Rod Downie2013-06-20T07:36:00-04:00Rod Downiehttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=rod-downieCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Rod DownieGood old fashioned elbow grease.1.32 Million Reasons to Tackle Climate Changetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19034002012-09-21T10:25:32-04:002012-11-21T05:12:01-05:00Rod Downiehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/rod-downie/1.32 million - remember that number. It sounds big, except when it's describing Arctic sea ice: 1.32 million square miles is actually a new low point for Arctic ice - the smallest sea ice extent ever recorded in the Arctic since accurate measurements were made possible by satellites 30 years ago. And it was reached on 16 September this year.
The loss of Arctic summer sea ice is the clearest and most visible impact of human-induced climate change on our planet. That's why 1.32 million is a number that should be ringing out across Whitehall today, and through governments across the world.
The last six years, 2007-2012, have seen the lowest seasonal minimum Arctic ice extents on record. As WWF's Arctic expert Martin Sommerkorn explains: "This is a critical loss of habitat for a whole sea ice-dependent ecosystem and the unique animals that rely on that system".
Thousands of years of evolution have prepared Arctic species like the polar bear, walrus and narwhal for life on and around the sea ice. Sea ice is particularly critical to the success of already vulnerable polar bears.
And the consequences extend beyond the Arctic. The loss of Arctic sea ice is also being linked with wet summers, severe winters and extreme weather events here in the UK and across the northern hemisphere.
To coincide with the sea ice minimum, the UK Environmental Audit Committee today released a hard-hitting report from their inquiry into the UK's role in protecting the Arctic. We contributed substantially to this process, providing written and oral evidence.
Dominic Gogol from our Public Affairs team says: "A cross-party committee of MPs has spent nine months interviewing, researching, and correlating the available information from scientists, NGOs and businesses to produce this thorough report on 'Protecting the Arctic'. The ball is now in the UK government's court to respond to their strong concerns about how to protect one of the last great wildernesses on our planet."
We support the recommendation for an immediate halt to all oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Ocean. Drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean is irresponsible and unacceptable. The risks and potential impacts are simply too high. We should be moving away from fossil fuels as we look towards a 100% renewable energy future. Companies like Shell and Cairn Energy must abandon their reckless 'wildwest'-style pursuit of hydrocarbons in one of our greatest wilderness regions.
The MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee also recognised WWF's call for a UK Arctic Strategy. Such a strategy would clearly set out the UK's role in the region. It would reconcile the apparent lack of strategic thinking and policy coherence across Whitehall. And it would force DECC to rethink their absurd position of recognising the need to cut carbon emissions while simultaneously looking to Arctic oil and gas for energy security. Clearly the two are incompatible.
The Arctic is facing rapid meltdown. The UK government, and governments and industry across the world, must heed the warning signs from the Arctic and act with urgency and ambition to tackle climate change and transition to a renewable future.
On Sunday, the Arctic sea ice hit its lowest extent since consistent satellite records began three decades ago. And it is predicted to continue to shrink towards the end of September, according to NASA.
At 1.58 million square miles, it was 27,000 square miles below the 2007 record low, despite 2007 being a warmer Arctic summer. NASA are attributing the record low to the persistent loss of multi-year sea ice. Single year summer sea ice is thinner and therefore more vulnerable to rising temperatures and break-up during storms.
I asked Professor Jeremy Wilkinson, Head of the Sea Ice Unit at the Scottish Association of Marine Science, about the prediction that the Arctic Ocean could be virtually free of summer sea ice within a generation. Jeremy is one of the most experienced observational sea ice physicists in Europe.
"September is traditionally the month where the extent of Arctic sea ice is at its minimum. As Autumn approaches the air cools, the seawater freezes and sea ice once again begins to extend over the Arctic Ocean. This cycle has been occurring for millennia. However the timing of this cycle is changing, sea ice is melting faster during the summer months and forming later in the Autumn. To put simply, less sea-ice cover means that the Arctic Ocean will reflect less heat back from the sun. Open water is darker than ice, so more heat is absorbed and therefore it takes longer for this heat to be removed and the sea ice to form again. The late formation and early melt leads to a thinner sea ice cover that is more susceptible to melt. And so this 'positive feedback' process continues...
"In reality the evolution of Arctic sea ice is very complex. It is a multifaceted interplay between the ocean, the ice itself and the atmosphere, with potentially strong feedbacks between them. What is particularly disturbing is that climate models now predict that the Arctic could be virtually free of summer sea-ice within a generation, a worrying prospect indeed."
For Arctic peoples, the shrinking ice cover has already made some traditional sea-ice travel routes more treacherous, and has led to increased erosion threatening coastal villages. A week ago in Grise Fiord, Canada's northernmost community, local people were astonished to see an ice-free horizon.
Ice loss has also been shown to have negative effects on Arctic wildlife. For example, sea-ice is critical to the success of polar bears. It is their hunting platform, in particular for ringed and bearded seals.
