Search

Marine areas beyond national jurisdiction represent 64% of the total surface area of the oceans and around half of the planet's total surface area. Through their remoteness and vast expanse, they were largely protected from human interference in the past. However, technological advances have removed this protection, exposing this largely unknown ecosystem to unsustainable human activities. To address this emergent problem, the United Nations General Assembly agreed on the legally binding nature of a future agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, consider a business-as-usual scenario, in which individuals and decision-makers respond to problems rather than working to prevent them, this paper applies the responsive governance lenses to evaluate ten years of Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group meetings aiming to prove that governance is a problem-driven and it may be tightly connected to the on human perceptions of specific signals and the actors' relative positions of power. Thus, the chances of having a flexible agreement that will only comply with a partial response to the environmental problem are significant and this will only reduce or mitigate part of the problem but not all. In cases like that, the governance will remain ineffective in some ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Brazil has been an active voice in ICCAT in the past ten years, its leadership has been declining. This paper examines what might explain the variation of international influence Brazil has had in addressing the issues at ICCAT and argues that if Brazil wants to preserve its leadership, it must demonstrate commitment to its own waters while strengthening governmental institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handroanthus serratifolius seeds are considered orthodox and have some mechanisms that assist in desiccation tolerance, like heat-resistant proteins and the presence of protective systems against free radical production. In order to investigate the drying effect on the quality of Handroanthus serratifolius seeds collected with 28% water content two methods were used: slow drying (30 °C) and fast drying (45 °C) until water contents equaled 20%, 15%, 10% and 5%. Seed quality was assessed by germination test, first count of germination, speed germination, emergence and speed emergence. The expression of heat-resistant proteins and enzymes catalase, esterase and isocitrate lyase was assessed by electrophoresis. The gene expression of sHSP17.5, CAT3 and ICL6 was quantified by real time PCR. Higher values of germination and vigor were obtained in seeds with 20% water content, subjected to fast drying. There was induction of heat-resistant proteins expression for both drying methods. There was variation in the electrophoretic pattern of catalase, esterase and isocitrate lyase in seeds subjected to different treatments. The gene expression in Handroanthus serratifolius seeds varies depending on methods of drying and water content of seeds. The drying of Handroanthus serratifolius seeds until the water content between 15 and 10% compromises their physiological quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: More so than at any previous time, there is a heightened awareness of the amount of plastic in the environment, it’s spread to even remote localities and the multiple influences of this on organisms. In the austral summer of 2007/08 Greenpeace and British Antarctic Survey ships (MV Esperanza and RRS James Clark Ross respectively) conducted the first co-ordinated joint marine debris survey of the planet’s most remote seas around East and West Antarctica to reveal floating macroplastics. With observations also made from the ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance in the same season and seabed samples collected from the RRS James Clark Ross, this was the widest survey for plastics ever undertaken around Antarctica. Main features: The 2008 visit of RRS James Clark Ross to the Amundsen Sea breached two last frontiers; the last and most remote sea from which biological samples and plastic debris have been reported. A plastic cup and two fishing buoys were seen in the Durmont D’Urville and Davis seas while two pieces of plastic packaging and a fishing buoy were observed in the Amundsen Sea. Agassiz trawls revealed rich biodiversity on the Amundsen (and south Bellingshausen) seabed but no sunken plastic pieces. We found no microplastics in five epibenthic sledge samples (300 μm mesh) from the Amundsen seabed. The seabeds immediately surrounding continental Antarctica are probably the last environments on the planet yet to be reached by plastics, but with pieces floating into the surface of the Amundsen Sea this seems likely to change soon. Our knowledge now touches every sea but so does our legacy of lost and discarded plastic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Biodiversity and ecosystems are important elements for addressing national and global socioeconomic and environmental crises, since they provide new development opportunities, for example, as source of job and income creation, and reduction in poverty and socioeconomic inequity. Brazilian biological diversity is also expressed in its immense cultural diversity, with a great variety of knowledge holders. These peoples possess vast knowledge on agrobiodiversity, fishing, fire management, natural medicine, among others of commercial, cultural and spiritual value. The main conclusions of this Summary for Police Makers is that land use changes and climate changes have been - and will continue to be throughout this century - the main drivers that result in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the country. Political interventions at different levels (from local to national, from public to private) and the enforcement of existing laws (regulatory mechanisms and incentives) are required to cope with the mitigation of the negative impacts of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss. Brazil has already a wide variety of policy instruments and socioenvironmental governance options, as well as global commitments (ODS, Aich Targets, Paris Agreement) related to the objective of a sustainable future. However, inefficient management control or lack of incentive to comply with the rules pose risks to consolidating the path to this future. The country has strong and capable institutions, but infrastructural problems, slow processes, inefficient measurements and judicial, social and ecological conflicts obstruct a proficient performance. There is a lack of communication between science and society which needs to be improved by establishing an effective flow that makes communication inclusive and representative, reaching public and private decision makers. Permanent efforts to integrate Science and policy knowledges are desirable to build confidence between policy makers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early 'Discovery mark' data together with recent photo-identification, acoustic, genetic and satellite-radio tag data revealed linkages between humpback whales migrating from breeding grounds (C) off East Africa and the Area III feeding area, from Western Australian breeding grounds (D) and the Antarctic Area IV feeding area and the East Australian breeding grounds (E1) and Antarctic Area V feeding area. These data also revealed low levels of intermingling between (E1) and (D) humpback whales in the Antarctic Area IV feeding area consistent with these being separate populations. Greenpeace photographed the ventral tail flukes of 30 individual humpback whales in the Antarctic Area IV feeding area (70°E-130°E) from 2 to 9 January 2008, between 62°47'S and 64°14'S latitude and 80°00'E and 112°57'E longitude. Comparisons of the Antarctic Area IV Greenpeace fluke catalogue (n = 30) with existing reconciled fluke catalogues from East Africa (n = 842), Western Australia (n = 1,558) and Eastern Australia (n = 1,964), yielded no photo-identification matches. An analysis of the frequencies of whales seen and not seen in Antarctica, East Africa, Western Australia and Eastern Australia relative to the frequencies expected to have been seen and not seen, based on the estimated population sizes and the sizes of the catalogues, provided evidence that the Antarctic whales photographed are from a different population to the East African and East Australian populations. There was weak evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Antarctic whales are from the Western Australian population but insufficient data were available to determine a clear outcome. A comparison of the Antarctic Area IV Greenpeace catalogue (n = 30) with other existing African, Indian Ocean, Western and Eastern Australian and/or Antarctic catalogues, together with increased sampling across the humpback whale feeding season in Antarctica and along the Western and Eastern Australian coastline during their winter migration, is likely to provide further evidence of the migratory destination of these humpback whales. It will also add to our limited knowledge of the extent of population overlap within the Antarctic Area III, IV and V feeding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]