A five-point The Ocean Manifesto plan

High-tech geoengineering might one day just be able to return atmospheric carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per million, at which level coral reefs can persist. But long before then the multiplying effects of changing climate and human pressure will have crippled marine ecosystems. For the ocean to survive, we need to throw it five lifelines by doing the following:

1: Establishing marine reserves

Less than 0.01 per cent of the ocean lies within reserves, but reserves do work: they boost biomass and biodiversity and allow ecosystems to grow resilient. Around the British-controlled Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, for example, the seas are not part of a formal reserve but have effectively been protected since 1965 by the presence of the US base at Diego Garcia; reefs here have been able to recover quickly from bleaching events.

2: Ending the freedom of the seas

Only by zoning and controlling access to the ocean can it be rescued. The present situation has led to a depletion of the ocean’s biomass, something which is as important as biodiversity for the resilience of ecosystems. For instance, 95 per cent of filter-feeders have been removed from the ocean. The North Sea and our estuaries once had clear waters full of oyster beds; restoring even a fraction of these will lead to cleaner water and an increase in sunlight for seabed organisms.

3: Controlling fishing fleets

The fishing industry is destroying essential biodiversity and biomass because of huge subsidies and overcapacity. Ending both will mean more fish in the sea as well as on the plate, while cutting the amount of fuel used to catch them.

4: Banning bottom trawling

A widespread ban would allow seabed habitats to recover. The hidden complexity of seabed life is a key component of the ocean’s ability to recycle nutrients.

5: Controlling pollution

Agricultural fertilisers being washed into rivers are a major cause of the growth in deoxygenated dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, and plastics are pulling poisons into food webs.

The waters surrounding the Chagos Islands

A company belonging to the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser is opposing plans to create the world’s biggest marine reserve. His company holds a government contract to manage fishing in the area, which would be banned if the reserve were created.

The waters surrounding the Chagos Islands — or the British Indian Ocean Territory — are among the most pristine in the world. In November David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, announced a consultation on whether to ban all fishing in the area after a campaign by a coalition of conservationists and ecological scientists. A decision is expected in the spring.

The company owned by Professor John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser, and his wife, argues there is no evidence that a ban would improve the environment and would in fact drive fishing boats into other areas of the Indian Ocean where there is less control over what they catch.

The Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) Ltd was established by Professor Beddington, a renowned expert on marine fisheries, in 1986.

A green turtle in the Chagos Islands

In 1991 a 200-mile exclusion zone was declared around the Chagos Islands and MRAG won the contract to manage the fishing. The following year Professor Beddington became special adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the fisheries around Chagos. Although the management contract must be put out for tender every five years, MRAG has always won it. Neither MRAG nor the Foreign Office will confirm its value, but MacAlister Elliott, a company that tendered for the work in 2005, put in a bid of £1.4 million for three years.

Upon taking his government position in 2008 Professor Beddington resigned his directorship but he still controls the company with a majority shareholding (50.1 per cent). The remainder are owned by his wife.

The Foreign Office earns between £700,000 and £1 million a year from licences to fish around Chagos. This income offsets the £1.7 million annual cost of running the region’s patrol boat, the Pacific Marlin. The shortfall is made up from a Foreign Office fund.

MRAG is not opposed to protecting the area’s coral reefs, but is against the proposal to ban fishing from the 544,000 sq km (210,000 sq miles) under British control. The MRAG contract ends in May, although the Government has the option of extending it for another year.

“If the whole area was declared closed there could be potentially negative consequences,” said Chris Rees, the MRAG development director. “Shark-finning is banned completely, unlike elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. If you close the fishery those boats will be displaced to areas where there is less control.”

While acknowledging the benefits of marine reserves for resident species, Mr Rees said that “for tuna fisheries the case is less strong. Unless very, very large — and the size of the waters is not sufficiently large — then reserves are not going to affect the catch of highly migratory species like tuna.”

But other marine scientists disagree. “Tuna aren’t free-swimming in a random way,” said Heather Koldewey, a marine ecologist at the Zoological Society of London. “They’re attracted to certain features and Chagos is a perfect breeding area for them.”

While scientists working on fisheries management (including those at MRAG) focus on the sustainability of harvesting key species such as tuna, those from other branches of marine science increasingly recognise that protecting the wider ecosystem is vital for the long-term health of the ocean.

“Top predators are the linchpin for the whole ecosystem. Remove them and there are knock-on effects down the food chain,” Dr Koldeway said.

A spokesman said that Professor Beddington had not been involved in the management of MRAG and had not discussed related issues with the Foreign Office. Not all science related to government business passed his office, the spokesman said, but he did oversee other chief scientific advisers.

Last July the Foreign Office hired Professor David Clary as its chief scientific adviser. If the Foreign Secretary requires guidance, it is Professor Clary that he will turn to first.

“The concern is that he [Professor Beddington] has the potential for informal influence over this decision,” said Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat frontbencher. “I would have thought, given his role, it is perhaps appropriate to divest himself of all financial interests while the decision is being made.”

Willie Mackenzie, an ocean campaigner for Greenpeace, said: “Scientists tell us that marine reserves are crucial to protect marine life. Unfortunately it seems that a company owned by the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser didn’t get the memo.”

Global warming is a fantasy in the environment

Some say global warming is a fantasy in the environment. Some say it was destiny. Scientists are still pros and cons about it. To be sure, that natural phenomena can be felt in the following 10 events. And that certainly is not a mere imagination, because we've been there.

* Forest fires massive
Not only in Indonesia, a number of forests in the United States also burned ludes. In recent decades, forest fires over many areas meluluhlantakan within a longer, too. Scientists attribute this rampant fires with increasingly hot temperatures and snow melting faster. Spring came early so that the snow melts early, too. Forest areas drier than usual and more easily burned.

