scholarly journals Expert Group on Antarctic Biodiversity Informatics: Coordinating the state-of-the-art internationally for biodiversity informatics in Antarctica

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Chen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Expert Group ◽  
Biodiversity Informatics ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Antarctic Species ◽  
The World

Biodiversity informatics have emerged as a key asset in wildlife and ecological conservation around the world. This is especially true in Antarctica, where climate change continues to threaten marine and terrestrial species. It is well documented that the polar regions experience the most drastic rate of climate change compared to the rest of the world (IPCC 2021). Research approaches within the scope of polar biodiversity informatics consist of computational architectures and systems, analysis and modelling methods, and human-computer interfaces, ranging from more traditional statistical techniques to more recent machine learning and artificial intelligence-based imaging techniques. Ongoing discussions include making datasets findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) (Wilkinson et al. 2016). The deployment of biodiversity informatics systems and coordination of standards around their utilization in the Antarctic are important areas of consideration. To bring together scientists and practitioners working at the nexus of informatics and Antarctic biodiversity, the Expert Group on Antarctic Biodiversity Informatics (EG-ABI) was formed under the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). EG-ABI was created during the SCAR Life Sciences Standing Scientific Group meeting at the SCAR Open Science Conference in Portland Oregon, in July 2012, to advance work at this intersection by coordinating and participating in a range of projects across the SCAR biodiversity science portfolio. SCAR, meanwhile, is a thematic organisation of the International Science Council (ISC), which is the primary entity tasked with coordinating high-quality scientific research on all aspects of Antarctic sciences and humanities, including the Southern Ocean and the interplay between Antarctica and the other six continents. The expert group is led by an international steering committee of roughly ten members, who take an active role in leading related initiatives. Currently, researchers from Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Chile, Germany, France, and the United States are represented on the committee. The current steering committee is comprised of a diverse range of scientists, including early-career researchers and scientists that have primary focuses in both the computational and ecological aspects of Antarctic biodiversity informatics. Current projects that are being coordinated or co-coordinated by EG-ABI include the SCAR/rOpenSci initiative, which is a collaboration with the rOpenSci community to improve resources for users of the R software package in Antarctic and Southern Ocean science. Additionally, EG-ABI has contributed to the POLA3R project (Polar Omics Linkages Antarctic Arctic and Alpine Regions), which is an information system dedicated to aid in the access and discovery of molecular microbial diversity data generated by Antarctic scientists. Furthermore, EG-ABI has trained and helped collate additional species trait information such as feeding and diet information, development, mobility and their importance to society, documented through Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) indicator taxa, in The Register of Antarctic Species (http://ras.biodiversity.aq/), and the comprehensive inventory of Antarctic and Southern Ocean organisms, which is also a component of the World Register of Marine Species (https://marinespecies.org/). The efforts highlighted are only some of the projects that the expert groups have contributed to. In our presentation, we discuss the previous accomplishments of the EG-ABI from the perspective of a currently serving steering committee member and outline its state in the status quo including collaborations and coordinated activities. We also highlight opportunities for engagement and the benefits for various stakeholders in terms of interacting with EG-ABI on multiple levels, within the SCAR ecosystem and elsewhere. Developing consistent and practical standards for data use in Antarctic ecology, in addition to fostering interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations for the successful deployment of conservation mechanisms, are key to a sustainable and biodiverse Antarctica, and EG-ABI is one of the premier organizations working towards these aims.

scholarly journals Indonesian Policy in Ratifying The 2015 Paris Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Haekal - Siraj
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The World

 The 2015 Paris Agreement requires all participating countries to reduce emisson level. Indonesia as Non-Annex I accepted the norms of the 2015 Paris Agreement by ratifying this agreement. Meanwhile, Indonesia's emissions level continues to increase due to the rate of deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia which ranks highest in the world. This study aims to analyze Indonesian policy in ratifying the agreement by using the Constructivism Perspective in explaining the International Regime and the Concept of Norm Influence by Finnemore and Sikkink. The study uses qualitative methods with explanatory designs. Data collection techniques are sourced from secondary sources as well as data analysis techniques carried out by reduction, presentation, and drawing conclusions as well as verification. This study found that the United States as a hegemonic state acting as the norm entrepreneurs by granting climate change financial assistance of $500 million through the GCF for Indonesia as a developing country was a condition affecting Indonesia in ratifying the agreement. Keywords: Indonesia, ratify, 2015 Paris Agreement, norm, climate change.

