Friday, October 28, 2016

Maior Santuário Marinho na Antárctida Protegido






Antarctida
créditos: Pauline Askin / Reuters

Foi hoje, dia 28 Outubro 2016 concluido um acordo histórico sobre a maior reserva marinha do mundo de vida selvagem Antárctida.

O Mar de Ross é um dos últimos ecossistemas marinhos intactos do mundo. É o habitat de pinguins, focas e baleias. Uma zona crucial para os cientistas estudarem os ecossistemas e compreenderem os impactos das mudanças climáticas no oceano.

A maior reserva marinha do mundo para proteger a vida selvagem da Antárctida vai ser finalmente criada, após o acordo alcançado hoje, disseram responsáveis governamentais.





O acordo, concluído durante a reunião anual da Comissão para a Conservação dos Recursos Vivos Marinhos da Antárctida na sua reunião anual em Hobart, Austrália, vai permitir a criação de uma enorme área marinha protegida pelos Estados Unidos e pela Nova Zelândia, no Mar de Ross.

A área protegida vai ter 1,55 milhões de quilómetros quadrados, afirmou o ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros da Nova Zelândia, Murray McCully.

Segundo o director do projecto Aliança do Oceano Antártico, Mike Walker, pela primeira vez os países puseram de lados as suas diferenças para proteger uma grande área do Oceano Antárctico e das águas internacionais.

O Mar de Ross é um dos últimos ecossistemas marinhos intactos do mundo e é lar de pinguins, focas e baleias.

Today, the largest marine protected area in the world was created in the Ross Sea, off the coast of Antarctica. This is a huge victory for the whales, penguins, and toothfish that live there and for the millions of people standing up to protect our oceans. 



After years of negotiations, twenty-four countries and the EU have agreed to create the world’s largest marine park in the Antarctic Ocean.
Meeting in Hobart, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources said the 1.55 million square kilometre Ross Sea marine park would be protected from commercial fishing for three to five years.
Scientists say the marine park will also allow a greater understanding of the impact of climate change.
The Ross Sea sanctuary becomes the biggest marine protected area in the world, covering 1,550,000km2 (which is roughly the size of three Texases, two Spains, or one Mongolia), almost three quarters of which will be a fully-protected.


Known as ‘the Last Ocean’, the Ross sea has been identified by scientists as the most pristine shallow ocean left on earth.
The sea comprises only 2% of the Southern Ocean but is thought to be home to more than 10,000 species including seabirds, colossal squid, 38% of the world's Adelie penguins, 30% of the world's Antarctic petrels and about 6% of the world's population of Antarctic minke whales.


Image captionUN oceans patron, Lewis Pugh, engaged in "speedo diplomacy" to push for a dealcredits: Kelvin Trautmanhttp://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/
"I'm absolutely overjoyed," said Lewis Pugh, the UN Patron for the Oceans, and someone who has campaigned for years in support of this new MPA.
"This is the biggest protected area on the land or the sea, this is the first large scale MPA on the high seas, they are largely unprotected."
The ocean advocate and swimmer drew attention to the Ross Sea with a series of swims in the icy waters - and for two years he has engaged in a series of meetings, dubbed "speedo diplomacy" with Russian officials to convince them of the value of the MPA.

Ross Sea Protected Area
credits: WWF
To finally get agreement to protect the Ross Sea a time clause of 35 years was included, which means that in 35 years CCAMLR members will again need to decide on its future. Marine protection, to be truly effective, needs to be long lasting so we have all those years ahead of us to make sure when the Ross Sea sanctuary is up for renewal, there is no resistance to making it permanent. We’re pretty confident that by 2051 it will be a simple decision!

Geração 'explorer'
28.10.2016
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Sources:
DN | Ambiente
Greanpeace | EuroNews | BBC

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Gronelândia aquece : cientistas preocupados, população feliz






Nuuk, Gronelândia
créditos: Filip Gielda/ Creative Commons 

Os glaciares da Gronelândia estão a derreter a um ritmo preocupante para os ambientalistas. Já os seus habitantes não reagem do mesmo modo. Desde que a temperatura média da ilha junto ao Árctico começou a subir, o crescimento da economia local disparou.



Mapa Gronelândia
A ilha que no século XVIII se tornou uma região autónoma da Dinamarca, com 57 mil habitantes, viu nos últimos anos o seu solo arável crescer, bem como os períodos de cultivo. 
Com pastagens por mais tempo, os seus rebanhos cresceram de 15 mil cabeças – média de há cerca de vinte anos – para 20 mil cabeças e com águas menos gélidas a população de peixes disparou.



Barcos piscatórios Gronelândia
No mar do Norte, que banha a Noruega e a Dinamarca, os pescadores já notaram que as espécies de bacalhau são mais abundantes, assim como os atuns. Esta abastança já teve reflexos nas quotas de pesca, que passaram para o dobro.
Estas mudanças estão a levar os naturais da região a festejar o impacto do aumento da temperatura global na sua terra. 
De acordo com uma reportagem da revista brasileira Veja, "as prateleiras dos supermercados de Nuuk, a capital da Groenlândia, nunca estiveram tão cheias de fruta e vegetais, algo inimaginável até há poucos anos."
A prazo o aumento da temperatura global, que está na base das mais sérias preocupações da comunidade internacional, poderá também jogar contra os interesses da Gronelândia, mas para a sua população, o espírito do adágio popular, aplica-se: “Enquanto o pau vai e vem, folgam as costas.


Aerial surveys show two glaciers flowing into Johan Petersen fjord, Greenland
credits: Jeremy Harbeck/Icebridge/NASA
The huge annual losses of ice from the Greenland cap are even worse than thought, according to new research which also shows that the melt is not a short-term blip but a long-term trend.
The melting Greenland ice sheet is already a major contributor to rising sea level and if it was eventually lost entirely, the oceans would rise by six metres around the world, flooding many of the world’s largest cities.


Departures from average temperature on Sunday, June 12, 2016
Source: ClimateReanalyzer.org



With parts of Greenland experiencing record high temperatures of late, melting of snow and ice at the surface has been skyrocketing.
This follows a record low extent of Arctic sea ice in May, and other troublesome signs that global warming is taking off in the high north.


Greenland
Almost every day we hear about how bad climate change is for the Earth and the population. Yet after speaking with locals in Nuuk and experiencing a small part of the Greenlandic culture, we got some other perspectives. 
In Greenland, a vast island almost wholly covered by the huge ice sheet, many of the residents view the climate change in a positive light.
Global warming is melting Greenland's ice, extending its shipping season and revealing massive oil and mineral deposits.


Climate change means oil finds and zinc mines and also better fishing: cod, herring, halibut and haddock migrating north as the ocean warms. 
It means disaster tourists: people coming to see glaciers slide into the sea. (Since 2004, cruise-ship arrivals have jumped 250 per cent.) 




Greenland
It means farming: potatoes and broccoli and carrots growing where they didn't grow before, more grass for more sheep. And it means gushing rivers: an endless supply of freshwater that Greenland proposes to sell to a thirsty world.

Geração 'explorer'
08.10.2016
Creative Commons License