Persistent and emerging threats to Arctic biodiversity and ways to overcome them: a horizon scan

Globalisation brings with it the international marketplace, the primacy of market forces and private property rights, privatisation, a commitment to reducing state regulation and control, and the ascension of neo-liberalism as the dominant policy paradigm across all areas of social, political and economic life. This chapter discusses the unprecedented challenges to Indigenous sovereignty posed by globalisation. The societal change wrought by the process of globalisation has direct repercussions for Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous rights. While fundamentally intertwined, these dimensions are discussed separately to demonstrate the complexity and depth of the impact of globalisation on Indigenous sovereignty and rights. This juxtaposition of Indigenous Australia's interests with those of 'others' such as migrants and refugees indicates an overt move away from any political or social policy recognition of either Indigenous sovereignty or specific Indigenous rights. The problem for Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous rights, however, lies in the vacuum left by the abolition of the only existing national Indigenous sovereignty advocacy body.

1.1 Climate-induced environmental changes With a pace that is higher than observed in the past 10,000 years global warming is currently changing the global and local environments. On average, the global temperature has increased by 0.7 degree over the past century and future projections show an acceleration of global temperature rise (Walther et al., 2002) which produces climate-induced environmental changes (CIEC). Increasing the mean temperature furthermore corresponds to an increasing range between the minimum and the maximum temperatures due to a pure scaling effect of the variance with the mean (Pertoldi et al., 2007a). Additional factors may then add even more to the increased range of temperatures combined with increased variability in precipitation patterns. An increased temperature range is translated into a fluctuating selective regime for natural populations and amplified environmental variability (2e) which have several consequences at different levels of organization. In order to understand what limits the ability of species to adapt to CIEC, we need to integrate (local) short-term and (local) long-term changes and to increase our knowledge on the importance of genetic and environmental components on phenotypic variability (2p) (Pertoldi et al., 2005). A notorious debate between ecologists and geneticists concerns the relative importance of genetic and ecological factors for the persistence of populations. There is a need for a deeper understanding of how genetic measures can be used to indicate causal processes, including the genetic signature of population declines or expansions due to CIEC. Evolutionary biologists and ecologists have increasingly turned to molecular genetics to study the demographic and genetic consequences of CIEC on populations. However, this approach has some serious limitations: 1) many different population processes lead to similar patterns of genetic structure and 2) population genetic models most commonly applied to these systems are based on the assumption of equilibrium conditions typically not found in nature and surely not in disturbed ecosystems.

The new SILA biology bachelor program at Ilisimatusarfik (the University of Greenland) is a new take on how biology should be taught and interpreted. It is a bachelor’s degree that integrates Greenlandic Inuit knowledge to the curriculum, and the education material is focused specifically to Arctic life and its surroundings. Multiple knowledge systems are introduced within the curriculum creating a more inclusive understanding of nature. Educators are not limited to people from an academic background, but include fishermen, hunters, the industry and cultural knowledge holders who see biology and climate change from different points of views. This setup seeks to equip the students to tackle the gap there currently is between scientists, hunters, fishermen and in the Kalaallit (Greenlandic) society. The understanding and caring for Arctic biodiversity are taught to students who are part of the Arctic biodiversity themselves and can reflect their daily lives to each subject. The mindset of being part of the ecosystem is important to underline, because it is such a big part of Indigenous and Inuit culture. We are part of nature, and our lives affect how the ecosystem thrives. The students coming from various parts of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) diversifies their own knowledge shared in the classroom. A student from Avanersuaq (Northwestern Greenland) who grew up with family members catching narwhals using qajaqs have a different perspective of nature to a student who grew up in Kujataa (South Greenland) who grew up in a sheep farm. The inclusion of situated and place-based knowledge is something which is focused on, because it fosters diversity of knowledge. The students are beside biology introduced to innovation and must frequently showcase how you can sustainably utilize nature’s resources. These assignments activate the students’ creative side of the brain as well as integrate the Inuit values of utilising everything nature offers us. We at the SILA department hope the SILA biology students will be leading examples of transformation within Arctic science in Kalaallit Nunaat.

