Strengthening of the Argentine National Observing System for Ocean Acidification. Implementation of the Marine-Coastal Stressors Research Network in Latin American and the Caribbean (REMARCO) into the Pampa Azul Initiative

LOMOVASKY BETINA J.; ANA PAULA OSIROFF; LUCÍA CAROLINA KAHL; SALA JUAN EMILIO; VERA CAROLINA

Lima

Simposio; 5TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE OCEAN IN A HIGH CO2 WORLD; 2022

Studies of ocean acidification should be approached from an integrative perspective between observations of the evolution of this stressor, together with the impacts that it could have on coastal-marine ecosystems and how they affect different ecosystem services. In this context, policies at the national level should be addressed and agreed upon by decision makers in order to implement observation and research systems that are sustained in the long term. Since the incorporation of Argentina in 2020 to the Regional Observatory of Ocean Acidification formed by 18 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean as part of the actions carried out by the MarineCoastal Stressors Research Network, REMARCO, the implementation of the topic at national level is being worked on as one of the horizontal priority areas to be developed within the National Strategic Plan of Marine Sciences. Argentina has proposed the need to strengthen the capacities of the scientific-technological system to contribute to public policies related to the sea, which is implemented under the “Pampa Azul Initiative”. That is, an inter-ministerial and inter-institutional program which, among other activities, promotes a systematic approach for the definition and implementation of a national observation system, that allows the development of a continuous monitoring of the conditions of the oceanic environment, including the coasts and transition zones. In this context, REMARCO is integrated into the Pampa Azul Initiative, in order to convey the OA studies in the country, allowing the transfer of training and capacity building of local researchers for the measurement of these variables received by the international network, to other institutions in Argentina, thus increasing national capacities to respond to SDG 14.3. In this way, through REMARCO Argentina, the permanent environmental monitoring stations of the carbonate system and pH in marine-coastal zones are increased, as well as the incorporation of data from the carbonate system from oceanographic vessel campaigns in the Continental Shelf that all will provide information on the indicator of SDG 14.3.1, as well as the basis for the implementation and integration with studies on key organisms of commercial importance and/or community structuring.