24 June 2007
Caribbean Corals in Danger of Extinction
The study found that 10 percent of the Caribbean’s 62 reef-building corals were under threat, including staghorn and elkhorn corals. These used to be the most prominent species but are now candidates to be listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
A gathering of 23 scientists in Dominica analysed data on Western Tropical Atlantic corals, seagrasses, mangroves and algae, which are fundamental components of marine ecosystems providing food and shelter for numerous other organisms and local communities.
The threats to corals and other marine species include coastal pollution and human development; increased sedimentation in run-off water; thermal stress and heightened severity of hurricanes from climate change; and shifts in species dynamics due to over-fishing, according to the study. Scientists explained that the Caribbean has undergone the longest and most sustained impacts from human development since the colonization of the Americas.
Next to corals, mangroves appear to be the hardest hit. Mangrove cover in the region has declined by 42% over the past 25 years, with two of the eight mangrove species now considered Vulnerable to extinction and two more in Near Threatened status.
“Mangroves protect shorelines, shelter fish, and filter pollution,” said Aaron Ellison of Harvard University. “The Caribbean was blessed with an abundance of these useful plants, but the consensus of this workshop is that mangroves are in trouble everywhere and need to be protected and restored,” he added. Mangrove forests are being cut down to make way for coastal housing, tourism, and aquaculture development.
The scientists noted that some healthy Caribbean coral reefs still exist in well-managed marine protected areas such as Bonaire Marine Park in the Netherlands Antilles. Direct human impacts are reduced in these areas allowing most corals to thrive; however, thermal stress from global warming affects all corals in the Caribbean and must be reversed if these refuges of Caribbean beauty are to survive, they added.
Further Reading: Conservation International
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Labels: Caribbean, coral, environment
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21 June 2007
Greenpeace Launches 7 Step Climate Campaign
If you join Greenpeace's campaign means you will get an email every week for seven weeks. Steps one, two and three are about changing your own lightbulbs and raising awareness about the campaign. Steps four, five and six are about demanding change from retailers, manufacturers and governments. Step seven they are keeping secret.
To join the campaign go to the Greenpeace website.
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Labels: environment
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19 June 2007
First Buoy to Monitor Ocean Acidification Launched
Acidification is a result of carbon dioxide absorbed by the seas.
"The instruments will measure the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen gas in addition to the pH, a measure of ocean acidity, of the surface waters," said Steven Emerson of the University of Washington, the project's lead scientist. "This is the first system specifically designed to monitor ocean acidification."
The buoy is anchored in water nearly 5,000 meters deep.
The goal of the research is to examine how ocean circulation and ecosystems interact to determine how much carbon dioxide the north Pacific Ocean absorbs each year.
"The Gulf of Alaska region is particularly important because it is likely to be one of the first regions to feel the impacts of ocean acidification," said Christopher Sabine, a PMEL oceanographer.
"This a significant step in furthering our understanding of how the ocean is reacting to carbon dioxide, as well as an important addition to the growing Global Ocean Observing System of Systems, which incorporates the best technology to provide the best science to help decision makers and the general public," said Richard Spinrad, assistant administrator of NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
Further Reading:
National Science Foundation
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Labels: environment
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15 June 2007
Emission impossible for carbon trading
The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is among the planet’s biggest and most ambitious projects designed to tackle climate change. While the mechanism of carbon trading is sound in principle, the first phase of the EU scheme (2005 to 2007) has been seriously undermined by weak political decisions. Bigger emitters are able to buy carbon allowances — which effectively allow them to pollute — from companies that have reduced their emissions. However, EU governments handed out far too many allowances to their industries.
For Phase II the European Commission has sought to clamp down on the caps proposed by many Member States. However, this is being weakened by a decision to allow industries to buy massive amounts of credits from projects outside the EU (under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism). This reliance on cheap imported credits means that European industry may not have to reduce its own emissions at all.
"There is a real danger that this will lock the EU in to high carbon investments and soaring emissions for many years to come, wrecking the EU’s emission reduction targets for 2020 and 2030 and making a mockery of Europe’s standing as a world leader in tackling climate change.”
WWF also has serious concerns about the validity of many of these overseas projects. In order to qualify as CDM projects, they have to show that they are “additional”, which means that they would not happen without funding from carbon trading. However there are significant questions about whether this critical principle is being adhered to effectively. If the projects are not additional, then the sale of credits from them leads to an actual increase in carbon emissions.
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05 June 2007
Decompression sickness causes lasting poor health
A team from Haukeland University Hospital in Norway investigated the impact of decompression sickness and diving exposure on the health of Norwegian divers who previously worked in the North Sea.
They questioned 230 ex-divers on their diving education and history of decompression sickness. They also gave them a questionnaire to fill in to assess their health status, called the SF-36 questionnaire. This measures eight properties: physical functioning, social functioning, role limitations due to physical problems, role limitations due to emotional problems, mental health, energy/vitality, pain and general health perception.
All the questionnaire scores were significantly reduced compared with Norwegian norms. Further reduced scores were seen among divers who reported previous decompression sickness compared to those without decompression sickness. There was a decreasing trend in scores related to number of days in saturation and maximal depth. However, the impact of saturation diving was present only in divers who had experienced decompression sickness.
The researchers concluded that having had decompression sickness during a diving career contributes significantly to a reduction in all health aspects, and neurological decompression sickness has the most pronounced impact. Cumulative diving exposure, including days in saturation, and maximal depth also contributed to poorer health.
Journal reference: Occupational Medicine, doi:10.1093/occmed/kqm032
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Labels: decompression sickness, medical, research
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