Global Systems and Governance- Case Study Antarctica
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- Created on: 10-05-21 13:36
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- Global Systems and Governance- Case Study Antarctica
- Environment and Climate
- Has 90% of the Earths ice and 70% of fresh water
- Little available water for plants to grow, most precipitation that falls is frozen
- Average temperature is -49 degrees
- Little sun in the winter- few animals and plants can survive and the ones that do have specially adapted
- Antarctica's plant life is made up of mosses ad lichens
- The lack of water, warmth and sunlight mean land is very fragile and is easily damaged
- Lots of sea lifer- fish, seals, whales, birds like albatross and penguins- if the population of one species decreases it effects others
- Threats to Antarctica
- Climate Change
- Areas along the west coast have warmed by 3 degrees
- Warming has caused the ice shelves around Weddell and Ross sea to melt
- Species like Adelie penguins who have adapted to the ice have decreased in numbers
- The Krill population has declined by 80% since 1970's as the ice has melted
- Krill is the main food for penguins, seals and whales so a decline in krill has caused a decline in these species
- Melting ice has impacted sea levels which have risen 3mm since 1990's
- Fishing and Whaling
- Patagonain toothfish is being fished unsustainably- 200,000 tonnes of krill were fished in 2013
- Reduced fish and krill population have effects on other species in the food chain
- There are legal limits on how much you can fish however there is lots of illegal fishing
- Whaling was common mid-20th century but has declined since 1982 where regulations were put in place to ban commercial whaling
- Tourism and Research
- Increases shipping and air travel leading to water and air pollution
- Risk of boats hitting icebergs which cause fuel spills
- Tourists can disturb breeding colonies of birds.
- Trampling damages vegetation and erodes landscape
- Litter and waste disposal damages habitats and harms wildlife- decomposition in cold areas are slow
- Antarctica is important for scientific research this requires lots of facilitiesincluding bases to live, roads to transport supples and places ti store fuel
- Search for minerals
- There are large underground deposits of coal and iron in the Transantarctic Mountains and oil reserves under the Sothern Ocean
- Mining in Antarctica is currently banned- it's also too far to transport machinery
- Mining in Antarctica would be difficult and expensive
- Untitled
- Climate Change
- Antarctica Treaty System
- Agreement about how to sustainably manage Antarctica's ecosystems
- Has 53 countries
- Antarctica can only be used for peaceful reasons-no army or weapons allowed there
- Countries should cooperate on scientific research
- Antarctica should remain in the global commons
- International Whaling Commission
- Responsible for regulating whaling and ensuring that the whale population is at a sustainable level
- United Nations Environment Programme
- Governs the world's environment
- Run by CCAMLR which aims to stop illegal fishing and conserve the Antarctic ecosystem
- The whaling moratorium banned commercial Whaling
- Have helped whale population in Antarctica to increase
- monitored estimation based on sightings and modelling
- US and Australia think there should be a better monitoring system, However Japan say they don't have the authority to do this
- NGO's like Greenpeace agree there isn't enough monitoring
- Japan still kill large numbers for scientific research
- NGO's
- Monitor threats to Antarctica
- observe whether countries are sticking to the laws
- One main NGO is ASOC- Antarctic and the Southern Ocean Coalition
- ASOC was formed in 1978- from a group of NGO's who were concerned some countries wanted to make it legal to search for oil, gas and minerals
- An an NGO ASOC is interested in protecting the environment and speaks up against exploitation from a country
- Today they monitor changes- and make sure countries are following the 1991 environment protocol
- They also monitor the effects climate change is having on Antarctica by checking sea level and melting ice.
- ASOC campaigns with other NGO's to reduce gas greenhouse gas emissions
- Environment and Climate
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