The Shack, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and Other Leopold Initiatives

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marybeth Lorbiecki
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural State ◽  
United States Congress ◽  
Aldo Leopold ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Religious Ecology ◽  
The World ◽  
Church Teaching

The framed black-and-white photograph on my wall is entitled “The Temptation of David.” It captures a young woman perched on a stump, hiking boots dangling, wet hair and flowered cotton shirt and khakis slightly damp, holding an apple with one bite missing. Standing next to her is the David in question. Behind them is the Leopold Shack, easily recognizable to any who have been there. My husband-to-be, David Mataya, and I had just snuck back to the Shack, after a quick, crazy, unguarded dip in the river. I was young, in love with David and in love with Leopold (of whom I was writing a biography for children), and completely entranced by this piece of land so lovingly restored to its natural state. I have returned numerous other times. I came the spring after Nina had died, when I was working on a religious ecology project. I was hoping, like Art Hawkins, that it would help wake up people about the Judeo-Christian call from Genesis to care for this earth and all its creatures—which God had called “good”—and to help heal this world of many ecological wounds. The project had completely stalled, and like a pilgrim, I needed to stop at the Shack. I ended up in the sand near the river, weeping. The birds in all tones and rhythms calling from tree to tree, the multitude of different trees and bushes, the flowing river, and even the small draba called forth hope. I see the draba, in its small perennial patience, has proved right. In 2014, Pope Francis issued an encyclical, or major Catholic Church teaching, not just to Catholics, but to the world, on the religious, spiritual, social, ethical, and economic reasons on why our must change its ways, just as Leopold once did, but from the perspective of faith. And he has followed this up with visits to the United States Congress and the United Nations to emphasize the need to deal immediately with climate change.

Fuelling America's Climatic Apocalypse

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Leduc
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Economic

AbstractThis paper examines the powerful intersection of Christian fundamentalism and fossil fuel interests in the United States' Republican administration's policy response to climate change. Of particular interest is the increasing recognition that apocalyptic Christian beliefs are informing America's political economic and public understanding of environmental issues, thus allowing climate change to be interpreted from a religious frame of reference that could impact a viable response in a country whose GHG emissions are amongst the highest in the world. While liberal secularists may think the Christian apocalypse to be a misguided belief, scientific discourses on the potential interacting impacts of climatic changes and energy shortages offer an almost complementary rational depiction of apocalypse. By bringing these Christian and secular revelations into dialogue, the following interdisciplinary analysis offers a unique perspective on the way in which apocalyptic thought can both negatively and positively inform a political economic response to climate change.

scholarly journals China and Climate Change Governance: A Golden Opportunity

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Barry Buzan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Policy Adjustment ◽  
The World ◽  
Golden Opportunity ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Climate Crisis

Climate change is a threat to all of humankind, yet there is still a leadership vacuum on climate governance. At the same time, the deepening climate crisis also presents a golden opportunity for Beijing to assume the role of a global leader. China has the capacity to do it in a way that the United States, Russia, India, and the European Union do not. Taking swift climate action is in Beijing’s interest. Greater contributions to climate governance will certainly help advance China’s long-term political interest in both raising its political status and demonstrating the claimed superiority of its system of government. Positive rhetoric and robust action by China are likely to have a disproportionate effect on the rest of the world. Policy adjustment and implementation by Beijing will bring benefits to the rest of the world. Climate policy options that Beijing may take in the future are not mutually exclusive. The policy shift on climate change could also be attached more firmly to the idea of sustainable development as a defining factor of China’s approach to tackling the climate change threat.

scholarly journals Energy, Consumption, and the Amorality of Energy Law

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 147-152
Author(s):  
Lincoln L. Davies
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Moral Problem ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Energy Law ◽  
Environmental Challenge

As the world turns its attention to Paris this December, all eyes will be on international decisionmakers, including those from the United States, to see if meaningful progress on climate change can finally be made. Climate change, of course, is the great environmental challenge of our time, a challenge that is irrevocably bound up with energy production and consumption. This “super wicked” problem long has been seen as a political, economic, ecological, and social one. However, as Pope Francis’ encyclical makes clear, it is a moral problem as well.

