The oceans are a part of the climate system and play a major role in regulating climate conditions. Changes in atmospheric conditions (temperature and weather patterns) can have a profound impact on the functioning of ocean, coastal and island ecosystems. In some cases, these impacts are already being seen, with increases in coastal flooding, storm intensity, and potentially changing current patterns. Ocean acidification, caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, poses adverse effects on calcifying species such as corals, echinoderms, crustaceans and molluscs as well as certain phytoplankton. Current evidence suggests that changes in the biogeochemistry of the marine environment over the next decades can be minimized with early and deep reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

In its 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), amid growing global concern, called urgent attention to the growing “climate divide” that exists between the developed and the developing world, that is, the brunt of the damage acting as the catalyst for global climate change has been created by the developed world but its impacts will be felt most readily by the developing world.

As the chair of the IPCC panel noted “It’s the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit… [as] people who are poor are least equipped to be able to adapt to the impacts of climate change and therefore, in some sense, this does become a global responsibility” (IPCC 2007).

Developing nations in Africa (which account for less than 3% of global carbon emissions) and Asia would be most affected and the developed wealthy nations far from the equator least affected. Asia will be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially major population centers at low elevations including: Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; Tokyo, Japan; and Dhaka, Bangladesh. The five most vulnerable countries with large populations are China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The countries most threatened when looking at largest total land area are Russia, Canada, the United States, China, and Indonesia. The impact of climate change on developing nations, especially SIDS, is significant and the implications of these potential effects range from changes in ocean chemistry and forecasted sea level rise to impacts on ecosystems and human health. The need to address these issues in the oceans community is a vital first step in combating the potentially devastating effects of climate change with specific attention to the developing world and SIDS.