Marine Conservation Organizations
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MarineBio is deeply committed to marine conservation and founded on the concept that, by sharing the wonders of the ocean and marine life, people will be inspired to protect it. We hope you will consider becoming a member to help us bring the ocean and the conservation message to as many people as possible.
The oceans are downstream of everything. And they don't have an endless capacity to absorb waste. In fact, every year people dispose of 161 million gallons of used motor oil improperly—an amount greater than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Much of this oil ends up in waterways and the oceans, where it takes a tremendous toll on aquatic life. By being careful about oil and other substances, you can help keep ocean waters clean. - Ocean Conservancy
Global Warming (Climate Change)
Climate Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Research themes include predicting the natural variability of climate and understanding the consequences of man-made increases in the greenhouse effect. Climate change caused by human actions is the paradigm that illustrates why traditional disciplinary barriers in the earth sciences are rapidly weakening. In the climate system, the atmosphere, the seas, the land surface, and the world of living things are tightly coupled. To understand these interactions, a variety of expertise must be brought to bear through a team approach to research.
Climate Science Watch is a nonprofit public interest education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for the integrity and effectiveness with which they use climate science and related research in government policymaking, toward the goal of enabling society to respond effectively to the challenges posed by global warming and climate change.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): The IPCC has been established by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Ocean and Climate Change Institute : Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - "We are an Institute without walls or permanent scientific staff. We are using our energies and resources to advance the knowledge of “How the Ocean works in the Earth's Changing Climate System” by acting across WHOI departmental structures, blending education, research, access to the sea, and outreach to achieve our goals."
StopGlobalWarming.org - a non-partisan effort to bring citizens together to declare that global warming is here now and that it is time to demand solutions. Global warming is the most urgent issue of our time, and while the problem is of worldwide significance, we recognize that the United States is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, responsible for 40% of the industrialized world's emissions, and doing the least about it. The necessary first step must be to encourage Americans to take action. This online grassroots movement is about change -- as individuals, as a country, and as a global community. We are all contributors to global warming and must all be part of the solution. With the support of leading scientists, political, religious, cultural and business leaders, the Virtual March is creating one, loud collective voice that will be heard around the world. By spreading the word, we are building a movement to stop global warming.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - an international treaty to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. Recently, a number of nations have approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process.
Sustainable Fishing (Overfishing)
Blue Ocean Institute: a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring ocean conservation through science, art, and literature. The group is particularly interested in providing information that will help people make choices that help restore living abundance in the oceans such as a seafood consumer education initiative "From Sea to Table".
Marine Fish Conservation Network: a coalition of more than 155 national and regional environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing groups, aquariums, and marine science groups dedicated to conserving marine fish and to promoting their long-term sustainability.
National Coalition for Marine Conservation: a public advocacy group dedicated to conserving the world's ocean fish, habitat and environment. Their mission is to build public awareness of the threats to marine fisheries, provide solutions, and convince state, national and international fishery managers to take appropriate action to reverse the overfishing effects on marine fish.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: an organization focusing on halting illegal fishing activities by providing support and assistance in the upholding and, where possible, enforcing of international treaties, laws and conventions through investigation and documentation of violations.
Biodiversity
The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is an international professional organization dedicated to promoting the scientific study of the phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity. The Society's membership comprises a wide range of people interested in the conservation and study of biological diversity: resource managers, educators, government and private conservation workers, and students make up the more than 10,000 members world-wide.
The Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (CMBC) works to assess the state of marine ecosystems now and in the past and develop predictive models for the future; train new marine biodiversity and conservation scientists; develop novel interdisciplinary approaches linking the biological, physical, social and informatic sciences; increase public understanding of scientific issues and provide sound scientific analyses to policy makers; design technically sophisticated, regionally appropriate strategies to prevent and reverse biodiversity collapse.
Earthwatch Institute: an international non-profit that supports scientific field research by offering volunteers the opportunity to join research teams around the world. This unique model is creating a systematic change in how the public views science and its role in environmental sustainability.
Fauna and Flora International (FFI): Fauna & Flora International aims to change the policy and behavior that contribute to biodiversity loss by engaging a wide range of governments and non-governmental organizations, and by raising the profile of biodiversity within the wider global development debate.
