scholarly journals The State and Future of Antarctic Environments in a Global Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Chown ◽  
Cassandra M. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
The State ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Global Context ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean comprise a critical part of the Earth System. Their environments are better understood than ever before, yet the region remains poorly considered among international agreements to improve the state of the global environment. In part the situation owes to isolated regional regulation within the Antarctic Treaty System, and in part to the dated notion that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are well conserved and relatively free from human impact. Here we review growth in knowledge of Antarctic environments and anthropogenic pressures on them. We show that the region's unusual diversity is facing substantial local and globally mediated anthropogenic pressure, on a par with environments globally. Antarctic environmental management and regulation is being challenged to keep pace with the change. Much benefit can be derived from consideration of Antarctic environmental and resource management in the context of global agreements.

Conservation in the Antarctic

1977 ◽  
Vol 279 (963) ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Falkland Islands ◽  
Voluntary Agreement ◽  
South Georgia ◽  
Tristan Da Cunha ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
Antarctic Seals ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

Formidable legal and administrative complexities arise from conflicting claims to jurisdiction and the continued absence of generally recognized sovereignty over much of the region. Existing conservation measures fall into three groups: elaborate laws made by governments claiming Antarctic territories, more restricted laws, and simple instructions for particular expeditions. The Antarctic Treaty, 1959, made it possible to begin coordinating all these separate instruments. No claimed jurisdiction has been surrendered or recognized: each government has started to harmonize its own control measures with the ‘Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora’, 1964. This scheme applied only to land areas and has since been evolving in the light of experience. Although not yet formally approved by all the governments concerned, it is working effectively by voluntary agreement. Different approaches are necessary for conservation of Southern Ocean resources, especially krill. A start has been made with the ‘ Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals’, 1972. There are many outstanding problems: all require effective cooperation between scientific and legal advisers, diplomats and politicians. Mention is made of recent British conservation legislation for South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and the Tristan da Cunha group. Some of the next steps are outlined.

scholarly journals Earth history and evolution of life in curriculum the high school of the State of São Paulo

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-303
Author(s):  
Cristiane Prado Scott dos Santos ◽  
Joseli Maria Piranha
Keyword(s):  
National Curriculum ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
The State ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Content Organization ◽  
Life Itself

Among the main obstacles to the literacy of the Earth System Sciences, the content organization in official curricula stands out. The knowledge of this science has been shown as fundamental for the formation of citizens who know how to use natural resources regarding environmental questions and life itself. Faced with such issues, the present study has done a documentary analysis of the Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais para o Ensino Médio (PCNEM in Portuguese, or National Curriculum Parameters of Secondary Education) and of the Currículo do Estado de São Paulo (CESP in Portuguese, or School Curriculum of the State of São Paulo), with aim at suggesting effective teaching alternatives for citizens formation. Both the PCNEM and the CESP present contents in a fragmented way through traditional disciplines, such as has been the educational structure in Brazil for decades. The PCNEM suggest an interdisciplinary approach of these contents, while the CESP do not mention this type of approach, but relates skills to be developed to each type of content, and so presents interdisciplinary teaching as valuable. As an alternative to this pedagogical structure, it is proposed that the contents encompassed in the Earth System Science should be treated in an interdisciplinary context, allowing the integrated development of contents and contributing to the teacher’s work.

Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystems

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin V. Angel
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Anthropogenic Influences ◽  
Zooplankton Species ◽  
Biological Oceanography ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Pelagic Ecosystems

In 1902 the Discovery sailed into an ocean that was almost totally unknown biologically. Even so, its living resources of seals had been extensively hunted almost to the point of extinction. Exploitation of the whales was about to begin. The expedition resulted in the discovery of 23 new zooplankton species; 5% of the presently known mesozooplankton fauna. The results were worked up within six years, and paved the way for the next century of research. The ultimate target was to provide the scientific basis for the sustainable management of the Southern Ocean especially the whale stocks. This paper summarizes the knowledge base at the start of the expedition and how the various strands of research became woven into our understanding of the biological oceanography of the Southern Ocean. The science has been both technology driven and technology limited. It failed to convince decision-makers in time to prevent the gross overexploitation of the whales, but the Antarctic Treaty now provides a framework of protection. However, within the last two decades we have come to realize that it is not just whales that are at risk, and that the remoteness of the Southern Ocean is proving no protection against the pervasiveness of anthropogenic influences.

