About the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme

Widespread concerns about ocean acidification emerged after the Royal Society Report "Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric CO₂'‘ in 2005. Research at that time was limited to a few individuals but since then numerous national and international organisations have called for increased research effort into this emerging science area.

The £12M, 5 year UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme (UKOA) is the UK’s response and is jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The programme aims to:

• Reduce uncertainties in predictions of carbonate chemistry changes and their effects on marine biogeochemistry, ecosystems and other components of the Earth System
• Understand the responses to ocean acidification, and other climate change related stressors, by marine organisms, biodiversity and ecosystems and to improve understanding of their resistance or susceptibility to acidification
• Provide data and effective advice to policy makers and managers of marine bioresources on the potential size and timescale of risks, to allow for development of appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The outputs of this programme will include:

• Feed into the cross-government Climate Change Adaptation programme
• Make a significant contribution to the Living With Environmental Change programme
• Provide evidence to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report on Climate Change
• Provide information to marine bioresource managers, policy makers negotiating CO₂ emissions reduction and other stakeholders