Abstract
Ocean acidification is a major threat to marine ecosystems. It is caused by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic emissions and has socio-ecological and socio-economic ramifications for many countries. However, in some critical areas like the Philippines, a known center of marine biodiversity, no legislation currently exists to manage it. This could be due to lack of understanding of the problem, conflicting priorities, or difficulties in implementation common to many developing countries. We consider a possible incremental pathway for the mitigation of ocean acidification impacts on Philippine marine ecosystems using existing laws on marine pollution. This could complement longer term efforts to formalize legislation and institutionalize efforts to address its effects in the country. The approach may possibly be applied in other areas where no specific legislation exists to address crucial environmental problems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Data Availability
pH and aragonite saturation state data presented here were derived from models described in van Hooidonk e al. (2014).
References
Albright R, Caldeira L, Hosfelt J, Kwiatkowski L, Maclaren JK et al (2016) Reversal of ocean acidification enhances net coral reef calcification. Nature 531(7594):362–3655. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17155
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (2020) Philippine fisheries profile – 2019. Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. https://www.bfar.da.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Philippine-Fisheries-Profile-2019.pdf. Accessed 10 Aug 2022
Cabral H, Fonseca V, Sousa T, Costa Leal M (2019) Synergistic effects of climate change and marine pollution: an overlooked interaction in coastal and estuarine areas. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16(15):2737. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152737
Caldeira K, Wickett ME (2003) Anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH. Nature 425(6956):365. https://doi.org/10.1038/425365a
Clean Water Act (2004). Republic Act No. 9275 (Phil.). https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2004/03/22/republic-act-no-9275/. Accessed 22 July 2022
Climate Change Commission (2011) Philippines National Climate Change Action Plan 2011–2028. Climate Change Commission. climate.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/NCCAP-1.pdf. Accessed 10 Aug 2022
Climate Change Commission (2020) Climate Change Commission 2020 accomplishment report. Climate Change Commission. https://climate.gov.ph/knowledge/knowledge-products/annual-reports/ccc-accomplishment-reports, Accessed 12 Aug 2022
Doney SC, Busch DS, Cooley SR, Kroeker KJ (2020) The impacts of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and reliant human communities. Annu Rev Environ Resour 45(1):83–112. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083019
Ekstrom JA, Suatoni L, Cooley SR, Pendleton LH, Waldbusser GG et al (2015) Vulnerability and adaptation of US shellfisheries to ocean acidification. Nat Clim Change 5(3):207–214. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2508
Enochs IC, Manzello DP, Kolodziej G, Noonan SH, Valentino L et al (2016) Enhanced macroboring and depressed calcification drive net dissolution at high-CO2 coral reefs. Proc. Royal Soc. B-Biol Sci 283(1842):20161742. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1742
Falkenberg LJ, Bellerby RG, Connell SD, Fleming LE, Maycock B et al (2020) Ocean acidification and human health. Int J Env Res Pub He 17(12):4563. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124563
Fisheries Code (1998) Rep. Act 8550 (Phil.). https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1998/02/25/republic-act-no-8550/. Accessed 2 Aug 2022
Garcia-Soto C, Cheng L, Caesar L, Schmidtko S, Jewett EB et al (2021) An overview of ocean climate change indicators: sea surface temperature, ocean heat content, ocean pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, Arctic Sea ice extent, thickness and volume, sea level and strength of the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation). Front Mar Sci 8:642372. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.642372
Harrould-Kolieb ER (2020) Framing ocean acidification to mobilise action under multilateral environmental agreements. Environ Sci Policy 104:129–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.10.019
Hassellöv IM, Turner DR, Lauer A, Corbett JJ (2013) Shipping contributes to ocean acidification. Geophysical Research Letters. Geophys Res Lett 40(11):2731–2736. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50521
Insinga ML, Needham MD, Swearingen TC (2022) Public emotions and cognitions in response to ocean acidification. Ocean Coast Manag 221:106104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2022.106104
IPCC (2013) Summary for policymakers. In: Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V,Midgley PM (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY
IPCC (2022) Climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner H-O, Roberts DC, Tignor M, Poloczanska ES, Mintenbeck K et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157926
Jiang LQ, Carter BR, Feely RA, Lauvset SK, Olsen A (2019) Surface ocean pH and buffer capacity: past, present and future. Sci Rep 9(1):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55039-4
