The Future of Conservation in Polynesia

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Ehrlich ◽  
H. F. Recher

Polynesia is a part of the world where tourism, especially focused on rich coral reefs, is an important part of the economy. But from the viewpoint of both tourism and conservation biology, it is one of the most threatened areas of the world. Here the ethical issues are somewhat different. How long can this dependence continue and at what cost? What is the ethical planning course for the Region?s national governments, not just in Polynesia, but throughout the Pacific? Like the general activities on the islands, tourism is heavily dependent on petroleum, both for bringing tourists and supplies and for maintaining them. Thus, the very industry that contributes so importantly to Polynesia?s economic viability also contributes significantly to human-induced global warming. As a region, Polynesia is particularly threatened by the accelerating impacts of global warming. Virtually all the islands are threatened by sea level rise, the atolls by inundation, and the high islands by flooding of infrastructure that is concentrated in low coastal areas. There are also the risks of increased and more intense tropical storms, as well as the risks to ocean ecosystems from rising temperatures and the increased acidification of ocean waters.

Author(s):  
Cheryl Colopy

From a remote outpost of global warming, a summons crackles over a two-way radio several times a week: . . . Kathmandu, Tsho Rolpa! Babar Mahal, Tsho Rolpa! Kathmandu, Tsho Rolpa! Babar Mahal, Tsho Rolpa! . . . In a little brick building on the lip of a frigid gray lake fifteen thousand feet above sea level, Ram Bahadur Khadka tries to rouse someone at Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in the Babar Mahal district of Kathmandu far below. When he finally succeeds and a voice crackles back to him, he reads off a series of measurements: lake levels, amounts of precipitation. A father and a farmer, Ram Bahadur is up here at this frigid outpost because the world is getting warmer. He and two colleagues rotate duty; usually two of them live here at any given time, in unkempt bachelor quarters near the roof of the world. Mount Everest is three valleys to the east, only about twenty miles as the crow flies. The Tibetan plateau is just over the mountains to the north. The men stay for four months at a stretch before walking down several days to reach a road and board a bus to go home and visit their families. For the past six years each has received five thousand rupees per month from the government—about $70—for his labors. The cold, murky lake some fifty yards away from the post used to be solid ice. Called Tsho Rolpa, it’s at the bottom of the Trakarding Glacier on the border between Tibet and Nepal. The Trakarding has been receding since at least 1960, leaving the lake at its foot. It’s retreating about 200 feet each year. Tsho Rolpa was once just a pond atop the glacier. Now it’s half a kilometer wide and three and a half kilometers long; upward of a hundred million cubic meters of icy water are trapped behind a heap of rock the glacier deposited as it flowed down and then retreated. The Netherlands helped Nepal carve out a trench through that heap of rock to allow some of the lake’s water to drain into the Rolwaling River.


