Economist Impact – Ocean acidification – February 2nd 2023, 2:00 PM JST

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Ocean acidification will have disastrous effects to livelihoods if left unchecked–the consequences will be both ecological and economic.

Join us online for Ocean acidification: a crisis in the making, an event featuring two exciting live panel discussions and a film screening from 2:00 – 5:20pm JST.

Ocean health and climate change are inextricably linked: as CO2 becomes more concentrated in the atmosphere, it also builds up in the seas. The result, ocean acidification, will have disastrous effects to livelihoods if left unchecked. Already, coastal industries such as fishing and aquaculture are being hurt. Natural assets such as biodiversity and coral reefs are threatened.

Date: Thursday February 2nd 2023
Time: 2:00 – 5:20pm JST (1:00 – 4:20pm SGT), Online

Why join?
This event provides a rare opportunity for guests and the media to join us as we explore what ocean acidification is, what we can do to avoid its worst impacts, and how governments, business leaders and scientists can co-operate to better respond to this existential threat within Japan and around the globe.
Speakers include:
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Steve Widdicombe
Director of science
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
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Peter Thomson
Special Envoy for the Ocean
United Nations Secretary-General
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Keiji Washio
Chairman
National Fisheries University
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Malaika Vaz
Explorer and Founder, Untamed Planet
National Geographic
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Tsuneo Ono
Chief scientist of marine environment division, Fisheries Resources Institute
Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency
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Tomoyuki Yamamoto
Science journalist
Asahi Shimbun
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Masahiko Fujii
Associate professor, Faculty of Environmental Earth Science
Hokkaido University, Japan
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Yohei Sasakawa
Chairman
The Nippon Foundation
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Naka Kondo
Manager, policy and insights, Japan
Economist Impact
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Charles Goddard
Editorial director, Asia-Pacific
Economist Impact
Event schedule:
Film screening: The threat bubbling up
15 minutes
As carbon emissions change the chemistry of the seas, ocean acidification threatens marine life and human livelihoods. How worried should you be about climate change’s so-called “evil twin”?
Panel 1 – pH 7: de-acidifying our oceans
55 minutes
This expert panel will discuss the current state of ocean acidification, spell out what’s at stake for the marine ecosystem and the communities on land that depend on it, and address the challenges that we face in bringing this issue to the fore of the global agenda.
Panel 2 – Mitigating ocean acidification along the coastlines of Japan
1 hour
Much of the socio-economic life of Japan depends on the well-being of the ocean and marine ecosystems that surround the islands. However ocean acidification poses an alarming threat to these industries.

This expert panel will deep-dive into the issue of ocean acidification in Japan and provide actionable insights and policy recommendations to save our oceans and help create a sustainable future.

We hope that you will be able to join us. Should you have any questions or require further information please do not hesitate to contact us at asiaevents@economist.com.

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