Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Harrison Ford on stage for
Conservation International. Credit: Conservation International
Conservation International Board member Harrison Ford and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton took the stage May 15 at Conservation International's 16th Annual New York Dinner to discuss the urgent need to preserve our natural capital. The conversation, which ranged fromillegal wildlife tradein Africa to the effects of achanging climateon the Arctic, underscored thedirect connectionbetween conservation and our economic and security interests.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service is
issuing two incidental harassment authorizations to Shell for energy
exploration activities in shallow waters in the Arctic during a limited
period this summer. The authorizations specify measures to protect
marine mammals and the subsistence interests of Alaskan Natives, and
are informed by the latest science as well as lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
While the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has primary
responsibility to authorize exploratory activities on the Outer
Continental Shelf, DOI’s conditional approvals of two Shell exploration
plans for activities beginning in 2012 in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas
each required Shell to seek incidental harassment authorizations under
the Marine Mammal Protection Act from NOAA as one of a series of
conditions prior to commencing any activity.
“We’re issuing these authorizations to Shell after conducting
extensive scientific review and considering public comments,” said Sam
Rauch, acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service.
“Shell will be required to put in place a number of mitigation measures
that reduce or eliminate direct impacts to these animals and any
negative effects on the ability of Alaskan Natives to conduct
subsistence hunts for marine mammals.”
NOAA’s role in granting incidental harassment authorizations is
to ensure that authorized activities do not harm or kill marine
mammals, such as bowhead whales, beluga whales, and ice seals. Upon
review of Shell’s application, NOAA does not expect Shell’s exploratory
drilling activities to result in serious injury or death to marine
mammals if mitigation measures are implemented. Additionally, NOAA does
not expect these activities to alter the availability of marine
mammals for Alaska Native subsistence hunters.
Under the authorization, Shell is required to follow measures to minimize effects to marine mammals, including:
Using trained observers to monitor and record animal behavior.
Lowering ship speeds when marine mammals are spotted during
aerial surveys or by observers on deck, and flying helicopters at
higher altitudes to minimize noise.
Communicating with Alaskan Native communities about exploratory activities and vessel routes.
Suspending operations in certain areas during certain times, so Native subsistence hunters can conduct their hunts.
These measures are intended to minimize the potential for
marine mammals to be harmed and to significantly reduce the number of
marine mammals exposed to activities that could adversely affect their
behavior. Additionally, NOAA will review Shell’s monitoring results to
use new information to modify mitigation or monitoring measures in
future authorizations.
More information on the authorizations, the federal register notice and the biological opinions, is available online.
Agreeing on provincial share of overall reduction target
One of the most alarming effects of global climate change is the melting
of the ice caps, which threatens to flood many coastal areas all over
the world. Credit: Canadian Space Agency
To reach Canada's goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to
17 per cent below the 2005 level by the year 2020, federal and
provincial governments, led by the Prime Minister and provincial
premiers, must reach agreement on what portion of the total GHG
reduction will be provided by each province say researchers from the
University of Toronto's School of the Environment. Their report is
being sent to all Canadian federal and provincial governments,
opposition parties and other participants in the climate policy
dialogue.
"Canadian governments have always known that allocation of
reductions was their greatest challenge, but have refused to face that
fact because they believed it was too divisive," said lead author
Douglas Macdonald. "But experiences in other jurisdictions such as the
European Union show that effective policy is impossible unless the
federal and provincial governments stand up to that challenge."
This is because analysis by Environment Canada and the former
National Round Table on Environment and Economy shows that current
federal and provincial programs will only achieve half of the target by
2020. To reach the full target, governments must double their efforts.
According to the researchers, that is impossible in the absence of a
coordinated national policy, because each of the 11 federal and
provincial governments is acting alone to implement its own climate
change policy. "No single government will double its effort knowing that
it alone cannot achieve the Canadian goal and with no guarantee other
governments will also act," said Macdonald.
The basic problem which governments refuse to face is that GHG
reduction imposes much higher costs upon the oil-producing provinces, in
particular Alberta and Saskatchewan, than upon other provinces explains
Macdonald. Understandably, the oil-producing provinces are less
motivated than others, which mean their rising emissions will undercut
action taken by other provinces or the federal government. But in the
absence of any system for developing coordinated national climate policy
it is impossible to reach agreement on how to share emission reduction
costs and so ensure effective action in all provinces.
