What are the main reasons of coastal pollution?

Give examples of coastal cities which contribute to coastal pollution.

Why are dead areas expanding?

Give examples of dead zones.

Sustainable use

 

Coastal and ocean areas can be managed sustainably for the benefit of current and future generations, but only if concerted efforts can be made by national governments and the international community, acting together and working toward a common set of objectives.

At present government inaction toward ocean management and inability to enforce existing coastal regulations make problems of overuse, pollution, and resource degradation worse. Around the world, 177 nations have coastlines but fewer than 100 have developed coastal and near-shore management plans. While this number is nearly twice that in 1992, most countries have yet to move from planning to implementation.

Why is management of coastal and ocean resources so difficult? Coastal areas contain many different jurisdictions - local, regional and national - and involve different interests. In Brazil, for instance, coastal zone planners have to consult 20 levels of government. In the United Kingdom, 48 sub-national units of government, from Parliament to town councils, have authority to create an autonomous or semi-autonomous coastal management strategy. Such fragmentation of responsibility makes effective planning and program coordination an enormous challenge.

Nevertheless, there are compelling economic reasons to manage coastal and ocean waters better. Ocean ecosystems provide goods and services worth at least $21 trillion a year, over half of this from coastal ecosystems. The haul of seafood alone was valued at $91.2 billion in 2006 providing direct employment to at least 43.5 million people, the majority of them in Asia. China alone accounts for 12.6 million (30 per cent of the total number). In addition, as many as half a billion people draw their livelihoods indirectly from the sea: processors, packers, shippers, and distributors of seafood; shipbuilders and outfitters; and those working in marine-based tourism and the recreational fishing industry, among others.

There are also vital reasons relating to the ecological value of oceans. For example, coral reefs have been valued at $47,000 per square foot just for their shore protection functions alone. In Puget Sound, Washington, just one-third of a hectare of eelgrass is valued at over $400,000 annually in energy derived and nutrition generated for oyster culture, fisheries, and waterfowl.

A study carried out by WWF-Netherlands and the International Coral Reef Action Network in 2003 put the potential economic value of the world coral reefs at close to $30 billion a year; including their value for fisheries, coastal protection, tourism and recreation and biodiversity.

How can we manage coastal and ocean resources better? The blueprint for a sustainable management system has been outlined by WWF and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 1998. The WWF/IUCN approach calls for a six-part strategy, as follows:

· All measures and practices to conserve marine biodiversity and ecological processes must take human needs into account;

· The concept of stewardship must be fostered through education and awareness creation;

· Communities must be empowered to protect and manage their marine and coastal resources;

· Social and economic incentives for conservation and sustainable use must be created;

· The inter-connectedness of the world ocean must be recognised through appropriate transboundary and international mechanisms;

· The precautionary principle must be applied to an ecosystem-based approach to management.

The foundation for sustainable management has already been put in place with the coming into force of the Law of the Sea Convention in 1994. It affords all states the right to manage marine resources within their 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). The problem is most developing countries do not have the money or the manpower to enforce regulations over such a vast expanse of sea. Small islands in the South Pacific, for example, are dwarfed by their EEZs, which are often 1,000 times larger than the islands which have to manage them.

A number of encouraging initiatives have been launched, but most are difficult to enforce. Two stand out: The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the UN Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, both launched in 1995. The Code of Conduct was adopted by 170 nations, but did not come into force until April 2002. As of January 2004, 30 nations had ratified it, including the US and the EU. The UN Agreement on Fish Stocks entered into force in December 2001, when Malta ratified it, bringing the total number of ratifications to 30.

In the final analysis, governments and regional bodies must take the lead in managing common waters and the resources they contain. UNEP Regional Seas Program and other international efforts must be given increased attention and resources to do a better job of managing fisheries. Instead of finding more ways of exploiting more species, it is time to look seriously at establishing sustainable yields and hold countries accountable. It is not too late to start preserving the ultimate source of all life on the 'blue planet'. But we must act, not just talk.

 

Vocabulary

sustain – поддерживать

Sustainable use – устойчивое использование

government inaction – бездействие правительства

to enforce – оказывать давление, принуждать

implementation – применение

haul of seafood – добыча морепродуктов

livelihoods – средства к существованию

eelgrass – водоросль «морская трава»

Waterfowl – водная дичь, водоплавающая птица

Oyster culture – разведение устриц

WWF - международный фонд защиты природы

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources – международный союз охраны природы и природных ресурсов

FAO Code - кодекс продовольственной и сельскохозяйственной организации

Responsible Fisheries – ведение рыболовного промысла в размерах, не наносящих ущерб морским биоресурсам

Read the text and answer the following questions:

What actions are taken to protect coastal and ocean areas?

