Scientists urge the world community to take measures to restore the global population of whales. According to the Russian Geographical Society, this will may help tackle the greenhouse gases problem.
According to experts, each whale is able to bind huge amounts of carbon dioxide and remove them from the atmosphere. In the course of research it was found that a large whale is able to bind about 30 tons of carbon dioxide. This mass is completely removed from circulation after the death of the animal.
In addition, scientists note that whales stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, thereby saturating the water with waste rich in nitrogen and iron. Researchers are sure: if to increase the biomass of phytoplankton even by one percent, this will allow people to record additional hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide. These figures are equivalent to planting 2 billion trees. In addition, according to the authors of the study, the total economic contribution of each whale to the global economy may be more than $ 2 million.
Environmentalists urge the world community to take measures to restore the global cetacean populations. According to experts, during the twentieth century the number of blue whales decreased by 99 percent. Today, the number of these animals amounts to 1.3 million individuals. Researchers believe that in order to prevent the threat of global warming the number of cetaceans should reach the level at which it was before the era of mass whaling and reach 4-5 million individuals.
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