Levka"The planet’s other forest crisis
The decline of California’s kelp forests since the marine heat wave of 2013-17 has seen only minor recovery despite heroic efforts at restoration carried out by scientists, fishermen, coastal tribes, volunteer divers and conservationists. Nor is the threat to kelp localized. Rather the loss, like the expansion of mega-wildfires on land from Los Angeles to Siberia and from Canada to Australia comes in response to an ever-warming world where 90% of the human-generated heat from the burning of fossil fuels is absorbed by the ocean.
Kelp forests cover some 2.8 million square miles, more area than the Amazon rain forest, and generate some $500 billion a year in value. This includes edible marine species (including many species of kelp itself), thickeners and emulsifiers used in ice cream and cosmetics, and powerful storm and coastal erosion protection, according to a 2023 report in *Nature Communications*. Photosynthesizing kelp, a form of algae, also generates more oxygen (and sequesters more carbon dioxide) than does the Amazon basin. Along with coral reefs they constitute one of the most complex and productive — if little-known — ecosystems on the planet.
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Historically, overfishing, loss of predators like sea otters, pollution and overharvesting have posed the main threat to kelp forests. Today, it’s marine heat waves. A 2026 study carried out by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 30 other institutions around the world reports the ocean absorbed more heat in 2025 than ever before. This in turn has set off a record number of marine heat waves that can increase regional water temperatures 5-10 degrees, enough to radically alter ocean conditions.
Because of this warming, these large macroalgae are facing the biggest threat to their existence since they evolved more than 32 million years ago. If they disappear, what happens to the salmon, cod, abalone, whales and more than 1,000 other creatures dependent on kelp forests? What happens to us? Neither science nor society has figured that one out."
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-02-19/kelp-forests-recovery-global-warming
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