The World Development Report 2010 - Development and Climate Change, Chapter 3 shows that reducing overcapacity in fishing fleets and rebuilding fish stocks can both improve resilience to climate change and increase economic returns from marine capture fisheries by US$50 billion per year, while also reducing GHG emissions by fishing fleets. Consequently, removal of subsidies on fuel for fishing can have a double benefit by reducing emissions and overfishing. Investment in sustainable aquaculture can buffer water use in agriculture while producing food and diversifying economic activities. Algal biofuels also show potential as algae can produce 15-300 times more oil per acre than conventional crops, such as rapeseed, soybeans, or jatropha and marine algae do not require scarce freshwater. Programs such as the GEF-funded Coral Reef Targeted Research provide advice on building resilience and conserving coral reef ecosystems, while six Pacific countries recently gave a formal undertaking to protect the reefs in a biodiversity hotspot – the Coral Triangle. The oceans have removed 50% of the anthropogenic CO2, so the oceans have absorbed much of the impact of climate change. The famous White Cliffs of Dover illustrate how the ocean captures and buries carbon. These limestone cliffs are formed from the skeletons of marine plankton called coccoliths. Similarly, petroleum formation is attributed largely to marine and aquatic plankton further illustrating the key role of the oceans in carbon sequestration. Exactly how the oceans capture and bury CO2 is the subject of intense research by scientists worldwide, such as the Carboocean Project. The current level of GHG emissions means that ocean acidity will continue to increase and aquatic ecosystems will continue to degrade and change. There are feedback mechanisms involved here. For example, warmer waters can absorb less CO2, so as ocean temperatures rise some dissolved CO2 will be released back into the atmosphere. Warming also reduces nutrient levels in the mesopelagic zone (about 200 to 1000 m deep). This in turn limits the growth of diatoms in favour of smaller phytoplankton that are poorer biological pumps of carbon. This inhibits the ability of the ocean ecosystems to sequester carbon as the oceans warm. What is clear, is that healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems are necessary to continue the vital role of the ocean carbon sinks, as indicated, for example, by the Blue Carbon assessment prepared by UNEP and the coastal carbon sinks report of IUCN and growing evidence of the role of fish biomass in the transport of carbon from surface waters to the deep ocean. While the various carbon finance instruments include restoration of forests (REDD) and producing clean energy (emissions trading), few address the need to finance healthy ocean and aquatic ecosystems although these are essential for continued uptake of CO2 and GHGs.