Why is it difficult to control coastal and ocean resources?

When did sustainable management started?

What is the main problem to manage marine resources?

What ways of the situation are suggested by the article?

The warming world

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level.

"Unequivocal" is a very strong word, meaning clear, unambiguous, and leaving no doubt, and sends a clear message from the scientific community to the world that the science is confirmed "climate change is real, and it is already happening".

The natural driving force behind climate change is the greenhouse effect at work in our world's climate systems. As infrared solar radiation from the sun reaches the earth, about 30 per cent of it is reflected back into space, without entering the atmosphere. Another 20 per cent is immediately absorbed into the atmosphere, and the remaining 50 per cent reaches the Earth's surface, where much of it is absorbed and the rest reflected back towards the atmosphere and through to space. The amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth is about equal to the amount reflected, maintaining an energy balance. Without this greenhouse effect, the environment on Earth would not be favourable to sustaining life.

This energy balance is now being altered by two components of the atmosphere. First, greenhouse gases (GHGs) - the most well-known being carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxides (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) '“ capture some of the energy reflected from the surface of the earth, keeping it in our atmosphere and warming the planet. Second, aerosols - miniscule particles suspended in the air - primarily have a cooling effect on the Earth because they reflect solar radiation back into space before reaching the atmosphere, though aerosols like black carbon produced from burning of biomass and diesel engine exhaust have a warming effect.

The impacts of human activities, however, are now outpacing the long-term, natural climate variabilities. Dating back to the agricultural revolution of the 18th century, human activities have released greenhouse gases and aerosols into the atmosphere, but the amount of these emissions were at a small scale compared to the natural greenhouse gas process. It was not until the turn of the 20th century and the Industrial Revolution that emissions from our actions increased dramatically, trapping more greenhouse gas emissions and in turn more heat in the atmosphere and causing human-induced climate change.

 

Vocabulary

unequivocal - недвусмысленный, определённый; ясный;

to impact – влияние, воздействие

greenhouse effect – парниковый эффект

emission – выброс в атмосферу, распространение, выделение

to release – пускать, сбрасывать

to trap – ловить, собирать

to induce – заставлять, побуждать, вызывать

exhaust – выхлопные газы

to suspend – приостанавливать, прекращать

 

Read the text and answer the following questions:

 

1. Give evidence of the world warming.

2. What is greenhouse effect?

3. What is the role of greenhouse gases in climate change?

3. What does the energy balance depend on?

4. What is the role of human activity in the world warming?

 

Greenhouse gases

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 384 part per million (ppm) in 2007, an increase of over 30% from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm over a century ago and far beyond the natural range of concentrations over the last 650,000 years. The latest estimates of emissions in 2004 produced by human activity, or 'anthropogenic' emissions, totaled 49 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2eq), a nearly 25 per cent increase from 1990 levels of 39.4 GtCO2eq. Carbon dioxide is the predominant global greenhouse gas, making up over 75 per cent of total emissions, and is used as a baseline of comparison for other greenhouse gases.

Anthropogenic CO2 emissions are mainly a result of fossil fuel combustion, flaring (burning) of natural gas which is a byproduct of oil drilling, and cement production. The energy supply sector, which ranges from fuel mining to energy delivery to the end-user, contributes over 25 per cent of total world emissions. Industry emissions, which include both energy use and industrial processes, follow at 19 per cent, and the forestry sector which includes forest management, forest harvesting for residential and commercial uses, deforestation, afforestation, and forest biomass for bioenergy, at 17 per cent.

The agricultural and transport sector each produce 13 per cent of emissions. Agriculture is the main contributor of methane and nitrous oxide emissions. The methane results from biomass decomposition, the digestion process of livestock like cows, and rice grown in flooded fields. Chemical reactions in the soil and manure due to excess nitrogen emit nitrous oxide. Methane has a potency, or global warming potential, of about 25 times that of carbon dioxide over a 100 year period as a greenhouse emission, and nitrous oxide as a global warming potential of 298.

 

Fig. 1 Share of global emissions in CO2 equivalent, 2004