18 posts tagged with "Sustainability"

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/beaufort-sea-environmental-assessment-1.3490983

The Inuvialuit are pitching a far-reaching scientific and traditional knowledge study that would help researchers better understand how Arctic ecosystems will be affected by climate change, increased shipping and oil and gas development.

"We see ourselves as part of the ecosystem, so anything that is going to affect that is going to affect us as well," said Duane Smith, chair and CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

... The letter, co-authored by the Inuvialuit Game Council, says the Arctic Ocean, compared to Canada's other coastlines, is the least studied. It also calls for long-term monitoring and reports considerable gaps when it comes to understanding issues such as the amount of fish and their food sources.

UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries researcher Rashid Sumaila said he thinks the Beaufort Sea would be appropriate for a broad study such as an RSEA.

"There's a lot of changes coming. This makes the place really special," said Sumaila.

On March 10, 2016 Canada and the US released a major bilateral announcement on the Arctic to coincide with Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit to Washington. The announcement includes an initiative to re-examine new conservation goals for the Arctic and a commitment to engage all Arctic nations in the development of a pan-Arctic marine protection area network. Read more about the announcement.

This paper surveys the current state and major trends in global fisheries; the environmental and social dimensions of fisheries; and explains how the international community has tried to meet the policy challenges associated with oceans and fisheries. The ocean and the freshwater ecosystems of the world make significant contributions to people’s well-being via the many vital social and environmental services they provide (for example, food and nutrition, employment and incomes, carbon cycling and sequestration). The impact that the increase in fishing since the 1950s has had on wild fish stocks, and the significant increase in aquaculture production in the 20th century, have resulted in severe environmental impacts. This has significant effects on marine ecosystems and the health of oceans. The erosion of the resource undermines communities’ long-term interests, including food security, employment, and income. Attempts by the global community to address challenges of sustainable production by improving the governance and management of fisheries resources range from national management of fisheries resources, to regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) for international fisheries stocks. These attempts have not always successfully met the challenge of balancing current and future use of fisheries.

OceanCanada Research Director, Dr. Rashid Sumaila is the author of a new report titled “Trade Policy Options for Sustainable Oceans and Fisheries” presented at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The paper is part of a larger package of policy recommendations by the E15Initiative focused on strengthening the global trade and investment system in the 21st century.

OceanCanada Director Dr. Rashid Sumaila spoke at the 2015 Trade and Development Symposium in Nairobi on December 15 and 16, 2015. Dr. Rashid participated in two sessions. Videos of the sessions can be found at the links.

In a thought-provoking paper released in Scientific Reports last week, OceanCanada Director Dr. Rashid Sumaila and his team of researchers uncovered the possible winners and losers in a world where the high seas is closed to fishing. Researchers found that closing the high seas to commercial fishing could be catch-neutral, and might even contribute to a more equitable distribution of the world's fisheries resources. Among the "winners" in this scenario, Canada would see an increase of $125 million (USD) per year.

This episode features Director and Professor at the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC, Dr. Rashid Sumaila. He explained to us the threat of over-fishing and how taxpayer money is currently being used to actually support the over-fishing that is occurring in Canada. Siting recent research he gives a great understanding of where the fishing industry is at and how long we have before things get even worse. Reality check!

There is an urgent need to increase global renewable energy production as a method of lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to avoid the more devastating effects of climate change and ocean acidification. The latest figures from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), suggest that the international community must reduce anthropogenic GHG emissions by 40 to 70 percent from 2010 levels by 2050, and should aim for near zero emissions by 2100. This would likely keep temperature change below 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels, and would therefore reduce the risk of predicted effects of climate change, such as inland flooding, extreme weather events, food security, and the loss of marine and coastal ecosystems and biodiversity.