The U of T report draws on studies of the allocation problem in
Canada and other jurisdictions to recommend that Canadian federal and
provincial governments:
Establish a federal-provincial process of coordinated climate-change policy development, led by First Ministers
Use that process to reach agreement on an equitable sharing
of the over-all cost, using mechanisms such as differing provincial
targets or financial assistance for those affected
Set the new post-2020 target, as Canada has agreed to do under
the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change 2011 Durban
Platform for Enhanced Action, at home with full agreement of the
provinces including agreement on GHG reduction allocation, rather than
having the target set by the federal government alone at an
international conference.
"The present system is not working," said Macdonald. "We need to do
things differently and the EU, and to a lesser extent Australia and
Germany, offer models for addressing Canada's need to share the cost of
GHG reductions in a way in which those in all parts of the country
believe is fair and reasonable. We need leadership from the Prime
Minister and all provincial Premiers. They have to start working
together."
The executive summary and the full report Allocating Canadian
greenhouse gas emission reductions amongst sources and provinces:
learning from the EU, Australia and Germany are available at
uoft.me/allocate
The report is the result of a three-year study done by faculty and
graduate students at the University of Toronto, Technische Universitat
Darmstadt, Germany and Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Funding
was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
"We hope to start a badly needed conversation in Canada," Macdonald
said.
People with negative feelings toward climate change seek out more information, study finds
Sixty-two percent of Americans now say they believe that global
warming is happening, but 46 percent say they are "very sure" or
"extremely sure" that it is not. Only 49 percent know why it is
occurring, and about as many say they're not worried about it, according
to the April report of the Yale Project on Climate Change
Communication.
Because information about climate change is ubiquitous in the
media, researchers at the University at Buffalo and the University of
Texas, Austin, looked at why many Americans know so little about its
causes and why many are not interested in finding out more.
The study, "What, Me Worry? The Role of Affect in Information
Seeking and Avoidance" was conducted by Z. Janet Yang, PhD, assistant
professor of communication at UB, and Lee Ann Kahlor, PhD, associate
professor of public relations and advertising at UT Austin. It was
published in the April 2013 issue of the journal Science Communication and is available at this address.
Yang says, "Our key variables of interest were 'information seeking' and 'information avoidance.'
"We found that emotions have different impacts on both behaviors
and that those with whom we socialize also are an important influence on
our communication behaviors."
In particular, according to Yang, the study found:
Those who had negative feelings toward climate change –
feelings marked by states of fear, depression, anxiety, etc., – actively
sought more information about climate change. They also saw climate
change as having serious risks, and considered their current knowledge
about it insufficient.
Those driven by a positive affect toward climate change –
an emotional state marked by hopefulness, excitement, happiness, etc. –
actively avoided exposure to additional information on the issue. They
also said climate change presented little risk to nature and humans, and
they viewed their knowledge about climate change as sufficient.
Our social environment has the potential to strongly
influence whether we seek or avoid climate change information. This,
the researchers say, may be because we are most often around people who
agree with us about important issues, reinforce our perception of risk
and support or discourage further action.
The study involved an online survey of 736 undergraduates from two
large U.S. universities (61.3 percent female, 62.5 percent white, median
family income, $90,000).
The research survey was developed and executed using Qualtrics software and was designed to ascertain:
The subjects' general affect in relation to climate change –
positive (excited, hopeful, happy) or negative (concerned, worried,
anxious)
How much information about climate change they thought they had and how much more they thought they needed
How severe they found the threat of climate change to be to themselves and to nature, and its impact around the world
How valuable they thought seeking information on the subject would be to them
How much they valued others' opinions toward seeking information about climate change
The confidence each had in his or her ability to find information about climate change
"Earlier research in social psychology has found that emotion, both
positive and negative, is motivational and involves action tendency and
action readiness," Yang explains.
"Those with a negative affect may seek out information, even if
it includes negative predictions, in order to reduce their uncertainty
and perhaps reassert control over the situation," says Yang.
"On the other hand, those with a positive affect who say they
avoid seeking information may do so because they want to maintain their
uncertainty – and their emotional equilibrium – from negative
information that might upset them as well as contradict the attitudes of
their social support group."
The researchers say the study results present several ways to
improve the communication of risk information related to climate change.
They say the data on subjects' reported information sufficiency
suggests that risk communication about climate change might benefit from
these approaches:
Arousing a sense of curiosity and debunking false beliefs
about ecological risks so people are not complacent about what they
already know
Highlighting potential negative consequences and fostering a positive attitude toward learning about climate change
Monitoring the audience's social environment and its
perceived ability for finding and understanding information about
climate change
Promoting optimism that human action, such as reducing
greenhouse gas, could actually combat the consequences of climate
change.