In the southern range of polar bears, the shorter sea ice season has decreased the amount of time bears can hunt. Sea ice break-up keeps these bears on shore. This forces them to spend the summer without significant feeding, relying on their fat stores from the previous summer to survive.
In 2006, WWF took David Cameron and Greg Barker (now energy and climate change minister) up to Svalbard in the Arctic to witness first-hand the effects of a warming climate; subsequently Mr Cameron pledged that his government would be the 'greenest government ever'.
Two years on, the prime minister must stick by his pledge - and make sure we play our part in reducing carbon emissions. The Arctic sea ice isn't waiting, and nor must we.]]>Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole Legacy: 100 Years ontag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.12088532012-01-16T19:00:00-05:002012-03-17T05:12:01-04:00Rod Downiehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/rod-downie/
Such were the sentiments of Capt Robert Falcon Scott exactly 100 years ago today, as he reached the geographic South Pole, having followed in the sledge tracks of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
It's a matter of record that Scott and his men were not the first to reach the pole. But arguably, his was a far greater 'reward' - an incredible legacy of science and conservation which has endured and flourished for a century.
Meteorological data, rocks, fossils and marine samples collected by Scott's party laid the early foundations of our scientific understanding of Antarctica - its geology, climate, and wildlife, including the amazing marine biodiversity of the Southern Ocean.
Today, as part of a truly international effort, the UK continues to undertake cutting edge science in Antarctica, largely through the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and its multi-disciplinary programme, Polar Science for Planet Earth. British scientists are collaborating with scientists from around the world to understand the important role that the frozen continent plays in regulating our climate, ocean and atmospheric circulation, sea level rise, and the role of Antarctica as a key component of the Earth system.
Just this week, an advance party from BAS braved freezing temperatures at subglacial Lake Ellesworth, in order to set up equipment for an expedition to the area later this year. The plan is to remove sediment and water samples from the lake, which lies two miles below the ice. It is hoped these samples will offer a better understanding of the region's climate in the past, and possibly establish signs of life, despite seemingly inhospitable conditions.
But Scott's legacy extends beyond exploration and scientific endeavour. In his last letter to his wife Kathleen, Scott wrote of his only son "make the boy interested in natural history if you can." That boy grew up to be Sir Peter Scott, one of the most influential figures in nature conservation, and a founding member of a number of wildlife and conservation charities, including WWF.
Itself celebrating half a century of conservation success, WWF is now recognised as one of the word's leading conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters across the world. And we are working hard to build upon the Antarctic legacy left by our founder's father, perhaps most notably through our efforts to protect the Southern Ocean.
It's a huge body of water, which covers 32 million km2 and represents 10% of the world's ocean surface. Although most of this vast area freezes over in winter, with sea ice extent growing to more than 19 million km2, biologically it is still an incredibly diverse region. The shrimp-like krill - its keystone species - feeds vast colonies of penguins, albatrosses, migratory whales, seals and other marine life.
This biological treasure trove has long been exploited, first by sealing and whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries and now expanding fisheries and increased shipping activity are posing a threat to the regions biodiversity. Such a fragile region requires proper safeguards and WWF, along with many other groups, is working hard to help secure a representative network of marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine reserves, which would cover more than 10% of the Southern Ocean. Currently only 0.5% is strictly protected.
In 2009, we supported the establishment of the world's first MPA located entirely in the high seas, protecting 94,000 km2 of penguin feeding habitat off the South Orkney Islands.
In 2011, we developed a circumpolar analysis of candidate marine protected areas that will contribute towards a representative system for the Southern Ocean. We are working with governments and industry to ensure that fisheries, particularly those fishing for krill and toothfish, are sustainably managed, and that the risks of overfishing, Illegal Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, and seabird by-catch are reduced or eliminated. We are also working within the International Maritime Organisation to secure a mandatory Polar Code for safe and environmentally responsible shipping in the region. But we can only succeed if nations cooperate with a common purpose to manage conservation, fisheries and shipping sustainably.
Having spent 15 years working to protect the region, both for the British Antarctic Survey and more recently with WWF-UK, I have had the privilege of being a part of this great legacy. In November 2007, on my 40th birthday, I visited Scott's historic huts at Cape Evans and at Hut Point in the Ross Sea region, accompanied by members of the Antarctic Heritage Trust. The experience of spending several days in and around the huts where Captain Scott and his men lived, breathed, prepared and planned their polar exploration will remain with me forever. These simple timber buildings contain some of the most precious polar artefacts in the world, still in place 100 years on.
Today, we have the opportunity to leave behind an even greater legacy - a framework of protected areas that will ensure that the iconic, near pristine and richly biodiverse waters of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean will remain healthy, valued, wisely used and protected for the next century and beyond. ]]>There Can Be No Doubt, the Arctic and Antarctica Are Warming Rapidlytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.11316802011-12-06T19:00:00-05:002012-02-05T05:12:01-05:00Rod Downiehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/rod-downie/Frozen Planet has captured the nation's imagination. It's not hard to see why - from jousting narwhals and synchronised killer whale hunts to men scaling vertigo-inducing cliffs in pursuit of bird eggs, the series has offered an amazing insight into the lives of the people and species that make the Polar Regions their home.
