arctic environmental issues icebergs and mount lefroy by lawren harris
TRANSCRIPT
Arctic Environmental Issues
Icebergs and Mount LefroyBy Lawren Harris
A canary in a coal mine…
Source: The Daily, (2000) University of Washington. On line edition: http://archives.thedaily.washington.edu/2000/112100/opinion.html [accessed November 15th, 2003]
Learning Outcomes
• Show how this region is especially vulnerable to climate change.
• Use “climate change in the artic as a way of illustrating the (hopefully) complementary nature of traditional ecological knowledge.
• Show how this region is vulnerable to industrial pollution.
• Use the treaty negotiation dealing with industrial pollution as a case study showing how “non-state actors” can help find global solutions.
Climate change
Climate Change: Inuit Observations
Autumn freeze-up occurs up to a month later than usual.
(IISD, 2000)
Satellites show a 3%-per-decade reduction in area.
BBC, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/131100
7.stm
Climate Change: Inuit Observations
The multi-year sea-ice is smaller and now drifts far from the community in the summer, taking with it the seals upon which the community relies for food.
Photo Copyright 2000 - Scott McGuire ([email protected]) Used with permission.
http://www.firstpeople.us/pictures/bear/Polar_Bears/1600x1200/Snow_On_Snout_Polar_Bear-1600x1200.jpg
Climate Change: Inuit Observations
In the winter the sea-ice is thin and broken, making travel dangerous for even the most experienced hunters.
Copyright © 2001 - 2003 Paul WardUsed with permission
Climate Change: Inuit Observations
Hot weather in the summer is melting the permafrost and causing large-scale slumping on the coastline and along the shores of inland lakes.
S. Yu. Parmuzin: http://www.grida.no/prog/polar/bsc/fig12.htm [accessed November 15th, 2003]
Scientific Observation: Thinning Sea Ice
Author of graphic: Philippe Rekacewicz Organization : UNEP-GRID, Arendal, Norway. Sources : International Permafrost Association. Date of creation : February 2001
Scientific Observation: Permafrost
Author of graphic: Philippe Rekacewicz Organization : UNEP-GRID, Arendal, Norway. Sources : International Permafrost Association. Date of creation : February 2001
Changes in Permafrost Depth
A Feed-Back
"The Arctic is a traditional sink of carbon, but with a warming of the tundra, it becomes a source of carbon, and becomes a primary positive feedback [on climate],"
Elizabeth Weatherhead, University of Colorado in Boulder
Increased CO2
Warming temperatures
Melting Permafrost
Learning Outcomes
Show how this region is especially vulnerable to climate change.
Use “climate change in the artic as a way of illustrating the (hopefully) complementary nature of traditional ecological knowledge.
• Show how this region is vulnerable to industrial pollution.
• Use the treaty negotiation dealing with industrial pollution as a case study showing how “non-state actors” can help find global solutions.
Persistent Organic Pollution
• PCBs: – Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) chemically
stable, fire resistant, insoluble in water, but are soluble in fatty substances.
– PCBs were used extensively as insulators in electrical equipment.
• DDT:– dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane.– Cheap insecticide. – Used extensively after WWII until 1960s in agriculture,
forestry and combating mosquito born diseases.
POPs and the Arctic
UNEP GRID-Arendal Author : Philippe Rekacewicz Organization : UNEP-GRID, Arendal, Norway. Sources : Macdonald and Bewers 1996, Sugden 1982. Date of creation : 1997
Bio-Accumulation
Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 106, Number 2, February 1998, on line edition. http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/qa/106-2focus/focus.html [Accessed November 15th, 2003]
DDT and PCBs: the evidence
• Reproductive failure in birds of prey (thin egg shells).
• In some areas 40-65% of women have levels of PCBs in their blood that are up to 5 times higher than the guidelines.
• Some studies link these with attention span and memory problems in children.
TimePix. http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/ntwilderness/essays/carsonb.htm.
The response
• International Treaty Banning use and manufacture of:– “dirty dozen” highly toxic chemicals, (DDT
and PCBs).
• The story of how we got this treaty is an excellent illustration of how different types of institutions can work together.
Canada’s Interest
• Lots of Arctic• Inuit Vulnerable• Domestic sources
of POPs already limited
The Process
• Science, science, science.– Physical evidence of problem (1980s).
• POPs on UN’s Regional European agenda.– Regional POPs protocol.
• POPs on UN Environment Programme’s Agenda.• Multi-lateral Negotiations (1998).• Final Treaty 2001 signed in Stockholm.• Needs 50 countries to ratify it.
Stakeholder Input
Before each of the five sets of negotiations Cdn government held stakeholder consultations.Inuit communities and NGOs played a crucial role.
