Marine protected areas (MPAs) means a ban on mining or oil exploration but such zones offer no protection from climate change, Phys.org reported.
In the 2000s, four large marine protected areas were created, today, there are more than 30. In most of these reserves, even the fishing is highly restricted. The hope is that these areas will become a refuge for marine life to recover and perhaps even flourish. The marine ecology is a must in the 21st century but there is still not enough protection of nature from humans and technical progress.
According to the study, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, most marine life in Marine Protected Areas will not be able to tolerate warming ocean temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The study also estimated the year in which Marine Protected Areas in different ecoregions would cross critical thresholds beyond which most species wouldn’t be able to tolerate the change. For many areas in the tropics, this will happen as soon as the mid-21st century.
According to John Bruno, a marine biologist at the University of North Carolina,
‘What we found is that that the degree of warming is most likely to exceed the ability of most animals to survive there,” lead author of the new study.’
The study’s results were published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
“There has been a lot of talk about establishing marine reserves to buy time while we figure out how to confront climate change,”
said Rich Aronson, an ocean scientist at Florida Institute of Technology and a researcher on the study.
