VOICE: The oceans are the Earth’s single largest absorbers of
carbon dioxide. But they are being overloaded by humans’ CO2
emissions. The result: acidification, with catastrophic
consequences. Yves Paccalet - Renowned French writer,
philosopher and environmentalist (M): If the acidification of
the ocean continues as it is now, then these so-called major
carbon sinks will no longer be able to play their role, and
therefore, everything goes faster. Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright –
Assistant Director-General, UNESCO Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (F): What’s happening with this
absorption of carbon dioxide is #1, the ocean is becoming
saturated, and #2, the ocean is becoming more acid. This has an
enormous impact. Professor Jean-Pierre Gattuso – Oceanographer,
National Centre for Scientific Research, France (M): And those
changes which occurred in the past were very slow, so there was
a lot of time and scope for the organisms to adapt, to evolve to
those changing conditions. And now we are changing in almos