Oceans hit by climate change
A KwaZulu-Natal scientist says oceans and seas across the world are bearing the brunt of climate change.
David Pearton from the Oceanographic Research Institute and based at uShaka Marine World in Durban has been speaking to Newswatch as South Africans mark National Marine Week.
Pearton says coral reefs could be turned into grey lifeless structures due to coral bleaching.
He says oceans have been operating as a buffer between ourselves and the full impact of climate change by absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide.
"We're saturating the oceans' buffering capacity. In the very near future we're going to get an acceleration of the effect of climate change. We need to preserve, try and mitigate the effect from the ocean because it's not an infinite dump," he said.
(File photo)