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A decade of Antarctic protection

Coal is the worst climate offender Enlarge Image

Stop climate change

The world's leaders meet at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen to determine the fate of the climate. They could set us on the path to a deep emissions cuts or they could lock the planet into catastrophic, irreversible climate change.

Carbon dioxide emissions and the carbon cycle. Enlarge Image

CO2 emissions

The primary human source of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels for energy production and transport. Changes in land use and deforestation also contribute significantly. Trees, for example, are natural 'carbon sinks' - they absorb carbon dioxide while alive and when they are destroyed, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, most of the carbon dioxide stays there for 50 to 200 years, and some of it stays there indefinitely.

Icebergs melting in low sun. Enlarge Image

Global Melting

As the Earth warms, its ice melts. This global melting is an early and obvious sign of climate change, but its implications go far beyond merely losing snow and ice. For starters, some people and ecosystems depend on the ice - glaciers for water supply in areas of seasonal rainfall, for example, and sea ice for habitat.

Polar bear on iceflow. Enlarge Image

Arctic and Antarctic

The Arctic and parts of Antarctica are warming at a much faster rate than the rest of the world. During the 20th century, air temperatures in some parts of the Arctic rose by about 5° Celsius (9° F) – ten times faster than the global average.

Bleached coral, Great Barrier Reef. Effects of climate change. Enlarge Image

Habitat loss

"Most of the world's endangered species -- some 25 percent of mammals and 12 percent of birds -- may become extinct over the next few decades as warmer conditions alter the forests, wetlands, and rangelands they depend on, and human development blocks them from migrating elsewhere." -- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Sandstorms originating from the Mongolian desert can reach as far as Japan. Each year, volunteers from Japan come to plant trees in Western China. Enlarge Image

Health, food and water

Heat waves attributable in part to climate change are forecast to kill hundreds of thousands in this century, however climate change will also have disastrous effects on water supplies, agriculture, and the spread of disease. Rich and poor alike will be affected, but countries that are already struggling to provide food and water for their people will suffer the most.

Simplified diagram of the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, courtesy of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), "Arctic Climate Change and Its Impacts" report. Enlarge Image

Ocean circulation

The water in our world's oceans is always moving – pulled by tides, blown by waves, and slowly circulating around the globe by the force of the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt (aka thermohaline circulation). The Conveyor is powered by differences is water temperature and salinity, and one of its most well know parts, the Gulf Stream, is what gives Europe it's relatively mild climate.

A clear indication that while the delegates inside the convention make new alliances and forge tenuous political partnerships, outside the UN buildings very real walls based on access to resouces continue to exist. Enlarge Image

Governments

There is a fundamental irony and injustice at the heart of the climate change problem. Today’s growing body of evidence indicates very clearly that the first and worst impacts of climate change are felt by the poor in the developing world. The responsibility for the problem, however, lies primarily with the rich industrialised nations, and increasingly the rapidly industrialising nations.

United Nations

The United Nations plays a key role in coordinating the international response to climate change. But it is no simple job getting cooperation and agreement from the 191 member states of the UN - all intent on pursuing their own self interests and policies - even when the evidence is clearly shows that failing to act would be disastrous for all.

Sun setting over the sea while the tide is coming in. Enlarge Image

Defending our Oceans

Seen from space the Earth is covered in a blue mantle. It is a planet on which the continents are dwarfed by the oceans surrounding them and the immensity of the marine realm.

44 activists from the Greenpeace ships Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise appeal for help in their campaign to end whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale sanctuary, by spelling out the words `Help End Whaling!’ using their bodies. Enlarge Image

Whaling

Overexploit, cheat, deplete. The cycle of greed behind the global whaling industry drove one whale population after another toward oblivion.

Greenpeace attempts to stop whaling off the coast of Antarctica. Enlarge Image

Antarctic whaling

In 1994, a sanctuary for whales was set in the Antarctic Ocean area. But since 1987, the Japanese government has conducted an annual whale hunt in the Antarctic under the guise of "scientific" whaling.

Illegal "pirate" fishing vessels in Port Louis. Enlarge Image

Pirate fishing

Armed and masked, scouring the oceans, stealing food from hungry families – modern day pirates are a far cry from the glamour of Hollywood movies. But they are a multi billion-dollar reality for many communities that can least afford to be robbed.

A large yellow fin tuna being cut up. Yellow fin and big eye tuna may be commercially extinct in 3-5 years if fishing is not controlled, experts warn. Enlarge Image

Overfishing

Many marine ecologists think that the biggest single threat to marine ecosystems today is overfishing. Our appetite for fish is exceeding the oceans' ecological limits with devastating impacts on marine ecosystems. Scientists are warning that overfishing results in profound changes in our oceans, perhaps changing them forever. Not to mention our dinner plates, which in future may only feature fish and chips as a rare and expensive delicacy.

Workers at a tuna packing plant resting on boxes for export. Enlarge Image

Fair fisheries

Industrial fishing fleets have decimated and almost destroyed their own fisheries and now, rather than accept that they need to reduce their fishing capacity, fishing fleets are turning greedy eyes towards the Pacific and West Africa.

Dolphin killed by pair-trawling. Thousands of porpoises and dolphins die every year as accidental bycatch. Enlarge Image

Bycatch

Many fisheries catch fish other than the ones that they target and in many cases these are simply thrown dead or dying back into the sea. In some trawl fisheries for shrimp, the discard may be 90 percent of the catch. Other fisheries kill seabirds, turtles and dolphins, sometimes in huge numbers.

An oil cleanup volunteer holds a Comorant covered in oil from the sunken Prestige oil tanker on the coast of Galicia, Spain. Enlarge Image

Pollution

By the year 2050 it is estimated that the world's population could have increased to around 9 billion. Of these, some 60 percent will live within 60km of the sea. The agricultural and industrial activities required to support this population will increase the already significant pressures on fertile coastal areas.

Adelie penguin babies, Antarctica. Enlarge Image

Global warming

The ocean and its inhabitants will be irreversibly affected by the impacts of global warming and climate change. Scientists say that global warming, by increasing sea water temperatures, will raise sea levels and change ocean currents.

Humpback whale breaching (Megaptera novaeangliae), Au Au Channel, Lanai, Hawaii (Pacific). Enlarge Image

Marine reserves

A growing body of scientific evidence that demonstrates what we at Greenpeace have been saying for a long time: that the establishment of large-scale networks of marine reserves, urgently needed to protect marine species and their habitats, could be key to reversing global fisheries decline.

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The view from the water

Activist Sara Holden reflects on the anniversary from the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza, chasing the whalers in the Southern Ocean.