Author(s):  
Henry Yonanda ◽  
Rudy Trisno

Millennials have been touted as the generation that will do something about global warming. Conversely, some social scientists studying generational differences have found evidence that younger generations are less likely to engage in civic matters like environmental activism. Lack of civic engagement among Millennials may reduce their likelihood of engaging in collective action on global warming. On the other hand, the world is drastically changing. Within the recent years, climate change has become a growing concern worldwide. The various modes of destruction imposed on the environment are targeted to be the catalyst to these changes. According to climate scientists, sea level rise is one of the most important impacts of global climate change. Fishermen as one of the professions that depend their life on the sea, is affected so much by this condition. This condition might destroy their houses on the coastal area. Urban Kampong in Jakarta as the most dense human settlements in urban area has become one of the main economic generator for a city. With all the contradict characteristics and forms, urban kampongs are the part of the city that cannot be separated from one to another. The existence of kampong has become the main embryo of the development of Jakarta. Jakarta is one of the biggest coastal city in the world. The coastline of this city has become the main economic generator for the coty and the nations. The existence of fishermen’s kampong in Jakarta has also become an essential program for the city, in order to fullfill the needs of fresh catch of sea products. Therefore, The project is aimed to create a sustainable and adaptive coastal kampong community, that has the resilience to the rising sea level. By concerning on the kampong’s behaviour, and doing research of the typological transformation of the kampong, the design is also expected to serve as an archetype fot the future development of endagered coastal settlements all across the country. several sustainable approach and behaviourial approach are also injected in this project to create a contextual design that would help the kampong to grow, and adapt to all the conditions, and situation in the future. AbstrakGenerasi milenial dianggap sebagai generasi yang akan melakukan perubahan nyata terkait dengan pemanasan global. Akan tetapi, beberapa studi pun menunjukan bukti bahwa generasi millenial justru memiliki kesadaran serta kepekaan yang tidak lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan generas-generasi sebelumnya. Pada satu sisi, bumi kian melakukan perubahan yang begitu derastis. Berbagai macam kerusakan pun terjadi dalam berbagai jenis yang menjadi generator dari perubahan iklim yang drastis ini. Nelayan sebagai salah satu profesi yang menggantungkan nasibnya pada lautan, kian terganggu dengan kondisi ini. Hal ini menyebabkan kerusakan pada rumah-rumah di kawasan pesisir pantai. Kampung kota di Jakarta, sebagai permukiman terpadat di daerah urban menjadi salah satu kenerator utama pada suatu kota. Dengan segala karakteristiknya yang berbanding terbalik dengan perkotaan, kampung kota merupakan bagian yang tidak dapat dipisahkan dari suatu kota. Eksistensi suatu kampung telah menjadi embrio dari perkembangan kota Jakarta. Jakarta merupakan salah satu kota pesisir terbesar di dunia. Daerah pesisir dari kota ini telah menjadi generator ekonomi utama dari kota itu sendiri dan juga nasional. Keberadaan kampung nelayan di Jakarta pun menjadi salah satu program penting yang perlu mendapatkan perhatian. Maka dari itu, proyek ini bertujuan untuk menciptakan suatu komunitas kampung pesisir yang berkelanjutan, adaptif serta memiliki ketahanan terhadap kenaikan permukaan air laut yang terjadi. Metode perancangan pada proyek ini dibagi menjadi 2 bagian utama yaitu analisis mikro yang membahas mengenai tipe dan perilaku, serta analisis makro yang membahas proyek dari segi perancangan urban. Dengan menitik beratkan pada studi perilaku, dan melakukan riset mendalam terhadap transformasi tipologi yang terjadi pada kampung, desain ini diharapkan dapat menjadi suatu arketipe untuk pengembangan kampung di daerah pesisir di masa depan di seluruh Indonesia. Sehingga dapat disimpulkan, bahwa dengan adaptasi tipe, perilaku serta sistem berkelanjutan yang sesuai dan tepat, desain dari kampung nelayan berkelanjutan ini dapat menjadi suatu respon yang tepat dalam menjawab permasalahan yang terjadi di kampung-kampung pesisir.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 242 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Maynard ◽  
K. R. N. Anthony ◽  
S. Afatta ◽  
L. F. Anggraini ◽  
D. Haryanti ◽  
...  

Coral reefs everywhere are under increasing pressure from a suite of stressors. Recently, threats associated with climate change have been brought closer into focus and now dominate discussions and debate relating to the coral reef crisis (Hughes et al. 2003, Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007). Indeed, mitigating local stressors on coral reefs has been given less priority and publicity than the global need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Interestingly though, recent surveys demonstrate that most reef scientists agree that coral reefs are under greater threat from impacts associated with human population growth, coastal development, and overfishing than from global climate change (Kleypas and Eakin 2007). This is especially true for the reefs in SE Asia and the Pacific, which make up the bulk of the reefs in the world (Bryant et al. 1998). In these areas, regulations to ensure that anthropogenic activities near and on coral reefs are conducted sustainably, such as development, sanitation, fishing and even tourism; either do not exist or are rarely enforced due to a lack of resources. Here, we present one such example from Indonesia, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, a country where over 60% of the population relies in some way on marine resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2626
Author(s):  
Xiuling Zuo ◽  
Fenzhen Su ◽  
Kefu Yu ◽  
Yinghui Wang ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
...  

Global warming and sea-level rise (SLR) induced by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations can cause coral bleaching, death, and submergence of the world’s coral reefs. Adopting the GIS and RS methods, we modeled how these two stressors combine to influence the future growth of the atolls and table reefs of three archipelagoes in the South China Sea (SCS), based on geomorphic and ecological zones. A large-scale survey of the coral communities in Xisha Islands in 2014, Dongsha Islands in 2014–2016 and Nansha Islands in 2007 provided zone-specific process datasets on the range of reef accretion rates. Sea surface temperature and extreme (minimum and maximum) SLR data above 1985–2005 levels by 2100 in the SCS were derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) models forced with the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). Our model projected that: (1) the Xisha Islands and Dongsha Islands may have a better growth status, because the reef flat biotic sparse zone may be recolonized with hard coral and become a biotic dense zone; (2) the southern Nansha Islands reefs have a risk of stopping growing due to their earlier annual bleaching years. The increasing of water depths of these reefs is stronger in the RCP with more emissions. Our approach offers insights into the best-case and worst-case impacts of two global environmental pressures on potential future reef growth under a changing climate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamima Parvin Lasker

