Antarctic: Climate Change, Fisheries, and Governance
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Antarctic: Climate Change, Fisheries, and Governance José C. Xavier1,2 and Peter Convey2 1 University of Coimbra, Marine and Environmental Science Centre (MARE-UC), Department of Life Sciences, Coimbra, Portugal 2 British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Cambridge, UK
Synonyms Antarctic continent; Southern Ocean
other continents around 25–35 My ago, in the final stages of the breakup of Gondwana (Convey et al. 2018; Storey 2013), and this has led to high levels of endemism, particularly of certain marine groups such as fish and crustaceans (Xavier and Peck 2015), and many terrestrial groups (Pugh and Convey 2008). Antarctica hosts a wide diversity and abundance of species, particularly but not only in the marine environment (Convey 2017; De Broyer and Jażdżewska 2014). The Antarctic Treaty governs the region south of the 60° parallel of latitude, with its main objectives being to ensure peaceful use of Antarctica, promote international scientific cooperation and deliver environmental protection (Bennett et al. 2015; Berkman 2009; Hughes et al. 2018).
Definition The continent of Antarctica has an area of c. 1.4 million km2, and the surrounding Southern Ocean (waters south of the Antarctic Polar Front) comprises 9.6% of the world’s oceans, both possessing significant environmental, scientific, historic, educational, and intrinsic values (Burton-Johnson et al. 2016; Hughes et al. 2018; Xavier et al. 2016b). Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest continent on Earth, with temperatures in parts of its central icy plateau descending below 90 °C (Cassano 2013; Scambos et al. 2018). Antarctica includes about 10% of the planet’s land surface and its ice contains about 70% of its freshwater (Kennicutt II et al. 2014; Walton 2013). It became isolated from
Introduction Importance of the Antarctic Region to the Planet Antarctica and the Southern Ocean have profound influences on the rest of Planet Earth, including on sea level, ocean circulation, climate, and marine productivity (IPCC 2013; Rintoul et al. 2018; Sarmiento et al. 2004) (Fig. 1). Furthermore, parts of these regions are among those that have been changing faster than any other regions on Earth in recent decades (Convey et al. 2012; Convey and Peck 2019; IPCC 2018; Turner et al. 2009, 2014), where important scientific and technological challenges have yet to be addressed
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Life Below Water, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71064-8_1-1
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Antarctic: Climate Change, Fisheries, and Governance
Antarctic: Climate Change, Fisheries, and Governance, Fig. 1 Map of Antarctica and the surrounding regions, with some key locations noted. (Adapted from De Broyer and Koubbi (2014) and Xavier et al. (2016c))
(Chown and Brooks 2019; Kennicutt II et al. 2014, 2016; Xavier et al. 2016a). Life in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean (Fig. 2) faces extreme environmental conditions, including chronic low temperatures, high winds, sea
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