Pristine Seas

Pristine Seas
Author: Enric Sala
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2015
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1426216114

"National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala takes readers on an unforgettable journey to 10 places where the ocean is virtually untouched by man, offering a fascinating glimpse into our past and an inspiring vision for the future. From the shark-rich waters surrounding Coco Island, Costa Rica, to the iceberg-studded sea off Franz Josef Land, Russia, this incredible photographic collection showcases the thriving marine ecosystems that Sala is working to protect. Offering a rare glimpse into the world's underwater Edens, more than 200 images take you to the frontier of the Pristine Seas expeditions, where Sala's teams explore the breathtaking wildlife and habitats from the depths to the surface--thriving ecosystems with healthy corals and a kaleidoscopic variety of colorful fish and stunning creatures that have been protected from human interference. With this dazzling array of photographs that capture the beauty of the water and the incredible wildlife within it, this book shows us the brilliance of the sea in its natural state."--

Marine Protected Areas

Marine Protected Areas
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2001-06-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309072867

Although the ocean-and the resources within-seem limitless, there is clear evidence that human impacts such as overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution disrupt marine ecosystems and threaten the long-term productivity of the seas. Declining yields in many fisheries and decay of treasured marine habitats, such as coral reefs, has heightened interest in establishing a comprehensive system of marine protected areas (MPAs)-areas designated for special protection to enhance the management of marine resources. Therefore, there is an urgent need to evaluate how MPAs can be employed in the United States and internationally as tools to support specific conservation needs of marine and coastal waters. Marine Protected Areas compares conventional management of marine resources with proposals to augment these management strategies with a system of protected areas. The volume argues that implementation of MPAs should be incremental and adaptive, through the design of areas not only to conserve resources, but also to help us learn how to manage marine species more effectively.

Future Sea

Future Sea
Author: Deborah Rowan Wright
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 022654270X

A counterintuitive and compelling argument that existing laws already protect the entirety of our oceans—and a call to understand and enforce those protections. The world’s oceans face multiple threats: the effects of climate change, pollution, overfishing, plastic waste, and more. Confronted with the immensity of these challenges and of the oceans themselves, we might wonder what more can be done to stop their decline and better protect the sea and marine life. Such widespread environmental threats call for a simple but significant shift in reasoning to bring about long-overdue, elemental change in the way we use ocean resources. In Future Sea, ocean advocate and marine-policy researcher Deborah Rowan Wright provides the tools for that shift. Questioning the underlying philosophy of established ocean conservation approaches, Rowan Wright lays out a radical alternative: a bold and far-reaching strategy of 100 percent ocean protection that would put an end to destructive industrial activities, better safeguard marine biodiversity, and enable ocean wildlife to return and thrive along coasts and in seas around the globe. Future Sea is essentially concerned with the solutions and not the problems. Rowan Wright shines a light on existing international laws intended to keep marine environments safe that could underpin this new strategy. She gathers inspiring stories of communities and countries using ocean resources wisely, as well as of successful conservation projects, to build up a cautiously optimistic picture of the future for our oceans—counteracting all-too-prevalent reports of doom and gloom. A passionate, sweeping, and personal account, Future Sea not only argues for systemic change in how we manage what we do in the sea but also describes steps that anyone, from children to political leaders (or indeed, any reader of the book), can take toward safeguarding the oceans and their extraordinary wildlife.

State of the World's Oceans

State of the World's Oceans
Author: Michelle Allsopp
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2008-12-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1402091168

The world’s oceans cover 70% of the earth’s surface and are home to a myriad of amazing and beautiful creatures. However, the biodiversity of the oceans is incre- ingly coming under serious threat from many human activities including overfi- ing, use of destructive fishing methods, pollution and commercial aquaculture. In addition, climate change is already having an impact on some marine ecosystems. This book discusses some of the major threats facing marine ecosystems by cons- ering a range of topics, under chapters discussing biodiversity (Chapter 1), fisheries (Chapter 2), aquaculture (Chapter 3), pollution (Chapter 4) and the impacts of increasing greenhouse gas emissions (Chapter 5). It goes on to explore solutions to the problems by discussing equitable and sustainable management of the oceans (Chapter 6) and protecting marine ecosystems using marine reserves (Chapter 7). Presently, 76% of the oceans are fully or over-exploited with respect to fishing, and many species have been severely depleted. It is abundantly clear that, in general, current fisheries management regimes are to blame for much of the widespread degradation of the oceans. Many policy-makers and scientists now agree that we must adopt a radical new approach to managing the seas – one that is precautionary in nature and has protection of the whole marine ecosystem as its primary objective. This ‘ecosystem-based approach’ is vital if we are to ensure the health of our oceans for future generations.

