"It is too early to proclaim the 'ice sheet's future doom'" caused by climate change, lead author Kurt Kjaer of the University of Copenhagen wrote in a statement of the findings in Friday's edition
Pacific island nations and conservation groups have failed to persuade the body that oversees tuna fishing in the Pacific to introduce more stringent measures to protect tuna supply.
Coral bleaching is the breakdown of symbiosis between coral animal hosts and their dinoflagellate algae symbionts in response to environmental stress. On large spatial scales, heat stress is the most common factor causing bleaching, which is predicted to increase in frequency and severity as the climate warms. There is evidence that the temperature threshold at which bleaching occurs varies with local environmental conditions and background climate conditions.
Replacing traditional foods with imported, processed food has contributed to the high prevalence of obesity and related health problems in the Pacific islands.
A series of surveys were carried out to characterize the physical and biological parameters of the Millennium Atoll lagoon during a research expedition in April of 2009. Millennium is a remote coral atoll in the Central Pacific belonging to the Republic of Kiribati, and a member of the Southern Line Islands chain.
This document presents the results of a partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the University of the South Pacific. It presents the issues and requirements that Pacific islands face regarding the impacts of climate change on food sources and water.
Rising acidity in the ocean caused by seas absorbing greenhouse carbon dioxide could make low-lying island nations like Kiribati and the Maldives more vulnerable to storms as their coral reefs struggle to survive, say scientists. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at its highest level in the past 650,000 years and half of it has now been dissolved into the oceans making them more acidic.
