By Rebecca Bowe

Jan. 7 (GNT) — Industrial fishing in all US waters north of the Bering Strait is banned until further notice, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council ruled in a unanimous vote on Feb. 5. The precautionary measure aims to protect Arctic marine ecosystems, which are in a precarious position due to the destabilizing effects of global climate change.

Walrus are among the key species threatened by lose of sea ice. Commercial fishing in the Arctic could further effect walrus populations. Photo courtesy of US FWS.

Spanning some 200,000 square miles north of Alaska, the protected area encompasses US waters of the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea. Since commercial fishing has never existed in this region, which is frozen for much of the year, the ban signifies a rare move to preserve uncharted territory before industry moves in, rather than after the fact.

“The cumulative effect of commercial fishing and shipping, as well as open-ended oil and gas development, could be devastating to this highly fragile system if not done correctly,” said Josh Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group. “Rarely are we given a chance to put an area’s value as an ecosystem ahead of its commercial potential. Too often we get it wrong by depleting resources first and then backpedaling to return a place to its former grandeur.”

Global climate change has caused the Arctic to warm twice as fast as the rest of the planet, resulting in an unprecedented 40 percent loss of summer sea-ice cover. To commercial fishing interests, the suddenly ice-free waters present a new economic opportunity, especially with northward migrations of fish populations suited for warmer waters. But opening the gates to commercial fishing couldn’t come at a worse time, scientists argue, as the effects of climate change are already crippling fragile Arctic ecosystems.

For marine mammals such as polar bears, walrus and ice seals, the shrinking platforms of sea ice translate to a loss of critical habitat. Scientists and policy makers fear that commercial fishing could put food pressure on these already troubled species. The disappearance of these key species could, in turn, disrupt the entire food chain, leaving more species vulnerable. According to a letter to the NPFMC drafted by a team of marine scientists, “Recent sea ice losses threaten to fundamentally transform marine food webs in the Arctic.”

Nor are marine creatures the only ones who would be affected by expansion of commercial fishing into the Arctic. Subsistence fishing is central to the economy and culture of indigenous communities living along Alaska’s northern coast, and commercial fishing in the region could devastate traditional fishing areas.

Conservation organizations, including Audubon Alaska, Oceana, the Ocean Conservancy and the Pew Environment Group applauded the Council’s move to protect the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

“Today’s decision signals a new day in the Arctic, where science comes first and where we think about the consequences of our actions before we take them,” said Janis Searles Jones, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy. “This proactive decision by the Council removes one source of additional stress, giving the Arctic, its peoples and animals a better chance to adapt to the changes.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to approve the Arctic commercial-fishing ban and issue final regulations to protect the Arctic later this year. However, because the ban was approved in part because of a lack of in-depth information about Arctic marine fish stocks and potential ecosystem effects, it could be lifted at some point in the future if new information is produced showing a viable way to conduct commercial fishing there.

Meanwhile, the 200,000 miles under U.S. control represents just a small portion of Arctic waters. So far, no other nations have taken such preventative steps to protect marine life from overexploitation in light of the debilitating effects of climate change.

Some species found in the Arctic, including the polar bear, bowhead whale and spectacled eider (a kind of sea bird) are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

According to a report issued for the United Nations-led World Summit on Sustainable Development, 75 percent of the major marine fish stocks are either depleted, overexploited or being fished at their biological limit.

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By Shawn Gaynor

Jan. 28 (GNT) — According to scientists, the oceans of the world have become about 30 percent more acidic due to human carbon dioxide emissions — and this spells trouble for ocean life.

Rich in biodiversity, coral reefs like this one in Florida are under threat from increases in the ocean's acidity. Photo courtesy of Tropical Conservancy.

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed last week to review how ocean acidification, a result of atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution, should be addressed under the federal Clean Water Act.

Approximately half of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from human activities over the past 200 years has been absorbed by the oceans and as a result has lowered average ocean pH by 0.11 units.

While the change is smaller then what is currently regulated under EPA clean water standards, scientist say further increases in ocean acidity could mean doom for many ocean creatures, and the overall ecosystems of the ocean.

“Global warming’s evil twin, ocean acidification, is the most insidious threat to our ocean ecosystems,” said Miyoko Sakashita, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, who petitioned the EPA to examine the issue.

The petition, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity back in Dec. of 2007, called on the EPA to consider rule changes to the Clean Water Act that would consider new science about ocean acidification, and lower the pH level regulated for water.

If the EPA decides to issue a rules change it would require states to designate water bodies that do not meet the new water-quality standards as “impaired” and take action to limit their pollution. This could lead to state-level regulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Water Act.

Oceans store about 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere, and over time, roughly ninety percent of carbon dioxide emitted into the air from burning of fossil fuels will be absorbed by the ocean.

Unlike global climate change, ocean acidification takes place through a basic chemical reaction and therefore it is easier for scientists to accurately predict future ocean pH changes due to carbon-dioxide emissions.

The oceans currently absorb about 22 million tons of carbon dioxide per day. Scientists agree that the oceans will acidify an additional 0.4 pH by the end of the century under current carbon dioxide emission trajectories.

