The Role of Indigenous Resurgence in Marine Conservation

Abstract

Indigenous peoples’ efforts toward environmental conservation are indivisible from their cultural identity and their social and political organizations. Indigenous resurgence, including the reinvigoration and reestablishment of Indigenous ways of living, are linked to the management, restoration, and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems around the world. However, there remains a significant gap in the recognition and support of Indigenous governance systems in international policy discussions regarding conservation work. As a way to address this gap, we offer an analysis of marine Indigenous community-led conservation initiatives from around the world that were recipients of the UNDP Equator Prize, framed by initial research on Indigenous-led conservation in British Columbia, Canada. We highlight specific Indigenous governance strategies undertaken by such communities that foster both marine resource conservation and stewardship. The strategies we identified included practicing Indigenous traditional resource management, protection of traditional territories, Indigenous-led actions of environmental conservation, and data collection and monitoring. We also identified networking and collaboration with non-Indigenous supporters, as was reinvestment into education and capacity-building within the community. We conclude with concrete policy suggestions drawn from these cases that can help strengthen the leadership and self-determination of Indigenous peoples on local resource and environmental issues, and aid in much broader conservation efforts globally.     

Reducing CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> from cars in the European Union

The European Union (EU) recently adopted CO₂ emissions mandates for new passenger cars, requiring steady reductions to 95 gCO₂/km in 2021. We use a multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, which includes a private transportation sector with an empirically-based parameterization of the relationship between income growth and demand for vehicle miles traveled. The model also includes representation of fleet turnover, and opportunities for fuel use and emissions abatement, including representation of electric vehicles. We analyze the impact of the mandates on oil demand, CO₂ emissions, and economic welfare, and compare the results to an emission trading scenario that achieves identical emissions reductions. We find that vehicle emission standards reduce CO₂ emissions from transportation by about 50 MtCO₂ and lower the oil expenditures by about €6 billion, but at a net added cost of €12 billion in 2020. Tightening CO₂ standards further after 2021 would cost the EU economy an additional €24–63 billion in 2025, compared with an emission trading system that achieves the same economy-wide CO₂ reduction. We offer a discussion of the design features for incorporating transport into the emission trading system.     

Reconstructions of marine environmental conditions and scenarios for future changes

Long-term changes of environmental conditions are fundamentally important for many sectors in the maritime industry. Observational evidence from which such long-term changes may be reliably derived is often limited. Here we briefly illustrate the present situation and present an approach on how quasirealistic environmental models can be used in combination with existing data to reconstruct recent long-term changes and to derive scenarios of future developments. We concentrate on variables of primary importance for the maritime industry, namely wind-storms, wind-waves and storm surges. Examples are provided for the North Sea area.     

Distribution of diatoms in the Northeast Water Polynya, Greenland

This study formed part of the Northeast Water project (NEW project) which dealt with physical, geophysical and biological processes in the Northeast Water Polynya off Northeast Greenland. This was part of the International Arctic Polynya Programme (IAPP). The diatom composition of the water masses, sea ice and melt ponds was analysed to show the relationship between ice and the water column near the ice with regard to the origin and fate of the cells in the ice and melt ponds. Fragilariopsis oceanica, Fragiliria sp. I and Chaetoceros socialis usually dominated the phytoplankton, while the ice and melt pond samples showed a wide range of assemblages, with different single-celled pennates and two undescribed species, Navicula sp. 1 and Nitzschia sp. 1 often dominant. Planktonic algae in sea ice can be released into the water column during ice break-up and melt, thus contributing to the spring bloom in the water column, if the timing of the release and the species composition are correct. The number of different ice algal assemblages supports the theory that cells originated from the water column, the benthos and freshwater. In addition, differential growth in the sea ice or melt ponds often altered the relative abundance of species in comparison with what is usually found in their original habitat. However, many of the cells in the ice and melt ponds were dead (empty frustules), making it difficult to determine whether the cells had actually lived in these habitats.     

GROWTH DIFFERENTIATION FACTOR-5 STIMULATES THE GROWTH AND ANABOLIC METABOLISM OF ARTICULAR CHONDROCYTES

Growthdifferentiationfactor5(GDF5),also knownascartilage derivedmorphogeneticprotein1(CDMP1),isamemberofthebonemorphogenet icprotein(BMP)familywhichbelongstothe transforminggrowthfactorβ(TGFβ)superfami ly[1].GDF5isarelativelynewmemberofthe BMPfamily.LikeotherBMPs,implantationofre combinantGDF5caninduceectopiccartilagefor mationinmusculartissues.Thephysiologicalrole ofGDF5hasbeenreportedincludingregulationof myogenesis,regulationofchondrogenesis,bone morphogenesis,andneurondifferen…     

Valuing cargo flexibility in oil transportation

The seaborne oil transportation market is served by two main types of vessels—crude oil tankers and product tankers. Product tankers are designed to move refined oil products, yet they can also opportunistically carry ‘dirty’ products such as crude and heavy fuel oil, subject to the cost of tank cleaning when re-entering the clean products trade. We apply an entry-exit real option model with a stochastic freight rate differential to derive optimal triggers for switching between the two cargo types and estimate the value of the switching option. We show that the value of active switching has grown over time, and generally exceeds the additional construction cost of a product tanker. Our findings are important both from a practical point of view and for our understanding of market integration in the tanker freight market. Specifically, shipowners can use our model as a basis for optimizing chartering policy for clean product tankers. We also show that there are periods where the dirty market is persistently stronger, and discuss the possible reasons for such apparent inefficiencies.     

Character phylogenies in Candacia and Paracandacia (Copepoda, Calanoida) and the inevitably paraphyletic nature of many nominal taxa above subspecies level

Examination of the phylogenetic structure of the family Candaciidae shows the genus Paracandacia to comprise a strongly modified branch emerging from the clade commonly denoted as Candacia. This has been confirmed by studying selected character phylogenies. It is argued that the resulting paraphyletic nature of Candacia auct., though in a cladistic context undesirable on theoretical grounds, has to be accepted as inevitable. Recent studies on molluscs and arthropods, viz., have demonstrated that the continuous origin of paraphyletic taxa from previously monophyletic ones is nothing but a naturally occurring process, intrinsically embodied in the course of evolution.