International Opposition
Malaria versus DDT
“Malaria kills over one million people, mainly children, in the tropics each year, and DDT remains one of the few affordable, effective tools against the mosquitoes that transmit the disease. … the scientific literature on the need to withdraw DDT is unpersuasive, and the benefits of DDT in saving lives from malaria are well worth the risks.”
Commentary in Nature Medicine.
6(7) July 2000, pp. 729-732
Malaria: the evidence
• 250-400 million cases/a worldwide.
• 1 million deaths world wide.• Used to be wider spread but
has now been eradicated from the North (Italy WWII had Malaria, Ontario in 19thC had it too).
National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disordershttp://www.nidcd.nih.gov/news/releases/02/10_21_02.htm
2/5 of the world’s population is at risk.
Image courtesy of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, PATH. See: http://www.malaria-vaccines.org.uk/1.shtml [November 20th, 2003]
Malaria and DDT: the evidence
• After spraying (early 1960s) Malaria had dropped from 2.8 million cases and 7300 deaths to 17 cases and no deaths.
• After banning DDT Sri Lanka had 500,000 cases of malaria (1969).
Sri Lanka
DDT use and Malaria
Attaran, et al. (2000). Balancing risks on the backs of the poor. Nature Medicine 6(7). 729-732. Online http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nm/journal/v6/n7/full/nm0700_729.html&filetype=PDF. [Accessed November 20th, 2003].
History of DDT Use
www.alternatives2toxics.org/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/902915.stm
How much DDT?
• Agricultural Use in the 1960s.– Dusting a single 100-hectare cotton field can require
more than 1,100 kg of DDT over 4 weeks.
• Malaria Control in the 2000s.– Spot spraying on interior surfaces.
– Half a kilogram /year can treat a large house.
• Guyana could be treated using the same amount of DDT as would be have been used on 0.4km2 of cotton.
Stakeholder Participation in POPs Treaty
“When measures to control the use of DDT became controversial and pitted North against South, we stated clearly that Inuit would refuse to be party to an agreement that threatened the health of others. Having been decimated by smallpox and other introduced diseases in the early years of the 20th century, we sympathized acutely with those in tropical lands losing thousands of people per year to malaria.”
Sheila Watt-CloutierPresident of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.
http://www.ourplanet.com/imgversn/124/watt.html [November 20th 2003].
Breaking the logjam
“The Inuit insisted on a convention that would address the public health concerns of mothers in all parts of the globe.”
Ken Mcartney.DFAIT, Canada.
http://www.ligi.ubc.ca/_conferences/110402env-sec/media/Conference%20Summary.pdf [November 20th, 2003].
Stockholm Convention Finalized on 23 May, 2001.
• 120 Countries signed.
• Terms of convention stated that it would come into force 90 days after the 50th country ratified it.
Signatories in green and Parties in red
http://www.pops.int/documents/signature/
Post-Soviet Era: new opportunities for cooperation
• New opportunities for Arctic circumpolar cooperation emerged in the late 1980s…
• Environmental cooperation was identified as a first step in promoting comprehensive security in the region…
This logic holds true for other regions
• New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).– Mandate to develop new socio-economic development
strategy for Africa www.nepad.org
• Nile Basin Initiative– Originally electric and water interests now broader
mandate: http://www.nilebasin.org/
• Mekong River Council– To promote co-management in Mekong river:
www.mekongriver.org
Why Regional Governance?• UN System ineffective
since it can’t/doesn’t impose sanctions for environmental problems
• Gorbichav proposed green helmets has gone nowhere.
• WEO discussion have gone nowhere
• UNEP has tiny funding base.
Why Regional Governance?
• Environmental problems fall outside of nation states
So…in conclusion
• Regional governance offers:– Something with more direct contact between a
smaller number of states than the UN. – Can be organized on biophysical/ecological
lines. – Can focus on addressing the problems within a
region rather than having the mandate to deal with a specific problem.
References for more information
• http://www.grida.no/prog/polar/bsc/index.htm (module web page)
• http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/qa/106-2focus/focus.html (paper on health)
• http://www.grida.no/inf/news/news01/news09.htm UNEP press release on permafrost
• http://www.grida.no/arctic.htm (UNEP’s Arctic Page)
• http://www.iisd.org/casl/projects/inuit_video.htm (IISD’s video page)
Learning Outcomes
Show how this region is especially vulnerable to climate change.
Use “climate change in the artic as a way of illustrating the (hopefully) complementary nature of traditional ecological knowledge.
Show how this region is vulnerable to industrial pollution.
Use the treaty negotiation dealing with industrial pollution as a case study showing how “non-state actors” can help find global solutions.