OSPAR’s OARS Commitment on Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

Using evidence from the 2023 Quality Status Reports on Climate Change and Ocean Acidification and on the work of the Working Group Changing Ocean Climate and Ocean Acidification, OSPAR commits to:

a) further develop its regional monitoring and assessment programmes on ocean acidification and will consider regional ocean climate monitoring;

b) explore the feasibility of developing a set of biological indicators of impact of climate change and ocean acidification at a regional scale to support evidenced-based policy and inform frameworks such as the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive;

c) explore the potential to produce maps of cumulative risk of change in ocean acidification and climate change variables under future scenarios to inform recommendations and actions by OSPAR, in particular those groups working on protecting or restoring habitats or establishing marine protected areas.