* Easily damaged archaeological sites
As a result of a hostile nature, a number of temples, historic sites, temples and other artifacts more easily damaged than some time ago. floods, extreme temperatures and causing tidal it all. Historic Sites 600 years old in Thailand, Sukhotai, already damaged by floods recently.

* The height of the mountain reduced
Without realizing it many people, the Alps have high shrinkage. This caused the melting of ice on top. For hundreds of years, the weight of the ice has pushed the earth's surface due to the pressure. As the ice melts, the weight is lifted and slowly lifted back to surface.

* The satellite moves faster
Carbon dioxide emissions more quickly make the planet warm, even into space impact. Terluat the air in the atmosphere is very thin, but with the increased carbon dioxide Jumah, the molecules in the upper atmosphere together more slowly and tend to radiate energy, and cools the surrounding air. The more carbon dioxide up there, then the atmosphere creates more encouragement, and the satellites move faster.

* Only the Strongest of Abiding
As a result of the growing season uncertain, the only living beings is the strong can survive. For example, early flowering plants this year, the migration of animals occur more quickly. They are moving slowly will lose food, they sementar more agile, able to survive. The same is true for all living things including humans.

* Massive Melting
Not only the temperature that triggers melting planet gununges, but also all the layers of soil that had been frozen. This melting ground trigger wrinkle causing irregular holes and damage to structures such as railways, highways, and houses. The impact of this instability on the high plains like the mountains could even cause the collapse of rock.

* Peculiarity in the Polar Region
The loss of 125 lakes in the Arctic a few decades ago led to the idea that global warming is happening more "excited" at the poles. Research around airyang source shows the possibility of missing the melting of the frozen world basis.

* Flowering plants in the Arctic
When melting Arctic trigger problems at the plant in danhewan lower plateau, also created the same situation with saatmatahari buried in the Arctic biota. Plants there is always trapped in the ice is no longer and began to grow. Scientists found an increase in photosynthetic formation of soil compared to soil surrounding the ancient era.

* Habitat Living Move to a Higher Plain
Since the early decades of the 1900s, humans had to climb in order to find lebihtinggi squirrel, beaver or forest rats. Scientists found that these animals have moved to higher ground due to global warming. The displacement of these habitats threatens the habitat of polar bears as well, because the ice where they live are also melting.

* Increased Allergy Cases
Often experience sneezing attacks and itchy in the spring matasaat, then Blame global warming. Several decades of allergy and asthma cases among the American people experienced an increase. Hidupdan pattern of pollution is considered the trigger. Scientists study showed that high levels of carbon dioxide and temperature trigger latter. These conditions also make the plants bloom earlier and produce more pollen.

(see More from www.livescience.com)

Rainforest destruction accounts for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions

Environmentalists across the world are to be enlisted as armchair detectives to monitor satellite images of rainforests and report any illegal logging.

The images will be frequently updated and anyone with internet access will be able to make instant comparisons with historical images and spot destruction of rainforest almost as soon as it happens.

Every four seconds an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is cut or burnt down for timber and paper or to clear land for cattle and plantations.

Rainforest destruction accounts for 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than is produced by all the world’s cars, ships and aircraft. Tropical forests cover 15 per cent of the world’s land surface and have a double cooling effect, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and maintaining high levels of evaporation from the canopy.

(Rickey Rogers/Reuters)

Rainforest destruction accounts for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions

The armchair detectives will be able to report their findings to an international agency being created to monitor whether countries are meeting their commitments to reduce deforestation. Any state found to have broken its pledge will lose its share of a new global fund established by rich countries to pay nations for leaving their trees standing.

The fund, called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd) and worth up to $30 billion (£18 billion) a year, is due to be approved at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen next month.

Google is helping to create the new online detective tool, which is likely to be launched next year. Philipp Schindler, from Google UK, said: “Our engineers are exploring how we might contribute to this effort by developing a global forest platform that would enable anyone in the world, including tropical nations, to monitor deforestation and draw attention to it.”

Mr Schindler was speaking yesterday at a seminar on deforestation hosted at St James’s Palace by Prince Charles and attended by leaders and ministers from several of the largest rainforest countries.

President Jagdeo of Guyana told the seminar that the cheapest way for industrialised countries to reduce carbon emissions was to pay poor countries, such as Guyana, not to fell their trees.

Contributors to the Redd fund will pay about £4 for each tonne of CO2 saved by reducing the rate of deforestation. Fitting carbon capture and storage systems to coal-fired power stations costs more than £50 for each tonne saved.

Norway announced last week that it would demonstrate how Redd could work by paying Guyana up to £150 million over five years to preserve its trees.

Guyana’s forests have been far less logged than in many tropical nations, and under the terms of the new deal with Norway, Guyana could actually be paid for increasing deforestation. The memorandum states that Norway will compensate Guyana if it does not cut down more than 0.45 per cent of its forests per year, but Guyana is currently felling trees at a far slower rate. The countries contributing to Redd are concerned that their money could disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials in poorly governed countries. There are also fears that payments will result in logging companies switching to unprotected areas, resulting in no net reduction in deforestation.

Per Frederik Pharo, of the Norwegian Government’s forest protection fund, said payments would only be made when countries could prove that they had reduced their annual rate of deforestation by an agreed amount. He said the targets would be raised every five years.

Brazil has halved its rate of deforestation in the past year but Tasso Azevedo, of Brazil’s Forest Service, warned that it could increase again unless the country received substantial sums of Redd “People have to have some income and we need a lot of cash for the community to maintain the forest,”he said.