• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.29 no.7
• /
• pp.740-749
• /
• 2023

The ocean plays a vital role in the international carbon cycle, absorbing human-induced atmospheric carbon and preventing further atmospheric carbon accumulation. However, while the ocean had been considered a victim of climate change, it did not receive much attention as a solution for climate change in the major agenda of UNFCCC. Recently, a growing awareness that the ocean can provide numerous potentials to handle untapped issues to address the climate crisis has arisen, which has prompted discussions to strengthen ocean-based climate action. Since 2020, UNFCCC "Ocean and climate change dialogue" has been a forum to integrate and strengthen the ocean-climate nexus. This calls for integrating ocean action into climate action and the relevant sectors. In this regard, this study examined the background and international trends of ocean-based climate action and presented the author's perspective on the scope of content that such action should pursue and the direction to achieve it. In addition, this study identified tasks of the integrated approach and advancement of co-benefit as ways to strengthen ocean-based climate action, and it suggested domestic countermeasures for the Korean marine policy on climate change based on this.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.71-87
• /
• 2023

Climate change causes ocean warming, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, dynamic coastal risk, change of ecosystem structure and function, and degradation of ecosystem services. Not only that, but it has negatively impacted the well-being of people, society, and culture, including food security, water resources, water quality, livelihood, health, welfare, infrastructure, transport, tourism, recreation, and so on, especially by particularly degrading indigenous communities and generating an inequitable distribution of benefits and costs. As pointed out here, these adverse impacts of climate change on the ocean have been emphasized at the international and national levels. In contrast, the ocean field has been neglected in the climate change conversation for too long. However, since the UNFCCC COP 25, the ocean has been drawn into the discussion as a solution to address climate change. Moreover, the U.S. Congress recently unveiled a bill called the 'Ocean-Based Climate Solution Act, OBCSA' that reflects the new paradigm of the international regime. The comprehensive legislative bill includes elements related to climate inequity, a blue economy, and a community-led bottom-up policy mechanism, which will have a significant bearing on the ocean-climate legal system. Therefore, this study reviews the OBCSA and deduces implications with regard to the ocean-climate legal system in Korea.