IUCN Species Survival Commission: A science-based network of 7,000+ volunteer experts from almost every country of the world working together to achieve the vision of "A world that values and conserves present levels of biodiversity."
TRAFFIC: A wildlife trade monitoring network that works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN - The World Conservation Union.
Wetlands International: A global nonprofit dedicated to the conservation and wise use of wetlands to benefit biodiversity and human well-being.
World Resources Institute: An environmental think tank working to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. WRI provides objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development for.
Threatened & Endangered Species
Center for Biological Diversity - Nature's Legal Eagles. Protecting biodiversity through science, policy, education, and environmental law. Combining conservation biology with litigation, policy advocacy, and an innovative strategic vision, the Center for Biological Diversity is working to secure a future for animals and plants hovering on the brink of extinction, for the wilderness they need to survive, and by extension for the spiritual welfare of generations to come.
Habitat Conservation
The IUCN Global Marine Programme provides vital linkages for the Union and its members to all the IUCN activities that deal with marine issues, including projects and initiatives of the Regional offices and the 6 IUCN Commissions. Its co-ordination role is above and beyond the policy development and thematic guidance that it undertakes to provide to assist governments, communities and NGOs alike.
Oceana is a non-profit international advocacy organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the world's oceans through policy advocacy, science, law and public education.
National Coalition for Marine Conservation is a public advocacy group dedicated to conserving the world's ocean fish, habitat and environment. Their mission is to build public awareness of the threats to marine fisheries, provide solutions, and convince state, national and international fishery managers to take appropriate action to reverse the overfishing effects on marine fish.
Conservation International: CI has set a goal for 2005-2010 to establish protective management regimes in five key seascapes covering ocean ecosystems with the most species at risk, and initiate 20 new marine protected areas for marine wildlife and critical habitats.
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition is calling on the United Nations General Assembly to secure a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling and protect these fragile and unique pockets of life in the deep seas before they are destroyed forever.
Nature Conservancy: Nature Conservancy's Global Marine Initiative links land and sea conservation in an effort to protect the rich array of plant and animal life and safeguard the tremendous benefits the oceans provide. The Conservancy has over 100 marine projects in 21 countries and 22 U.S. states.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization whos mission is to end the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas.
World Wildlife Fund: WWF's Endangered Seas Program works in more than 40 countries to campaign, lobby, develop and advocate solutions, commission and publish impartial data, advise, and champion the conservation of the marine environment and sustainable livelihoods.
Alien Species
The Marine Invasions Research Lab is a national and international center for research on biological invasions in coastal marine ecosystems.
The National Invasive Species Information Center (NISIC) was established in 2005 to serve as a reference gateway to information, organizations, and services about invasive species.
IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group: a global group of 146 scientific and policy experts on invasive species from 41 countries. ISSG provides advice on threats from invasives and control or eradication methods to IUCN members, conservation practitioners, and policy-makers. The group's activities focus primarily on invasive species that cause biodiversity loss, with particular attention to those that threaten oceanic islands.
The North European and Baltic Network on Invasive Alien Species (NOBANIS): a network of common databases on alien and invasive species of the region. By establishing a common portal access to IAS-related data, information and knowledge in the region is facilitated.
Ocean Dumping Grounds
International Maritime Organization (IMO) - IMO's Intervention Convention affirms the right of a coastal State to take measures on the high seas to prevent, mitigate or eliminate danger to its coastline from a maritime casualty. The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC), 1990 provides a global framework for international co-operation in combating major incidents or threats of marine pollution. A protocol to this convention (HNS Protocol) covers marine pollution by hazardous and noxious substances.
Global Marine Litter Information Gateway: a co-operative effort of the UNEP GPA Coordination Office, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, and the UN International Maritime Organization. The objective is to provide a clearing-house, a gateway, for supply and exchange of information on the global, regional and local problem of marine litter.
Bluewater Network: promotes policy changes in government and industry to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and eradicate other root causes of air and water pollution, global warming, and habitat destruction. Also leads campaigns to protect National Parks from jetskis, snowmobiles and other recreational vehicles, and to prevent environmental damage from pollution caused by ferries, cruise ships, and other large vessels.
Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable Tourism Home Page - UNEP Tourism Programme: Sustainable tourism development guidelines and management practices are applicable to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various niche tourism segments. Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability.