According to the studies cited by the CBD, the primary known impact of acidification is impairment of calcification, the process whereby corals, crabs, abalone, oysters, sea urchins, and other animals make shells and skeletons. Studies of marine species that build shells or skeletons from calcium carbonate nearly all experience deterioration when exposed to increasing carbon dioxide levels in seawater. In fact, studies have shown that at carbon dioxide concentrations likely to occur by 2030, the shells of many marine species would deform or dissolve.

Many species of phytoplankton and zooplankton, which form the basis of the marine food web, are also particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification. Already coral reefs worldwide have suffered mass die-offs as a result of ocean acidification.

“In just a few decades, ocean acidification will unravel a delicate balance of underwater diversity that took millions of years to build,” said Sakashita. “Absent quick regulatory action to address ocean acidification, we will likely see catastrophic impacts on our ocean ecosystems, including the near-complete loss of coral reefs.”

The ocean has been more acidic in some geologic periods. However, according to Sick Seas, a report published in the journal Nature in 2006, the current increase in ocean acidity is an unprecedented 100 times faster than any other rise in at least the last hundreds of thousands of years. The gradual nature of previous acidification cycles left time for marine life to adjust though evolution to the new conditions.

The EPA’s letter responding to the CBD’s petition agrees with the need for review in light of new science, and commits to a course of action.

“We plan to publish a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) by April 15th, and we plan to publish guidance regarding coral biocriteria by the end of 2009,” stated the EPA. In return, the CBD will suspend a lawsuit file over EPA inaction on its 2007 petition.

When the EPA issues a NODA, it opens an issue to comment, solicits expert opinion, and considers new scientific data. After examining the science the EPA will determine whether the current water-quality criterion for pH under the Clean Water Act should be modified to address ocean acidification.

“EPA’s commitment to review its water-quality criterion in light of ocean acidification marks an important step toward taking action under the Clean Water Act to begin to address this perilous threat, ” said Sakashita.

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Jan. 27 (GNT) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has named Todd Stern the new Special Envoy for Climate Change at the State Department. Stern, appointed on Jan. 26, will be the administration’s chief climate negotiator.

On Jan. 26 Hillary Clinton appointed Todd Stern Special Envoy on Climate Change. Photo Courtesy of US State Department.

Speaking at the announcement, Clinton said that by appointing a Special Envoy the US is sending a message that it is serious about addressing global climate change.

“Our world is facing a climate crisis. It is at once an environmental, economic, energy and national security issue with grave implications for America’s and the world’s future,” said Clinton.

Stern worked for Bill Clinton’s administration from 1993 to 1998. While there, he acted as the senior White House representative for the Kyoto negotiations.

“We will need a strong, new multilateral agreement,” said Stern, who will be expected to negotiate at the new round of the United Nations Climate Change Conference this December in Copenhagen. Stern’s appointment signals a broad departure from Bush administration polices, under which the US held back efforts by European countries to address climate change on an international level.

“We will need to engage in vigorous, creative diplomacy to dramatically reduce emissions. And we will need to work with vulnerable regions and countries to help them adapt to the climate change that is already locked into the system,” added Stern.

The announcement comes a day after the release of a groundbreaking study by McKinsey & Company which charted in detail an affordable path to avert unmitigated climate change.

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By Shawn Gaynor

Jan. 26 (GNT) — Efforts to promote a large-scale shift away from fossil fuels are often met with skepticism because of the high price tag associated with alternative energy generation. But a new report suggests that the costs of avoiding the worst effects of climate change are actually reasonable.

Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy, released Jan. 26 by McKinsey & Company, concludes that global greenhouse-gas emissions could be reduced by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, the level scientists say is necessary to keep global warming below the critical 2 degree C rise.

The McKinsey study, backed by an assortment of industrial and environmental partners ranging from energy giant Shell, to the crusading World Wildlife Fund, estimates the cost achieving these reductions are between 0.2 and 0.5 percent of global Gross Domestic Product. That compares with Lord Stern’s estimated cost of not taking action on greenhouse gas emissions of between five and 20 percent of global GDP.

The most comprehensive study of its kind, it identifies three main sectors critical to meeting CO2 emissions reduction goals. The study recommends a dramatic and immediate move away from carbon-based electricity generation towards renewable energy, halting deforestation and investing massively in reforestation, and an increase in everyday energy efficiency by 25 percent.

“The figures show clearly that not only can we move to a low carbon economy, but that the costs are manageable. Adopting these measures will be a major step towards avoiding the worst effects of climate change,” said WWF Director General James Leape.

The study goes on to identify in detail over 200 opportunities for significant emissions reductions over the next two decades. While the cost of implementation is manageable, amounting to a roughly a half of trillion dollars in worldwide investment each year, the report warns that individual sectors and policy makers will face huge implementation challenges.

“The timing of action is though critical: Delays are likely to mean missing this two degrees Celsius target. Capturing the full abatement potential requires starting promptly in 2010,” the study warns. “For every year of delay, the expected peak level of atmospheric GHG concentration will rise by an extra five parts per million (ppm) and a 10-year delay would mean a target of 550 ppm would be difficult to achieve.”