Yang conducts research centered on the communication of risk
information related to science, health and environmental issues, and on
social cognitive variables that influence information seeking and
processing, health decision making and public perception of
environmental and health risks.
Kahlor's research is centered on health and environmental risk
communication with an emphasis on mass communication of complex science
and information seeking.
"What if we could preserve wild spaces simply by protecting one family of animals?"
This film is for teachers, scientists, non-profits and people
interested in bears and preserving wild spaces. This film was made
possible by an anonymous donation and was produced in partnership with
Wildlife Media.
What's good for bears is good for people and the planet.
This year’s European Day of Parks has the motto "My Park. My Passion. My Story."
Inaugurated in 1999, the European Day of Parks is organised
by the Europarc Federation, and held on or around 24 May each year. The
aim of the event is to bring people closer to nature and to raise
public awareness about the importance of conservation and sustainable
management of protected areas.
In keeping with this year’s motto, protected areas’
employees, visitors and other stakeholders are being invited to share
their experiences of and passion for nature in some art form, such as
stories, songs, pictures, films or plays.
Activities may be held well ahead of 24 May, as well as on
the day itself, and be linked to the European Day of Parks. The
Europarc Federation has suggestions on possible activities and ways to
explore creatively people’s passion for nature on its website.
International experts recommend key focus areas for next 2 years
As leadership of the Arctic Council passes from Sweden to Canada May
15, experts say it is crucial that northern nations strengthen response
capabilities to shipping-related accidents foreseen in newly-opened
northern waters, as well as to more-common local emergencies such as
floods, forest fires and rescue situations.
And Canada needs to lead by example. Despite having the world's
longest Arctic coastline and second-largest territory in the region, its
far northern marine and aviation infrastructure badly lags by
international comparison, according to experts with the Munk-Gordon
Arctic Security Program, an initiative of the Canada Centre for Global
Security Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of
Toronto and the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation.
Northern emergency flight rescue operations today originate from the
Royal Canadian Air Force base in the southern Ontario city of Trenton
and involve at least eight hours of flying. The Canadian Coast Guard
aims to respond to requests for icebreaking services within 10 hours.
However, weather and distance often result in response times measured in
days.
By contrast, Russia is building 10 search and rescue stations along its Northern Sea Route, expected to open in 2015.
The Arctic Council ministerial meeting this week is hosted by the
outgoing chair, Sweden, in that country's northernmost city, Kiruna.
The anticipated 300 delegates - perhaps the largest in Arctic
Council history - include noted Canadian historian John English, author
of a forthcoming book - Ice and Water: Power, Peoples and the Arctic
Council - and a senior member of the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program
team. Says Dr. English: "Chairing the Arctic Council represents a real
opportunity for Canada to show leadership in a region whose importance
to global affairs is rapidly increasing."
In Kiruna, specific initiatives and goals of the Canadian
chairmanship will be articulated. Minister Leona Aglukkaq has detailed
Canada's main priorities in the chair as "development for the people of
the North," supporting this with sub-themes of sustainable Arctic
communities, responsible resource extraction, and safe Arctic shipping.
"Underpinning all of the Arctic Council's work must be a commitment
to the full involvement of Permanent Participants from indigenous
communities," says Thomas Axworthy, President and CEO of the Walter and
Duncan Gordon Foundation. "In that regard, as it moves forward on its
priority of safe shipping, Canada should heed the voices of those living
in the north who know first-hand the realities of Arctic emergency
response."
In a May 2012 report, the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program said:
"A proudly northern nation, Canada is the second largest Arctic state.
Half of the country's land mass lies in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. It
has a 162,000-km Arctic coast line, but is the only Arctic nation
without a deep water port."
The report recommended Canada "make the necessary strategic
investments in Canadian Arctic air and marine infrastructure to enable
Canada to effectively implement the Arctic Council negotiated accord on
search and rescue" and be prepared to fulfil its international agreement
obligations.
The "Agreement on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue"
negotiated under Arctic Council auspices and signed in 2011, clearly
defines the territory for which a nation is the primary responder, with
responses augmented as required by other Arctic states.
This Open Canada info-graphic details one of 14 search and rescue
operations executed in Northern Canada since 2010. To view all 14 and
more information visit this page.
Local community members are often the frontline of response to
emergencies in remote Arctic communities, says Sara French, Director of
the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program which, early next year, will
host a major meeting on northern security issues, partnering with
several international organizations sharing common concerns.
