Heip, C.

Philippart, K.

Open Marine Archive

 - iii -
PREFACE BY THE PROJECT COORDINATORS 
Climate change has become a household word in Europe, but its consequences for the day-to-day life 
of European citizens are not yet fully appreciated, let alone are people changing their behaviour in 
anticipation of what is coming. At the political level, the EU and its member states have been actively 
engaged in developing EU policies and in negotiating the climate conventions at the global scale, but 
with limited success as the outcome of the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 has shown. One 
of the reasons for the apparent knowledge gap and the consequent public and political ignorance, 
indifference or even hostility in many countries worldwide, is that climate change operates slowly and 
erratically, at time scales that are very different from the economic and political reality, and from the 
perception of the public. Trends rather than events are what matter, but one cold winter in a particular 
country is enough to create doubt about the reality of climate change. 
 
The public and political debate on climate change heavily relies on science. This puts an immense 
responsibility on scientists and requires impartial, objective and excellent science. Things have not 
become easier since the scientific credibility of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has 
been undermined in the popular press. So-called Climate Sceptics, sometimes scientists themselves, 
are given the floor in the public debate by the media, creating confusion of the scientific point of view 
that climate change is a reality, a view that is upheld by a very large majority of serious scientists and 
by nearly all the specialists in the field. The debate on climate change therefore still needs input from 
science as one of the essential elements. 
 
The possible consequences of climate change are immense and require information and debate by the 
general public. This holds especially for the impacts of climate change on the marine environment. 
Despite the fact that the seas and oceans around Europe are vast and diverse, and form an important 
part of the European territory, most people only experience the beaches and, at best, have a 
theoretical knowledge about the fact that the climate and weather patterns in Europe are dominated by 
what happens in the ocean. Even sea-level rise, as one of the most dramatic direct consequences of 
climate change for some countries, occurs too slowly to really frighten people even in the most 
affected countries, such as the Netherlands.  
 
But the oceans are changing, and in some cases changing far more rapidly than we thought was 
possible only a decade ago. The rapidly and ever increasing CO
2
 concentrations in the atmosphere 
have warmed up at least the upper 2 km of the oceans. Subtle consequences of that are increased 
stratification, leading to diminishing productivity, and a slow but steady loss of oxygen from deeper 
waters, with devastating effects on the deeper water biota. The acidity of the oceans is increasing with 
consequences that are still largely unknown. Species are changing their distributions, in general 
moving northward everywhere, from the North Sea to the Barents Sea, from the Mediterranean to the 
Black Sea and so on. Fishermen, seals and birds alike will have to follow their favourite catches.  
 
Within the CLAMER project, a group of distinguished marine scientists was invited to summarise the 
state of knowledge on the issue, especially as based on the results of EU funded research. The EU has 
been an important international sponsor of climate research with its framework programmes, and the 
European marine science community, in particular, has contributed significantly to new knowledge and 
the discussion on climate change alike. But also in Europe, communication of these results to 
policymakers and to the general public can be improved. Only when the facts are known, can the 
implications be studied. And only with public support, can the necessary policies be designed and 
implemented. 
 
 
 
Carlo Heip 
Katja Philippart 
 


Preface by the Project Coordinators

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