Responsive Antarctic Law-Making in the Asian Century

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Saul ◽  
Tim Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
International System ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Asian State ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Law Making ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

One aspect of the ‘Asian Century’ has been the growing interest from Asian states in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean that surrounds the continent. There has been a significant shift in the approach by a number of Asian states to the Antarctic Treaty and the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) that has been built upon and around it. While Asian states continue to be under-represented in the ATS (there are seven Asian state parties to the Antarctic Treaty), participation has grown, and more significantly the view that the ATS is an ‘exclusive club’ dominated by developed states has given way to a more pragmatic, more cooperative and less ideological approach to Antarctic affairs. Broadening ATS membership and increasing interest from existing Asian state parties to the ATS, most notably China, prompts questions as to whether there are distinctive Asian–Antarctic issues, and if so whether the Antarctic regime can evolve to address them. Specifically, are the governance and law-making processes of the ATS, which have not changed significantly for decades, up to the task of providing an effective international system of Antarctic management in this Asian Century?

scholarly journals CCAMLR and Southern Ocean Fisheries

2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Jaap Molenaar
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
The Core ◽  
Iuu Fishing ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Natural Characteristics

AbstractThe Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR Convention) forms the core of the regulatory regime for Southern Ocean fisheries. This article analyses the scope and extent of the Convention and the competence of the bodies established under it while also addressing the role of states and other international intergovernmental organisations with relevant competence. As part of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), the CCAMLR Convention is characterised by a unique sovereignty situation. The analysis thereof is complemented by a comparison with (other) regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) and illustrated by the difficulties in addressing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The article concludes inter alia that the CCAMLR Convention is unlike other RFMOs due to the special natural characteristics, its integration into the ATS and the ensuing sovereignty situation, and its conservationist objective. This notwithstanding, it seems justifiable to treat the CCAMLR Convention as "something more" than an RFMO for the purpose of international instruments on fisheries.

scholarly journals Topology of sustainable management of dynamical systems with desirable states: from defining planetary boundaries to safe operating spaces in the Earth system

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Heitzig ◽  
T. Kittel ◽  
J. F. Donges ◽  
N. Molkenthin
Keyword(s):  
State Space ◽  
Classical Mechanics ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Planetary Boundaries ◽  
Management Options ◽  
The Earth

Abstract. To keep the Earth system in a desirable region of its state space, such as defined by the recently suggested "tolerable environment and development window", "guardrails", "planetary boundaries", or "safe (and just) operating space for humanity", one needs to understand not only the quantitative internal dynamics of the system and the available options for influencing it (management) but also the structure of the system's state space with regard to certain qualitative differences. Important questions are, which state space regions can be reached from which others with or without leaving the desirable region, which regions are in a variety of senses "safe" to stay in when management options might break away, and which qualitative decision problems may occur as a consequence of this topological structure? In this article, we develop a mathematical theory of the qualitative topology of the state space of a dynamical system with management options and desirable states, as a complement to the existing literature on optimal control which is more focussed on quantitative optimization and is much applied in both the engineering and the integrated assessment literature. We suggest a certain terminology for the various resulting regions of the state space and perform a detailed formal classification of the possible states with respect to the possibility of avoiding or leaving the undesired region. Our results indicate that, before performing some form of quantitative optimization such as of indicators of human well-being for achieving certain sustainable development goals, a sustainable and resilient management of the Earth system may require decisions of a more discrete type that come in the form of several dilemmas, e.g. choosing between eventual safety and uninterrupted desirability, or between uninterrupted safety and larger flexibility. We illustrate the concepts and dilemmas drawing on conceptual models from climate science, ecology, coevolutionary Earth system modelling, economics, and classical mechanics, and discuss their potential relevance for the climate and sustainability debate, in particular suggesting several levels of planetary boundaries of qualitatively increasing safety.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document