Planeta.com is a pioneering website (debuting in 1994) that provides resources for travelers and locals alike with a common vision of eco-friendly, people-friendly, place-friendly travel.
We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. - Henry Beston, 1928
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Environmental Issue News :: ScienceDailyGlobal extinction: Gradual doom is just as bad as abrupt
Around 250 million years ago, most life on Earth was wiped out in an extinction known as the "Great Dying." Geologists have learned that the end came slowly from thousands of centuries of volcanic activity.
Heat and cold damage corals in their own ways
Around the world coral reefs are facing threats brought by climate change and dramatic shifts in sea temperatures. While warming has been the primary focus for scientists and ocean policy managers, cold can also cause significant damage. Scientists have shown that cool temperatures can inflict more damage in the short term, but heat is more destructive in the long run.
Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations
Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date.
Are jellyfish increasing in world's oceans?
A global study has questioned claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide. Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new global and collaborative study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date.
Tropical cyclones to cause greater damage, researchers predict
Tropical cyclones will cause $109 billion in damages by 2100, according to researchers in a new paper. That figure represents an increased vulnerability from population and especially economic growth, as well as the effects of climate change. Greater vulnerability to cyclones is expected to increase global tropical damage to $56 billion by 2100 -- double the current damage -- from the current rate of $26 billion per year if the present climate remains stable.
Less summer Arctic sea ice cover means colder, snowier winters in Central Europe
Even if the current weather situation may seem to go against it, the probability of cold winters with a lot of snow in Central Europe rises when the Arctic is covered by less sea ice in summer.
First plants caused ice ages, new research reveals
New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. The research reveals the effects that the first land plants had on the climate during the Ordovician Period, which ended 444 million years ago. During this period the climate gradually cooled, leading to a series of 'ice ages.' This global cooling was caused by a dramatic reduction in atmospheric carbon, which this research now suggests was triggered by the arrival of plants.
Coastal waters produce halogenated organic molecules that exacerbate stratospheric ozone depletion
Coastal waters of the tropical Western Pacific produce natural halogenated organic molecules involving chlorine, bromine and iodine atoms that may damage the stratospheric ozone layer. This is the conclusion drawn from the initial findings of a field measurement campaign conducted in the South China Sea.
Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity, study finds
A new NASA study underscores the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity -- not changes in solar activity -- are the primary force driving global warming. The study offers an updated calculation of Earth's energy imbalance, the difference between the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth's surface and the amount returned to space as heat. The researchers' calculations show that, despite unusually low solar activity between 2005 and 2010, the planet continued to absorb more energy than it returned to space.
Arctic is already suffering the effects of a dangerous climate change
Two decades after the United Nations established the Framework Convention on Climate Change in order to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system", the Arctic shows the first signs of a dangerous climate change.
Warming in the Tasman Sea, near Australia, a global warming hot spot
Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents, including the East Australian Current, polewards beyond their known boundaries.
What do killer whales eat in the Arctic?
Killer whales are the top marine predator. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behavior and diet in the Arctic.
What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
The large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events, a new study suggests.
Can the economy bear what oil prices have in store?
The economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels, say scientists.
Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks
Scientists have shown that insect nutrition and agricultural land management practices may partially explain modern day locust outbreaks.
Asthma rate and costs from traffic pollution higher: Much higher than past traditional risk assessments have indicated
A team of resource economist researchers has revised the cost burden sharply upward for childhood asthma and for the first time include the number of cases attributable to air pollution, in a new study.
Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won't fully offset climate change
New research demonstrates that one suggested method of geoengineering the atmosphere to deal with climate change, injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere, probably would have limited success.
Turtles' mating habits protect against effects of climate change
The mating habits of marine turtles may help to protect them against the effects of climate change. The study shows how the mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born.
Sunshade geoengineering more likely to improve global food security, research suggests
Carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing over the past decades, causing Earth to get hotter and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could have catastrophic effects. This has led some to explore drastic ideas for combating global warming, including the idea of counteracting it by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. However, it has been suggested that reflecting sunlight away from Earth might itself threaten the food supply. New research examines the potential effects that geoengineering the climate could have on global food production and concludes that sunshade geoengineering would be more likely to improve rather than threaten food security.
Ecologists gain insight into the likely consequences of global warming
A new insight into the impact that warmer temperatures could have across the world has been uncovered by scientists.
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