Kemp R, Schot J, Hoogma R (1998) Regime shifts to sustainability through processes of niche formation: the approach of strategic niche management. Technol Anal Strateg Manag 10(2):175–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537329808524310
Kline DI, Teneva L, Okamoto DK, Schneider K, Caldeira K et al (2019) Living coral tissue slows skeletal dissolution related to ocean acidification. Nat Ecol Evol 3(10):1438–1444. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0988-x
Kroeker KJ, Kordas RL, Crim RN, Singh GG (2010) Meta-analysis reveals negative yet variable effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms. Ecol Lett 13(11):1419–1434. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01518.x
Lagumen MCT (2017) Spatial and temporal variability of carbonate parameters in Bolinao-Anda, Pangasinan. Thesis, University of the Philippines. https://philjournalsci.dost.gov.ph/53-vol-146-no-2-june-2017/640-initial-findings-of-the-nationwide-assessment-of-philippine-coral-reefs
Licuanan AM, Reyes MZ, Luzon KS, Chan MAA, Licuanan WY (2017) Initial findings of the nationwide assessment of Philippine coral reefs. Philipp J Sci 146(2):177–185
Marine Pollution Decree (1974) Presidential Decree No. 600 (Phil.). https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1974/12/09/presidential-decree-no-600-s-1974/. Accessed 10 July 2022
National Integrated Climate Change Database Information and Exchange System (2021) Philippines Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/NDC/2022-06/Philippines%20-%20NDC.pdf. Accessed 25 Jun 2023
Palomares MLD, Parducho VA, Bimbao M, Ocampo E, Pauly D (2010) Philippine marine fisheries 1011. Fish Centre Res Rep 22(8):1
Philippine Department of Energy (2022) 2021 Power statistics summary – Philippines. Philippine Department of Energy. https://www.doe.gov.ph/sites/default/files/pdf/electric_power/2020_power_statistic_01_summary.pdf. Accessed 20 Aug 2022
Philippine Statistics Authority (2020) Share of tourism to GDP is 12.7 percent in 2019. https://psa.gov.ph/content/share-tourism-gdp-127-percent-2019. Accessed 12 Apr 2023
Philippine Statistics Authority (2021) Ocean-based industries declined by -32.6 percent, accounted for 3.4 percent of GDP in 2020. https://psa.gov.ph/ocean-economy/release-id/165528. Accessed 21 Jul 2022
Ritchie H, Rosen M, Rosado P (2020) CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions. Accessed 26 Jul 2022
Rola AC, Pulhin JM, Tabios GQ, Lizada JC, Dayo MH (2015) Challenges of water governance in the Philippines. Philipp J Sci 144(2):197–208
Romera-Castillo C, Lucas A, Mallenco-Fornies R, Briones-Rizo M, Calvo E et al (2023) Abiotic plastic leaching contributes to ocean acidification. Sci Total Environ 854:158683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158683
Suh D, Pomeroy R (2020) Projected economic impact of climate change on marine capture fisheries in the Philippines. Front Mar Sci 7:232. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00232
Talmage SC, Gobler CJ (2010) Effects of past, present, and future ocean carbon dioxide concentrations on the growth and survival of larval shellfish. PNAS 107(40):17246–17251. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913804107
Tiller R, Arenas F, Galdies C, Leitão F, Malej A et al (2019) Who cares about ocean acidification in the Plasticene? Ocean Coast Manag 174:170–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.03.020
Townhill BL, Artioli Y, Pinnegar JK, Birchenough SNR (2022) Exposure of commercially exploited shellfish to changing pH levels: how to scale-up experimental evidence to regional impacts. ICES J Mar Sci 79(9):2362–2372. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac177
van Hooidonk R, Maynard JA, Manzello D, Planes S (2014) Opposite latitudinal gradients in projected ocean acidification and bleaching impacts on coral reefs. GlobChange Biol 20(1):103–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12394
Wallace RB, Baumann H, Grear JS, Aller RC, Gobler CJ (2014) Coastal ocean acidification: the other eutrophication problem. Estuar Coast Shelf Scin 148:1–3. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152737
Zeng X, Chen X, Zhuang J (2015) The positive relationship between ocean acidification and pollution. Mar Pollut Bull 91(1):14–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.12.001
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modelling, and thank the climate modeling groups for making available their CMIP5 model output. The US Department of Energy’s Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison supports CMIP and led development of software infrastructure in partnership with the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals. We also thank Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan for coral reef coordinates from Project 1 of the National Assessment of Coral Reef Environments (Project Code QSR-MR-COR03.001). Dr. van Hooidonk’s research was carried out in part under the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies of the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), cooperative agreement NA 20OAR4320472.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Wolfgang Cramer
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reyes, M., Pavia, R. & van Hooidonk, R. Ocean acidification in the Philippines and the potential role of water pollution management in mitigating an unaddressed threat. Reg Environ Change 23, 107 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02102-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02102-6