Explaining Ocean Warming Report, IUCN : Environment for UPSC Exams
Explaining Ocean Warming Report, IUCN : Environment for UPSC Exams
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About IUCN:
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IUCN was founded in October 1948 as the International Union for the Protection of Nature (or IUPN) following an international conference in, France.
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It was renamed as International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1956 with the acronym IUCN.
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It is the world’s first global environmental organization. Today it is the largest professional global conservation network.
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The Union’s Head quarter is located near Geneva, in Switzerland.
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It demonstrates how biodiversity is fundamental to addressing some of the world’s greatest challenges such as climate change, sustainable development and food security.
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As per its report “Explaining Ocean Warming”, Global warming is making the oceans sicker than ever before, spreading disease among animals and humans and threatening food security across the planet.
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The world’s waters have absorbed more than 93 per cent of the enhanced heating from climate change since the 1970s, curbing the heat felt on land but drastically altering the rhythm of life in the ocean.
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The study documents evidence of jellyfish, seabirds and plankton shifting toward the cooler poles by up to 10 degrees latitude.
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The movement in the marine environment is 1.5 to 5 times as fast as anything on the ground and further even seasons in the ocean are changing.
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The higher temperatures will probably change the sex ratio of turtles in the future because females are more likely to be born in warmer temperatures.
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Pathogens such as cholera-bearing bacteria and toxic algal blooms that can cause neurological illnesses spread more easily in warm water, with direct impact on human health.
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The hotter oceans have killed off coral reefs at an unprecedented rate, reducing fish species by eliminating their habitats with implication for food security.
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In Southeast Asia, harvests from marine fisheries are expected to fall by between 10 per cent and 30 per cent by 2050 relative to 1970-2000, as the distributions of fish species shift.