:54.nooks and crannies that provide the habitat for fish and other
:15:55. > :15:59.creatures. So that means less fish for a hungry population? That is a
:16:00. > :16:03.likely scenario, and also because of the direct impact on the physiology
:16:04. > :16:06.of the fish themselves. It seems that more than a third of coral
:16:07. > :16:14.species May not survive the acidification. This new facility in
:16:15. > :16:19.Townsville is taking research to a higher level. It is analysing what
:16:20. > :16:26.will happen in future, when the ocean becomes more acidic, and
:16:27. > :16:31.warmer at the same time. This is a brand`new building to try to address
:16:32. > :16:35.the issue of ocean acidification. We are meeting up again with the
:16:36. > :16:41.scientist who is analysing results from the field. We still know very
:16:42. > :16:45.little of what ocean acidification actually does to different
:16:46. > :16:48.lifestages, and we can use the organisms we are keeping here, put
:16:49. > :16:53.them under controlled conditions, and then test what to richer and
:16:54. > :16:58.ocean acidification does to these organisms. What we can do is
:16:59. > :17:01.manipulate things like nutrients, sedimentation, the carbon dioxide in
:17:02. > :17:08.the water and the temperature, to try to find it in these controlled
:17:09. > :17:14.facilities. It is already clear that there is a wide variation in the way
:17:15. > :17:21.this little spec is actually a baby born. It is very sensitive to ocean
:17:22. > :17:26.acidification. It can't grow and will die in areas of high
:17:27. > :17:31.acidification. Scientists are finding more and more that a lot of
:17:32. > :17:37.species and ecosystems are likely to be highly affected by a ocean
:17:38. > :17:40.acidification. They find it very difficult to predict what is going
:17:41. > :17:46.to happen. Carbon dioxide levels are increasing very rapidly. We already
:17:47. > :17:50.have 30% more acidic water than before the industrial revolution.
:17:51. > :17:57.The predicted changes are that it will be 150% more acidic by 2050,
:17:58. > :17:59.that is not very far away. It is clear that many species won't
:18:00. > :18:07.survive increased acidity. Others will thrive. We have both corals and
:18:08. > :18:12.sponges ranging from tiny little babies right through to adults.
:18:13. > :18:16.Nicole Webster is studying the effects of CO2 and capture on
:18:17. > :18:20.sponges. Our hypothesis is that as corals declined under climate
:18:21. > :18:26.change, sponges may actually do better. This tiny animal here is a
:18:27. > :18:29.one`year`old sponge. This sponge is jampacked with tiny microscopic
:18:30. > :18:33.bacteria that actually contribute to the nutrition of the animal. What we
:18:34. > :18:37.are proposing is that these bacteria may photosynthesise more under high
:18:38. > :18:42.CO2, enabling the sponges to grow faster than Jupiter in a high CO2
:18:43. > :18:48.world. That sounds like it could be a good thing for it really depends.
:18:49. > :18:52.They essentially filter the Reef, and there is contaminants or
:18:53. > :18:54.pollution in the water, they can be very sensitive to that because they
:18:55. > :18:58.are filtering those compounds out of the water. They can also
:18:59. > :19:03.potentially, there is a huge biomass of sponges, create feeding shadows,
:19:04. > :19:07.which are areas where they have removed all the nutrients out of the
:19:08. > :19:10.water, and they wouldn't provide sufficient nutrition for other
:19:11. > :19:17.animals that live on the Reef. Basically, too many sponges could
:19:18. > :19:20.threaten the Reef. So, it is a gamble we are taking. It is
:19:21. > :19:24.impossible to gauge exactly what will happen as we change the
:19:25. > :19:29.chemistry of the world's biggest ecosystem of the oceans. The world
:19:30. > :19:36.is still struggling to reach agreement on cutting carbon dioxide
:19:37. > :19:43.emissions. Australia's previous Labour government supported a deal,
:19:44. > :19:47.and introduced a carbon tax. But the new government was elected with a
:19:48. > :19:53.mandate to cut those, and is cutting funds for climate science. CO2 is a
:19:54. > :19:57.big issue, and it is of great concern of all the governments in
:19:58. > :20:02.one way or another. But ocean acidification, being so slow, does
:20:03. > :20:07.not appear. What is much more important to our government, this
:20:08. > :20:10.particular government, is protecting coal, and pushing coal is the main
:20:11. > :20:17.form of energy. They are not interested really in alternative
:20:18. > :20:21.energy. Ian is an historian, specialising in the environment. He
:20:22. > :20:28.is an outspoken critic of the government. The dependence of coal
:20:29. > :20:31.going out to China is the core economic policy of the government at
:20:32. > :20:35.the moment. Do you see anything changing this? I think the thing
:20:36. > :20:41.that would change it would be catastrophes on one site, more
:20:42. > :20:45.extreme bushfires, cyclones and so on. The other would be the fact that
:20:46. > :20:51.very many people in the rural sector are now becoming concerned about
:20:52. > :20:55.coal fracking and the influence of that kind of mining, particularly on
:20:56. > :20:59.groundwater. So, they are starting to become resistant to the idea of
:21:00. > :21:07.driving these sorts of industrial businesses. We contacted the
:21:08. > :21:12.Australian government, but they haven't offered a comment. The new
:21:13. > :21:21.PM, Tony Abbott, has been quoted as saying, we don't know how much
:21:22. > :21:28.humans have caused climate change. Back at the research site in Papua,
:21:29. > :21:35.there is a very different perspective on what science can tell
:21:36. > :21:39.us. What I know is a scientist is, what we are recording here is pure
:21:40. > :21:44.chemistry and physics. The carbon dioxide in the air is going into the
:21:45. > :21:47.ocean and making it more acidic, because it is one chemical of carbon
:21:48. > :22:03.dioxide, one of water. It forms carbonic acid.
:22:04. > :22:12.I think we have an ethical responsibility to look after the
:22:13. > :22:16.biodiversity on earth. We have the responsibility to allow our
:22:17. > :22:23.grandchildren to see coral reefs as they are today, in their whole
:22:24. > :22:26.colour and beauty and diversity. And think it is a matter of us taking
:22:27. > :22:28.stock of what we're really doing to world, and realising it is
:22:29. > :23:04.irreversible. We have been flagging up the
:23:05. > :23:07.potential for heavy downpours were a few days now, and the detail will be
:23:08. > :23:09.quite difficult through the weekend