At levels this high, experts agree that the more drastic impacts of climate change will occur, a point stressed recently by several top global warming experts.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Inter governmental panel on Climate Change, speaking to the opening of The United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Poznan last December outlined a laundry list of risks the world faces after a global temperature increase of just a few degrees.

Pachauri stated that a temperature rise of over two degrees Celsius could lead to the extinction of 20 to 30 percent of all species on Earth.

Humanity, according to Pachauri, would face a loss of half of Africa’s agricultural base, up to a half of billion people who depend on water from the Himalayan glaciers would face water shortages, and low-lying coastal areas and islands would be consumed by rising sea leaves.

“If global mean temperature increase is to be stabilized between 2.0-2.4°C, then CO2 emissions must peak by 2015,” stressed Pachauri, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for the IPCC’s groundbreaking reports linking climate change to industrial emissions, and predicting its effects at various levels of emission.

Climate change expert and NASA scientist James Hansen and his wife, Anniek, recently echoed Pachauri in a letter sent to Barack and Michelle Obama before the inauguration. In the letter the Hansens stress that the world has only four years left before inaction will lead to a climate change disaster.

The letter urged the Obamas, “It is still feasible to avert climate disasters, but only if policies are consistent with what science indicates to be required.”

The letter states the safe limits for the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is “no more than 350 ppm, probably less. Pre-industrial carbon dioxide amount was 280 ppm.”

Current carbon dioxide levels are above 380 ppm and rising at an accelerating pace.

The letter goes on to outline some of the steps recommended for avoiding the worst case scenarios associated with climate change, including a move swiftly away from coal-based electricity generation.

And to an extent, the new Obama administration has shown a willingness to listen, vowing to create a green collar economy with the economic bailout, and reopening the issue of fleet-wide fuel efficiency increases for automakers, a measure long opposed by the Bush administration.

But the problem is a global one, and policy leaders will have to bridge long held differences at the next meeting of the UNCCC to be held later this year in Copenhagen.

The meeting is expected to result in a new climate change treaty to replace to Kyoto Protocol.

“When the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to agree a global deal on climate change, they will have no excuse for inaction,” said Mr. Leape.

“The world will be watching and expecting those leaders to adopt measures which will lead to a low-carbon economy, giving a fighting chance of keeping climate change below the crucial 2°C level.”

Rebecca Bowe contributed to this report.

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By Shawn Gaynor

Jan. 22 (GNT) — A newly published study in the journal Nature has reversed a long held belief that Antarctica’s interior is cooling, and found the overall climate of Antarctica is actually warming.

The red areas of the map show areas of the Antarctic that are warming.

Incomplete records of Antarctic climate, especially in interior regions far from research stations, have long been a gap in the data that scientists use to understand global temperature change. But the report released on Jan. 21 by a team of researchers and NASA scientists led by Dr. Eric Steig of the University of Washington shows a warming trend in the Western Antarctic area over the past 50 years.

“In fact, the warming in West Antarctica is greater than the cooling in East Antarctica, meaning that on average the continent has gotten warmer,” said Steig.

“West Antarctica is a very different place than East Antarctica, and there is a physical barrier, the Transantarctic Mountains, that separates the two.”

And this is in part what Steig says has caused previous researchers, with only two inland weather stations in the Eastern Antarctic region, to speculate that the climate of Antarctica was cooling (though warming has long been recognized on the Antarctic Peninsula).

The study found that warming in West Antarctica exceeded one-tenth of a degree Celsius per decade for the last 50 years, similar to temperature rise in other areas of the world.

Steig and his team used satellite data from NASA, and data from Antarctic weather stations to reconstruct a temperature model for the continent.

“People were calculating with their heads instead of actually doing the math,” Steig said. “What we did is interpolate carefully instead of just using the back of an envelope. While other interpolations had been done previously, no one had really taken advantage of the satellite data, which provide crucial information about spatial patterns of temperature change.”

“This study shows that, similar to the other six continents, Antarctica has undergone a significant warming over the past 50 years,” said Dr. Gareth Marshall, a climatologist from the British Antarctic Survey. “The magnitude of this warming is similar to the rest of the Southern Hemisphere, where we believe it is likely that human activity has played some role in the temperature increase (as stated in the last IPCC report) and therefore it is also likely that this is the case regarding an Antarctic warming.”

A hole in the Earth’s ozone layer has long been known to contribute to cooling in the East Antarctic region, but the new study shows that this cooling does not affect the rest of Antarctica.

“In any case, efforts to repair the ozone layer eventually will begin taking effect and the hole could be eliminated by the middle of this century,” Steig pointed out. “If that happens, all of Antarctica could begin warming on a par with the rest of the world.”

While the IPCC has addressed the issue of sea-level rise caused by global warming, previous projections haven’t included what effect Antarctic ice will have on sea levels due to previous gaps in Antarctic climate data.

Many scientists believe melting Antarctic land ice could add several meters to sea levels worldwide.

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