Global ocean protection : present status and future possibilities

Global ocean protection : present status and future possibilities
Author:
Publisher: IUCN
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2010
Genre: Marine biodiversity conservation
ISBN: 2831713110

"This publication provides a much needed and timely tool to assist us in our collective effort to find new and better solutions to address the various threats to our marine biological diversity and productivity. It provides evidence-based recommendations on improving and accelerating actions on delivering ocean protection and management through marine protected areas and facilitates the sharing of experiences and lessons learned"--Page 4.

Nature in Fragments

Nature in Fragments
Author: Elizabeth A. Johnson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2005-10-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0231502060

This new collection focuses on the impact of sprawl on biodiversity and the measures that can be taken to alleviate it. Leading biological and social scientists, conservationists, and land-use professionals examine how sprawl affects species and alters natural communities, ecosystems, and natural processes. The contributors integrate biodiversity issues, concerns, and needs into the growing number of anti-sprawl initiatives, including the "smart growth" and "new urbanist" movements.

Securitizing Marine Protected Areas

Securitizing Marine Protected Areas
Author: Elizabeth M. De Santo
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2024-07-10
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1040044131

This book presents a novel examination of Marine Protected Areas within a security context, bridging science, policy, and geopolitics, and addressing the often-under-emphasized aspect of environmental justice. The book argues that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are not only a critical tool for protecting marine biodiversity in a changing climate, but they also play an important role at the intersection of geopolitics and environmental justice, and they provide a case study of environmental governance at the science-policy interface. The book takes an interdisciplinary and critical approach and builds on the author's two decades of experience working in this field. Geopolitically, it explores the ways in which MPAs provide footprints for influence and access to resources far from home for nations with overseas territories. MPAs also raise important issues connected to equity, environmental justice, and social justice, including access to resources and participation in environmental decision-making processes, key aspects for achieving long-term conservation goals. The book also demonstrates how MPAs are a critical lens for understanding how policy makers cope with scientific uncertainty, and the necessity of well-designed and precautionary science advisory processes. While the ecological contribution of MPAs is paramount, social issues and geopolitical considerations are often less obvious in the discourse underpinning MPAs, and the resulting tensions can undermine long-term conservation objectives. By applying the three lenses of geopolitics, environmental justice and science, this book provides key insights to help the international community moving past the 2030 biodiversity targets and beyond, towards a future of meaningful, equitable, and effective conservation approaches. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of biodiversity conservation, marine studies, political geography, environmental governance, and science-policy studies. It will also be of interest to marine conservation governance professionals and policymakers.

Conserving the Oceans

Conserving the Oceans
Author: Justin Alger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2021
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0197540538

"Conserving the Oceans: The Politics of Large Marine Protected Areas documents the efforts of activists and states to increase the pace and scale of global ocean protections, leading to a new global norm in ocean conservation of large marine protected areas exceeding 200,000 km2. Through an analysis of domestic political economies, the book explains how states have protected millions of square kilometers of ocean space while remaining highly responsive to the interests of businesses. It argues that states design environmental policies above all around two key features of a given space: (1) the composition of extractive versus non-extractive industry interests; and (2) the salience of various industry interests, defined as the degree to which businesses would suffer tangible and significant costs in response to new environmental regulations. Through an analysis of large marine protected area advocacy campaigns in Australia, Palau, and the United States, this book demonstrates how the political economy of a given marine space shapes how governments align their environmental and economic goals, sometimes strengthening conservation but more often than not undermining it. While recognizing important global progress and growing ambition to conserve ocean ecosystems, Conserving the Oceans demonstrates that even ambitious large marine protected areas have so far not fundamentally challenged a neoliberal paradigm of environmentalism that has caused considerable ecological harm"--