ICNet Global: Infrastructure and Climate Networks of Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Stoner ◽  
Jennifer Jacobs ◽  
Jo Sias ◽  
Gordon Airey ◽  
Katharine Hayhoe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transportation Infrastructure ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
The World

<p>Climate change is already impacting the performance and integrity of transportation infrastructure around the world and is anticipated to have serious ramifications for infrastructure safety, environmental sustainability, economic vitality, mobility and system reliability. These impacts will disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and urban locations as well as compromising the resilience of the larger interconnected physical, cyber, and social infrastructure networks. For this reason, increasing the resilience of transportation infrastructure to current and future weather and climate extremes is a global priority.</p><p>The complexity of this challenge requires a convergence approach to foster collaboration and innovation among technically and socially diverse researchers and practitioners. The multi-institutional <strong>ICNet Global</strong> Network of Networks unites domestic and international research and practice networks to facilitate integrated engineering, climate science, and policy research to advance the development of resilient transportation infrastructure and systems. ICNet Globalcollaborators represent networks based in Korea, Europe, United Kingdom, and the United States and link researchers at the forefront of scientific, engineering, and policy research frontiers, drawing expertise from many disciplines and nations to share and enhance best practices for transportation resilience.</p><p><strong>ICNet Global’s</strong> long-term mission is to prepare the world’s existing and future transportation infrastructure for a changing climate. To that end, we are working to: (1) build a network of existing research networks who are tackling the challenges climate change poses to transportation infrastructure; (2) establish a common base-level knowledge, capacity, and vision to support the convergence of novel and diverse ideas, approaches, and technologies for creating climate resilient transportation infrastructure; and (3) grow the next generation of critical and diverse thinkers with the expertise to address and solve climate-related infrastructure challenges. Although just one year into our work, and dispite challenges represented by COVID-19, we have surveyed over 100 potential members worldwide to learn about fields of interest and held five productive virtual workshops to discuss current research, how to encorporate climate change information into engineering education, and how practitioners are currently including climate information into planning and design. In this presentation we highlight our goals and recent accomplishments while laying out future plans and inviting interested researchers and practitioners to join us.</p>

Subsistence Emissions and Luxury Emissions

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Shue
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted in Rio de Janeiro at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992 establishes no dates and no dollars. No dates are specified by which emissions are to be reduced by the wealthy states, and no dollars are specified with which the wealthy states will assist the poor states to avoid an environmentally dirty development like our own. The convention is toothless because throughout the negotiations in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee during 1991 to 1992, the United States played the role of dentist: whenever virtually all the other states in the world (with the notable exceptions of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) agreed to convention language with teeth, the United States insisted that the teeth be pulled out. The Clinton administration now faces a strategic question: should the next step aim at a comprehensive treaty covering all greenhouse gases (GHGs) or at a narrower protocol covering only one, or a few, gases, for example, only fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO2)? Richard Stewart and Jonathan Wiener (1992) have argued for moving directly to a comprehensive treaty, while Thomas Drennen (1993) has argued for a more focused beginning. I will suggest that Drennen is essentially correct that we should not try to go straight to a comprehensive treaty, at least not of the kind advocated by Stewart and Wiener. First I would like to develop a framework into which to set issues of equity or justice of the kind introduced by Drennen. It would be easier if we faced only one question about justice, but several questions are not only unavoidable individually but are entangled with one another. In addition, each question can be given not simply alternative answers but answers of different kinds. In spite of this multiplicity of possible answers to the multiplicity of inevitable and interconnected questions, I think we can lay out the issues fairly clearly and establish that commonsense principles converge to a remarkable extent upon what ought to be done, at least for the next decade or so.

Knowledge and governance in the digital age: The politics of monitoring planetary life

First Monday ◽  
2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Latham
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Monitoring Systems ◽  
Processing Technologies ◽  
Building Monitoring ◽  
The World

Planetary phenomena, such as global climate change and transborder disease transmission, are increasing subject to monitoring aided by advances in surveillance and data processing technologies. The most powerful governments of the world, especially the United States, are building monitoring systems they can control. Communities and activists around the world face a fundamental choice: become involved in shaping those systems so they better serve the needs and interests of the world’s population or build their own independent, unofficial monitoring systems.

scholarly journals Solar—A New Open Access Journal for Solar Technologies

Solar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
Juergen H. Werner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Open Access Journal ◽  
Less Developed Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Temperature Records

Climate change and the consequential environmental catastrophes are real, not only in less developed countries of the so-called “Global South” but also in so-called industrialized and “well-developed” areas of the world! Just within the last few months and years, we have seen high-temperature records in the United States, fire disasters in Canada, Australia, Greece, Italy, and Spain [...]

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document