Apologies for the notably infrequent posts over the festive period. Rest assured news updates should now return to something approaching regularity, but here’s a brief catch up of stories from the past week or so.
The troubled Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in Denmark concluded on December 18th, yielding what has been reported internationally as a disappointing outcome. Although a deal was eventually reached (essentially aiming to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2C and pledging financial aid to developing nations) it lacked actual targets for cuts in carbon emissions and there was no agreement on an international, legally binding treaty. The details of the agreement can be found here, whilst more information on how climate change is affecting our oceans can be found here.
More positive news is that the European Commission has elected to close all fisheries for the endangered porbeagle shark, following scientific advice given at the recent European Fisheries Council meeting. Porbeagle sharks, a close relative of the great white, have been heavily targeted both for their fins and meat, but North Atlantic populations have been observed to collapse in recent years. Hopefully effective enforcement will follow this legislation and permit the recovery of porbeagle populations. (more…)
Comments (0)