A 2010 survey
conducted for the Program showed about 90 per cent of northern
respondents deemed of top importance (a four or five out of five)
national capacity to respond to disasters, such as major northern oil
spills, emergency search and rescue teams and equipment, and basic
public infrastructure.
When asked if Canada is well equipped to respond to emergencies,
including search and rescue teams and equipment, only 40 per cent of
northerners agreed. Just 11 per cent thought there was sufficient
capacity to respond to disasters, such as a major spill. Investing in
infrastructure was virtually tied with better healthcare as an
investment priority among Canadians in the Far North (65 per cent vs. 66
per cent respectively).
As stated in the Program report Canada as an Arctic Power:"For
northern Canadians, fatal aircraft accidents in Resolute and
Yellowknife, and the deadly fire on-board a Norwegian cruise ship - all
in the fall of 2011- further highlighted the need to develop effective
emergency management systems in the Arctic that are matched by adequate
assets to carry them out."
An Institute of the North survey in Alaska found similar thoughts
about Northern priorities among residents of that state, with "capacity
to respond to disasters, such as major oil spills" in first place;
"capacity to respond to emergencies, including search and rescue teams
and equipment" in third place; and "basic infrastructure, like roads,
hospitals, libraries, schools and water treatment facilities" in fourth.
It is not yet known how many, if any, new non-Arctic countries will
be accorded Arctic Council observer status. Their role in shaping Arctic
governance is already being felt at the International Maritime
Organization, however, which is negotiating a voluntary Polar Code for
Arctic shipping. At the talks, Canada articulated a strong stance on
pollution-related issues.
Propose a new funding mechanism to enable Permanent Participants to
fully participate in all of the working groups of the Arctic Council.
Support the Permanent Participants in co-operation with the Arctic
Council member states to jointly review the role of the Indigenous
Peoples Secretariat (IPS) following the creation of the Permanent
Secretariat of the Arctic Council in Tromsø, Norway.
Make the necessary strategic investments in Canadian Arctic air and
marine infrastructure to enable Canada to effectively implement the
Arctic Council negotiated accord on search and rescue.
Encourage the Arctic Council to recognize the special role for
regional, state, and territorial governments in Arctic governance and
particularly in the Arctic Council.
Encourage the Arctic Council Secretariat to create plain-language
summaries of its studies and activities so that the information is
accessible to interested citizens.
Propose that any candidate for Arctic Council Observer status must
publicly declare its respect for the sovereignty of Arctic states and
the rights of Arctic indigenous peoples.
Fund the Canadian Polar Commission to a level equivalent to counterpart institutions in other Arctic states.
The Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program: A partnership between the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies
at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and the
Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security
Program is dedicated to studying and promoting four overarching areas of
concern: public opinion research, Arctic Council, Arctic Peoples and
Security, and emergency management. Program details, publications and
opinion polls can be accessed at this website.
Researchers from the Universities of Bamberg and Bonn present causal evidence on how markets affect moral values
Many people express objections against child labor, exploitation of
the workforce or meat production involving cruelty against animals. At
the same time, however, people ignore their own moral standards when
acting as market participants, searching for the cheapest electronics,
fashion or food. Thus, markets reduce moral concerns. This is the main
result of an experiment conducted by economists from the Universities of
Bonn and Bamberg. The results are presented in the latest issue of the
renowned journal "Science".
Prof. Dr. Armin Falk from the University of Bonn and Prof. Dr. Nora
Szech from the University of Bamberg, both economists, have shown in an
experiment that markets erode moral concerns. In comparison to
non-market decisions, moral standards are significantly lower if people
participate in markets.
In markets, people ignore their individual moral standards
"Our results show that market participants violate their own moral
standards," says Prof. Falk. In a number of different experiments,
several hundred subjects were confronted with the moral decision between
receiving a monetary amount and killing a mouse versus saving the life
of a mouse and foregoing the monetary amount. "It is important to
understand what role markets and other institutions play in moral
decision making. This is a question economists have to deal with," says
Prof. Szech.
"To study immoral outcomes, we studied whether people are willing to
harm a third party in exchange to receiving money. Harming others in an
intentional and unjustified way is typically considered unethical,"
says Prof. Falk. The animals involved in the study were so-called
"surplus mice", raised in laboratories outside Germany. These mice are
no longer needed for research purposes. Without the experiment, they
would have all been killed. As a consequence of the study many hundreds
of young mice that would otherwise all have died were saved. If a
subject decided to save a mouse, the experimenters bought the animal.