This evening, the series bows out with an episode addressing the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and Antarctica. And with the latest round of UN climate negotiations drawing to a close in Durban at the weekend, it should serve as a timely reminder of what we stand to lose if global warming continues unchecked.
Having spent more than two and a half years in Antarctica during my time with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), and been to the Arctic in my capacity as Polar Policy and Programme Manager at WWF-UK, I've seen both regions first hand. And although the programme has clearly illustrated the beauty of the polar wilderness, capturing the sheer scale of these regions is a far harder task.
The Arctic sprawls across 30 million km2, and Antarctica covers approximately 58 times the area of the United Kingdom. These vast regions play a vital and unique role in maintaining the biological, chemical and physical balance of the globe. As well as absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making them an important 'carbon sink' that could be threatened by rising temperatures, the polar regions also play a key role in driving the powerful ocean currents that circulate warm and cold water around the world. Both regions also have the potential to contribute to a large rise in global sea-levels. For example, British Scientists are currently investigating the very remote and inaccessible Amundsen Sea Embayment ice sheet in West Antarctica, which may be becoming unstable. The recent pattern of thinning could be a precursor to wholesale loss of the ice sheet, implying a sea-level rise of around 1.5 metres.
There can be no doubt that the Arctic and parts of Antarctica are warming rapidly.
Temperatures on the west coast of the Antarctic peninsula have risen by nearly 3°C in the last 50 years and the Arctic has warmed at least twice the global average in the same timeframe. Nearly 40 percent of the Arctic sea ice area that was present in the 1970's was lost by 2007 (the record low for summer sea ice extent). Reduced sea ice amplifies warming, stimulating further melting and the Arctic Ocean is now predicted to be virtually ice-free during the summer within a generation.
So clearly the impacts of climate change in the Polar Regions mustn't be ignored or underestimated, both in themselves and as forerunners of wider global climate impacts. We need to make sure we are responding to these threats appropriately, by pushing for a global agreement to mitigate the worst of our carbon excesses, and by ensuring that we can adapt appropriately to those impacts we can no longer avoid.
WWF is working on both these fronts, and in many ways, this last episode of Frozen Planet should provide a neat and powerful answer to anyone who questions why WWF, a charity known primarily for its work on wildlife, considers climate change to be a priority. The incredible natural world that the series has showcased is demonstrably under threat from global warming. And as an organisation with conservation at its very heart, it is key that we work to highlight the effects of climate change, and limit its impacts on some of the worlds most iconic species and fragile landscapes.
We currently have a team at the UN negotiations in Durban, lobbying for strong and urgent emissions reduction targets and a global adaptation fund, while out in the field, our polar experts are trying to find the best solutions to tackle problems on the ground. In Antarctica, for example, we are collaborating with French and British scientists to track the ice-dependant Adélie penguins. The data will be used to identify biodiversity 'hot-spots', develop habitat models and fisheries management approaches for the region in the context of a warming climate
Meanwhile, in the Arctic, we have been working with scientists and local people on an innovative new scheme that aims to locate the areas of the region that seem most likely to show resilience in the face of climate change. The Rapid Assessment of Circum-Arctic Ecosystem Resilience (RACER) assesses the future capacity of the region to adapt, rather than solely focussing on the areas that we already know are vulnerable now. It aims to help inform decisions as to which areas will need most protection in future, focus conservation and management attention on the importance of minimising environmental disturbance in specific areas, and to establish how a functioning Arctic ecosystem can be maintained in a warming world.
With the UK recognised as one of the non-Arctic nations with greatest interests in the Arctic, from shipping and science to insurance and mineral extraction, we have an important role to play in stewardship for the region. So WWF-UK is also working with other NGOs (FoE, RSPB, Greenpeace, MCS, the UK Youth Climate Change committee and the Whale Dolphin and Conservation Trust) and key Arctic experts, to draw up a set of Arctic principles, outlining how the UK government can make sure that any British involvement in the region is carefully managed. We hope that by adopting these principles, from ensuring that shipping and fisheries are sustainably managed to playing a part in regulating onshore and offshore mineral extraction effectively and to a very high standard, the UK government can finally start to live up to it's 'greenest government ever' promises.
As for the millions of people who've watched and enjoyed Frozen Planet - this final episode may leave them with a clearer understanding of the very real threat that climate change poses to our beautiful and fragile polar regions. Because while it's important that the UK government takes responsibility for our nation's activities in these great wilderness regions, we also need to ensure that we are doing our utmost to limit greenhouse gas emissions on our own turf. It is vital that we realise sooner rather than later that our actions at home can have an impact, even on the frozen ends of the earth. ]]>