The complex relationship between linguistic diversity and climate change is a multifaceted phenomenon. Climate change has a direct and indirect impact on the preservation of the languages of small ethnic groups around the world. The spatial dimensions of climate change, including the disruption of ecosystems and cultures that support linguistic diversity, pose a significant threat to their continued existence (Bose 2017). Climate change may lead to changes in the range and contraction of the distribution of plant and animal species, which may disrupt the pollinator-plant system that are critical to the ecosystems and communities supporting these languages (Gómez-Ruiz and Lacher 2019). This can lead to the loss of important food sources as well as the displacement of local populations who rely on these natural resources for livelihoods and cultural practices. The research seeks to identify patterns, correlations and causal relationships between climate-related environmental change and the loss or transformation of languages, particularly those spoken by small or indigenous communities. Methodology outlines a comprehensive approach to research how climate change affects linguistic diversity in different regions of the world, with an emphasis on spatial analysis. One of the aims of the study is to map the geographical distribution of endangered languages and regions highly vulnerable to climate change. Spatial correlations between climate change impacts (eg sea level rise, desertification) and linguistic diversity are analysed. The research questions that have been addressed are which regions of high linguistic diversity are most affected by climate change? How do climate-induced environmental changes lead to the displacement of language communities? What spatial patterns can be observed between areas of high climate vulnerability and high linguistic diversity?

This essay interrogates aspects of the recent reconfiguration of Canadian environmental resource governance in relation to Indigenous sovereignty, rights, and struggles for self-determination in the context of mining and mineral exploration. I am especially interested in the targeting of expressions of Indigenous sovereignty as threats to the “resilience” of the national economy and attempts to “manage” Indigenous sovereignty and rights through mechanisms of resource governance. I focus primarily on a set of changes made to “flow-through share” financing arrangements that allow mining firms to raise capital on the basis of tax credits for expenditures incurred in relation to engaging Indigenous rights in the mineral exploration process. I suggest that flow-through financing is a method for “risk managing” exposure to the threat of Indigenous sovereignty in the interests of mining capital and the state that produces effects of crown sovereignty. In closing, the essay considers relationships between the neoliberalization of Canadian environmental governance and settler colonialism.

A Horizon Scan of research priorities to inform policies aimed at reducing the harm of plastic pollution to biota

Reviewed by: Red Scare: The State's Indigenous Terrorist by Joanne Barker Kara Roanhorse (bio) Red Scare: The State's Indigenous Terrorist by Joanne Barker University of California Press, 2021 US empire defines terrorism as the "unlawful" use of violence, fear, and intimidation, particularly against civilians, in the pursuit of ideological or political aims. The term primarily refers to intentional violence and is used most often in the context of war; however, terror and terrorism in relation to Indigenous people are reproduced differently under the US/Canadian settler empire. What does it mean to call Indigenous people terrorists on their own land? This is a question Lenape feminist Joanne Barker addresses in Red Scare: The State's Indigenous Terrorist, noting, "Indigenous People are identified and made identifiable by the state as terrorists in order to advance imperialist objectives" (p. vii). Two defining concepts she uses, the Murderable Indian and the Kinless Indian, are meant to be identifiers for how Indianness is "terrorism" and therefore justifies the genocide and Indigenous removal from their lands. The Indigenous feminist framework which Barker takes up disentangles settler policies, signifiers, and language used for antiterrorist laws and sentiments. Terror and the fear-driving discourses of settler empire reinforce a designation for settler justifications and weaponizing for harsher sentencing of the state's exploitation, policing, and violence under the systems of colonialism and capitalism. In the US and Canadian contexts, terrorism and terrorists are defined exclusively within settler political order. Thus, the "red scare" embodies the full spectrum of settler racism and xenophobic fear that justifies war-making against Indigenous people. The racism and fear further perpetuates into a belief that security and social stability [End Page 124] requires the extermination or genocide of Indigenous people. This is how they handle the so-called Indian problem. The business of utilizing fear in the name of order against Indigenous people is the basis of settler freedom: figures of terrorism created by state and capitalist industries authoritatively deem Indigenous movements as the ultimate threat to society. Barker is clear about the realities of contemporary Indigenous struggles like "NoDAPL" (No Dakota Access Pipeline), Wet'suwet'en land defenders, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) movement. It is clear how violations of land and territory, the sexual and environmental violence are each intertwined with police violence, prompting many radicals to envision solidarity building as central to the state's historical and political contextualizing of "terrorism" under the US empire's neoliberal state. As Barker illustrates, companies of resource-centered extraction of gas and oil raise questions of identity by intentionally disavowing and challenging Indigenous territorial rights, sovereignty, and self-determination. The militarizing of police and increasing harm to the environment alongside the ongoing MMIW epidemic is why Indigenous feminists' critiques of the state and violence must be concise. Barker's succinct analysis of the political weaponization of identity fraud makes visible the ever-present conflicted and contradictory work of racist ideologies of cultural authenticity and rationalizations of state violence and suppression placed on Indigenous people. Figures of terrorism are made and remade by the United States and Canada to create order whereby Indigenous sovereignty and their movements threaten national security and social stability. Such threats are linked to all manner of protecting settler economic infrastructure and growth at any cost. Barker first introduces the figure of the "Murderable Indian" as "the first and last authentic Indian," crystalizing how Native people are subjected to a certain kind of criminalization, not just incarceration but of constant surveillance and other types of police violence from the state; they are "an affect of racist fears" and concerns for the settler public and thus require a national security response. The Murderable Indian serves to "license the state's counterterrorist, military, police, and vigilante responses to contain, punish, and deter" (p. vii). Barker asserts this Indian as one that is familiar because they are deemed too much of a threat, whereby the state responds to their terrorism with full force. The Murderable Indian faces the state's counterterrorist measures (including corporate security contractors, invasive surveillance, detention, interrogation, and incarceration), drawing from examples of police violence experienced by water protectors, land defenders, and the work...