The saved mice are perfectly healthy and live under best possible lab
conditions and medical care.
Simple bilateral markets affect moral decisions
A subgroup of subjects decided between life and money in a
non-market decision context (individual condition). This condition
allows for eliciting moral standards held by individuals. The condition
was compared to two market conditions in which either only one buyer and
one seller (bilateral market) or a larger number of buyers and sellers
(multilateral market) could trade with each other. If a market offer was
accepted a trade was completed, resulting in the death of a mouse.
Compared to the individual condition, a significantly higher number of
subjects were willing to accept the killing of a mouse in both market
conditions. This is the main result of the study. Thus markets result in
an erosion of moral values. "In markets, people face several mechanisms
that may lower their feelings of guilt and responsibility," explains
Nora Szech. In market situations, people focus on competition and
profits rather than on moral concerns. Guilt can be shared with other
traders. In addition, people see that others violate moral norms as
well.
"If I don't buy or sell, someone else will."
In addition, in markets with many buyers and sellers, subjects may
justify their behavior by stressing that their impact on outcomes is
negligible. "This logic is a general characteristic of markets," says
Prof. Falk. Excuses or justifications appeal to the saying, "If I don't
buy or sell now, someone else will." For morally neutral goods, however,
such effects are of minor importance. Nora Szech explains: "For goods
without moral relevance, differences in decisions between the individual
and the market conditions are small. The reason is simply that in such
cases the need to share guilt or excuse behavior is absent."
A revolution is taking place in how businesses and governments account for natural capital.
Against a backdrop of increasing international interest in how we value
the economic benefits we derive from our natural environment, business
leaders, policy makers and sustainability leaders from around the world
will come together in Edinburgh in November for the inaugural World
Forum on Natural Capital.
Since the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio last June, there has been a
groundswell of private sector interest in the concept of natural
capital accounting. As the first major global conference devoted to
turning the emerging debate into action, the World Forum on Natural
Capital aims to widen understanding of the implications for businesses
and the risks of ignoring ‘invisible’ assets.
Scientists have developed a new Red List system for identifying
ecosystems at high risk of degradation, similar to the influential Red
List for the world's threatened species.
The study, which illustrates how the framework for risk assessment
applies to 20 ecosystems around the world, including eight in Australia,
is published today in the Public Library of Science journal, PLoS ONE.
Professor Keith, of UNSW's Australian Wetlands, Rivers and
Landscapes Centre, AWRLC, said that ecosystems around the globe are
facing unprecedented threats. This affects biodiversity and -
increasingly - the services that living organisms provide to people,
including clean water, and agricultural and fisheries production.
"This is one of the world's most significant conservation challenges
and we really need a better system for understanding the risks to the
world's ecosystems, so that we can make more informed decisions about
sustainable environmental management.
"Now, for the first time, we have a consistent method for
identifying the most threatened ecosystems across land, freshwater and
ocean environments," said Professor Keith.
One of the authors, Professor Richard Kingsford, Director of the
AWRLC said: "The most encouraging thing about this initiative is that it
focuses attention on the habitats of our biodiversity. We can see it
applying to the hundreds, or even thousands, of species that might live
in an ecosystem".
The method evaluates multiple symptoms of risk produced by different processes of ecosystem degradation.
"Changes in the distribution of an ecosystem, its physical
environment and its component species can each tell us something
different about the severity of risks, and these symptoms can now be
assessed in standard ways across different types of ecosystems," said
Professor Keith.
The new system is flexible, enabling it to handle a range of
different sources of information, depending on the specific processes
driving degradation of each ecosystem.
The PLoS study illustrates the implementation of the
framework using 20 case studies encompassing rainforests, wetlands,
coral reefs and other major global ecosystems.
"This is a major breakthrough for the challenge of managing
ecosystems more sustainably. We will be able to apply it across global,
national and state boundaries for consistent state of environment
reporting," said Dr Emily Nicholson, of the Centre of Excellence in
Environmental Decisions at the University of Melbourne, a co-author of
the study.
Dr Jon Paul Rodriguez, at Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano
de Investigaciones Científicas, Venezuela, joint leader of the project
for IUCN, organised an extensive international consultation process to
build a strong conceptual framework for risk assessment that is well
grounded in the practicalities of different ecosystems around the world.
He said the framework was a critical step towards the development of
a world view of our environment and all its ecosystems, which IUCN is
aiming to complete by 2025.
