The oceans have to face multiple threats, such as overfishing, coral bleaching, acidification and hypoxia, as never before. Waiting for the Rio+20 conference, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has just released the preview summary of Valuing the Ocean, a new preliminary study to inform about climate change and its related threats to our oceans. The full study will be published as a peer – reviewed book later this year. The study aims to promote a new approach to ocean governance, and new ways of understanding the ocean and the threats it faces, as a greater recognition of the value of the services it bestows.

The scientists in particular used a high- and a low-emissions scenario to make their evaluations and focused on five different topics (fisheries, sea – level rise, storms, tourism, the ocean carbon – sink) to assess the monetary costs of climate change.

Photo by  USFWS Pacific