ABC20 will be held at Dhaka, Bangladesh, in cooperation with Social Science Research Council, Bangladesh, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning; Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC); Asian Bioethics Association (ABA) and Eubios Ethics Institute, Thailand, New Zeeland and Japan. It provides opportunity for all scholars around the world to gather feedback on their research, maximize networking opportunities, and learn the latest information and methodologies on bioethics. The previous conferences have been held in China, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Iran, the Philippines and Taiwan. The conference will bring together scholars and policy makers from many disciplines all around the world (beyond the Asia and the Pacific) to discuss and deliberate the latest ethical issues in biomedicine, biotechnology, science, social science and education for dilammas facing today for humanity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 01006
Author(s):  
Leonid Sorokin

The Race to Zero is the largest credible alliance aiming to reduce twice emissions by 2030, with the main goal of moving towards a carbon-zero economy by 2050. Zero emission technologies can reduce the greenhouse gas concentrations in Atmosphere that can help to slowdown the Global Warming but for making the Earth’s climate system more stable we need implement Negative emission technologies. Negative emission technologies can significantly reduce the greenhouse gas concentrations in Atmosphere that can getting down the global average temperature to the pre-industrial level and prevent Global Warming and future Sea Level Rise. The currently observed climatic changes cannot be completely explained by the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Taking into account the impact of methane emissions, including the Polar Regions and the World Ocean, it will be possible to explain rapid changes in the Earth's climate. For getting the Earth’s climate system stable and predictable we need to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and the global average temperature to the pre-industrial levels. If this aims cannot be achieved then Climate Change and associated with Global Warming future Sea Level Rise in the nearest future would be the most important Risk factors in the Global World and World Economy, that can provide the world massive losses and economic crisis.


Author(s):  
AbidaShamim Qureshi

The whole world is on the terrifying cross-roads of global environmental threat. Last several years, particularly the last two years dominated the headlines about the serious threat climate change posed to the world. The more frequent severe weather conditions which result from climate change or global warming in the form of storms, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, rising sea level and such other catastrophes have raised the economic cost of the natural disasters. The result, it appears, is beyond our control and, perhaps, there is no immediate answer to it.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry F. Recher

IN July, I attended the symposium at Taronga Zoo on "Wildlife Health and Management in Australasia" organized by the Australian Association of Veterinary Conservation Biologists, the World Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, the Wildlife Disease Association: Australasian Section, and the Wildlife Society of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. It is worth listing all these, not just because they organized a great symposium, but because I had never heard of any of them before and suspect I may not be alone. Comprehensively, these veterinary associations are concerned about conservation biology, as was the symposium. The symposium, the Proceedings of which will be reviewed in a later edition of Pacific Conservation Biology, had sections on "conservation biology in Australasia", "sustainable utilization of wildlife", "wildlife translocation", "marine wildlife" and "wildlife health", all of which embraced issues that are topical among non-veterinary conservation biologists in the Pacific Region. However, the spin was different and, for me, eye-opening.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Prange ◽  
Sri Nandini-Weiss ◽  
Thomas Wilke ◽  
Frank Wesselingh

<p>Continental drying in response to global warming will entail declining lake levels all over the world. Falling lake levels will have many far-reaching consequences that are underappreciated, but affect the livelihoods and economies of millions of people. A massive warning signal is the projected twenty-first century water level drop of up to 18 m in high emissions scenarios for the Caspian Sea, the largest lake in the world, which could hit stakeholders unprepared. Such a catastrophic drop in the Caspian Sea level would lead to a surface area decrease of 34% including the loss of the highly productive northern Caspian shelf and important wetlands such as the Volga Delta and other Ramsar sites. The disappearance of the vast shallow shelves, which are major food suppliers for fish and birds, will devastate native and endemic fish species, the Caspian seal and a richness of molluscs and crustacean species unique to the lake. The falling water level will not only threaten the unique ecosystem, but will also have severe impacts on regional economies and geopolitical stability.</p><p>In the first part of this presentation, we discuss the extent of twenty-first century projected continental drying on a global scale and its potential effect on worldwide lake levels. In the second part, we focus on the Caspian Sea and discuss the potential impacts of water level fall on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Finally, we address the question to which extent paleoclimates can be used as analogs for future global warming scenarios with respect to changes in the Caspian Sea level.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-111
Author(s):  
M. D. Fite

This article asserts three propositions. First, climate change and/or global warming has (and will continue to have) qualitative differences in its nature and impact on rich and poor countries, thus demonstrating the imperative of adaptation to and mitigation of its effects. Second, the current international environmental regime is insufficient for sensible global distributive justice. What is more, in the absence of an adequate regime the world continues to ignore fundamental ethical issues and the immediate needs of climate-vulnerable countries. Third, the effective preservation of the environment necessitates that developed countries bear the (ethical) responsibility for meeting the costs associated with climate change, and urgently and unremittingly discharge their obligation to assist developing and/or least developed countries in adapting to and mitigating the impact of global warming.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document