Under Water

CLIMATE CHANGE, PROTECTION OF OUR ENVIRONMENT AND
BIODIVERSITY

The debate about the causes of the current climate changes is not yet settled. Climate
change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in
temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. One side believes that it has
to do with natural fluctuations in our climate. Natural factors are for example
changes in volcanic activity, solar output, and the Earth's orbit around the sun. The
other side claims that climate change is anthropogenic. i.e. caused by human
interventions, in particular the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion of land for
forestry and agriculture. The majority of people that belong to the first party are
skeptical about the anthropogenic explanation.
Rate of climate change An argument that speaks against the first view is that
natural fluctuations in our climate have a very long lasting cycle, spanning probably
thousands of years. But the changes that we witness now seem to have started quite
recently, namely two hundred years ago with the onset the Industrial Revolution in
1750, and have since increased substantially. The overall effect of human activities
has been a warming effect, driven primarily by emissions of carbon dioxide and
enhanced by emissions of other greenhouse gases. One reason why their effects on
the environment have become much more conspicuous in the last 50 years, is that
the process does not follow a linear (e.g. 1,2,3,4) but exponential (e.g. 1,2,4,8,)
function. Changes are multiplied with the same number with each step in time. And
its dramatic manifestations, such as the retreat of glaciers, permafrost and ocean ice

are not something that can be
restored in a couple of years or
decades. Even in the unlikely
event that fossil fuel depletion
and CO2 emission would now be
drastically reduced, its effects
would probably still take many
generations to become manifest.
A dramatic example are the ice
sheets covering Greenland. The
climate scientist James Hansen*
argued for several years that ice
sheet collapse is a non-linear process: that with the inclusion of amplifying climate
feedbacks it is likely to follow an exponential rate of acceleration - a doubling rate. It
might be a 10 year doubling time, or less. This will lead to extensive sea level rise,
perhaps in the order of 5 meters this century (see figure above).
These climate models although realistic, should not lead to despair. Because there is
something we can do on the short term and that is protecting the parts of the
environment that we cherish and want to preserve for future generations. This can
only be accomplished if we change the mentality of our leaders of industry and their
political allies. And convince them that a healthy economy should go hand in hand
with environmental protection not destruction.

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Threats of old Climate change is just one of the factors that threat the existence of
living species. The current impact on our natural environment is for the largest part
caused by direct human interventions. Oil platforms, massive oil spills, cutting down
rain forests, mangrove forests, the ivory trade, finning of sharks, and last but not least
massive pollution of the air as well as the oceans. Often leading to loss of variety of
living species, designated as biodiversity.

Thus, the effect of human interventions
on biodiversity is probably more
dramatic than that of climate change.
This was also concluded in a recent
report by Sean Maxwell, a biologist
from the University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia.** They looked at
8699 species of animals of the red list of
IUCN (Union for Conservation of
Nature), a standard for the evaluation of
extinction (see figure at the left). Their
conclusion was that overexploitation
(the harvesting of species from the wild
at rates that cannot be compensated for
by reproduction or growth) formed the
major threat with 6.241 threatened
species. This implied activities as
hunting, overfishing and logging. Many
animals are illegally hunted as a result of
high market demand for their body parts
and meat, which imperiled the
Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus
sumatrensis), Western gorilla (Gorilla
The three major factors that threaten the
existence of animals (Nature 2016).**

gorilla) and Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), a scaly mammal. And we must
of course not forget the wild Orang utan of Borneo threatened by massive burning
down and logging of the rain forests in Borneo AK).
Second was agriculture with 5.407 species. This included the production of food,
fibre and fuel crops, livestock farming, aquaculture, and the cultivation of trees.
Examples of species affected by livestock farming and aquaculture are Africa’s
cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), Asia’s hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) and South
America’s huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus).
Number three was urban development with 3.014 species, including housing,
tourism and industrial investments. Climate change with 1.688 species ended at the
7th position, with factors as droughts, storms and floods. Typical victims of the

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droughts were the turtles and hippos in Africa. In conclusion, Sean Maxwell and
colleagues concluded that the ‘threats of old’ are still the dominant drivers of current
species loss.
Marine protected areas A loss of biodiversity is not only apparent in the rain forests
but also on coral reef formations. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are one way to
protect wild life for damage by human interventions. The Convention of Biological
Diversity defined MPAs as: ‘any defined area within or adjacent to the marine
environment, together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical
and cultural features, which has been reserved by legislation or other effective means,
including custom, with the effect that its marine and/or coastal biodiversity enjoys a
higher level of protection than its surroundings’.
In this context, 'protected areas are indisputably the flagship tool for protecting both
ecosystems and biodiversity by limiting direct human impacts’ says David Mouillot, a
marine ecologist. Mouillot*** investigated 804 different corals species and 450
different labridae, frequent visitors of coral reefs in the world. Phylogenetic
diversity is one of the key components of biodiversity. However, 'the existing global
system of MPAs does not meet the minimum levels considered necessary to
adequately protect the Tree of Life for corals or fishes’. Rare species of corals and fish
that have different position in the three of life are usually not protected on the same
scale a more frequent and related species. Despite the fact that distinct lineages may
perform unusual or complementary roles that are vital for its function.

Links:

*http://takvera.blogspot.nl/2012/12/is-climate-change-causing-
exponential.html

**http://www.nature.com/news/biodiversity-the-ravages-of-guns-nets-and-
bulldozers-1.20381

http://www.nature.com/polopoly-
fs/1.20381!/menu/main/topColumns/topLeftColumn/pdf/536143a.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_protected_area

***http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160112/ncomms10359/full/ncomm
s10359.html

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Epilogue

It was a pleasure to write down these notes, often on ‘the spur of the moment’.
Some of them were inspired by an announcement or interesting article in the media.
Cleaning up the plastic soup for instance, new techniques to visualize behavior of
territorial sharks, the navigation of pelagic sharks, and ‘sexism in diving (?)’. Other
notes were based on ideas I already had. Like the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and
the Bahamas, three areas that became my favorite sites. And where I tried to
capture the world under water, starting with the analog and ending with digital
cameras.

The shark receives much attention, with a focus on their behavior, ways to capture
them in the frame of your camera and baiting as a way to bring the beasty close to
the front of your camera. But I did not forget the smaller guys like the cuttlefish, the
goby, the lionfish, the pygmy sea horse and false cleaner fish.

The E-book also contains some reflections on issues that are of interest to every
person that is committed to the oceans, such as climate change, biodiversity and
the decline of our natural resources and ecosystems. Emphasizing that their decline
is most often caused by human intrusions.

Finally, not being a native speaker of English, please forgive me my errors in spelling
and grammar, or in my style of writing.