Pressing questions for science, policy, and governance in the high seas

Anthropogenic activities have increased phosphorus (P) loading in tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes resulting in eutrophication in small bays to most notably, Lake Erie. Changes to surface water quality from P loading have resulted in billions of dollars in damage and threaten the health of the world’s largest freshwater resource. To understand the factors affecting P delivery with projected increasing urban lands and biofuels expansion, two spatially explicit models were coupled. The coupled models predict that the majority of the basin will experience a significant increase in urban area P sources while the agriculture intensity and forest sources of P will decrease. Changes in P loading across the basin will be highly variable spatially. Additionally, the impacts of climate change on high precipitation events across the Great Lakes were examined. Using historical regression relationships on phosphorus concentrations, key Great Lakes tributaries were found to have future changes including decreasing total loads and increases to high-flow loading events. The urbanized Cuyahoga watersheds exhibits the most vulnerability to these climate-induced changes with increases in total loading and storm loading , while the forested Au Sable watershed exhibits greater resilience. Finally, the monitoring network currently in place for sampling the amount of phosphorus entering the U.S. Great Lakes was examined with a focus on the challenges to monitoring. Based on these interviews, the research identified three issues that policy makers interested in maintaining an effective phosphorus monitoring network in the Great Lakes should consider: first, that the policy objectives driving different monitoring programs vary, which results in different patterns of sampling design and frequency; second, that these differences complicate efforts to encourage collaboration; and third, that methods of funding sampling programs vary from agency to agency, further complicating efforts to generate sufficient long-term data to improve our understanding of phosphorus into the Great Lakes. The dissertation combines these three areas of research to present the potential future impacts of P loading in the Great Lakes as anthropogenic activities, climate and monitoring changes. These manuscripts report new experimental data for future sources, loading and climate impacts on phosphorus.

Economic and social development, the state of the environment and a propensity for disasters are closely intertwined. Therefore, environmental policy integration (EPI) across development and disaster management (DM) policies and plans is important. Pakistan as a country is highly vulnerable to climate-induced environmental changes and associated disasters. In this paper, the extent to which its national environment and climate change policy, disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy as well as disaster management (DM) plans are aligned is established, based on a review of government documents and expert opinions. In this context, a particular emphasis is put on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that led the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Plan (CPEC; 2017-2030). While environmental assessment (EA) is currently not conducted for any DM policies and plans, DM and EA are well integrated into provincial environmental protection acts, in national as well as most provincial DM plans. It is concluded that a regulatory framework to guide EPI in DM for BRI and CPEC projects is needed.

Climate change is increasingly impacting global health, particularly for vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and children with red blood cell (RBC) disorders. These disorders, including sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and anemia, compromise the body’s ability to transport oxygen and are exacerbated by climate-induced environmental changes. This review evaluates the risks posed by climate change to individuals with RBC disorders, highlighting empirical data on the exacerbation of health complications and the effectiveness of adaptation strategies. Pregnant women with sickle cell disease, for instance, face a 34% higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm birth and stillbirth, due to climate-induced heat stress and dehydration. Similarly, children with anemia experience a 25% increase in hospital admissions for heat-related illnesses during heatwaves, and malaria transmission, which extends by up to 60 days annually in some regions, further aggravates anemia in these populations. The effects of climate change on air quality and food security also pose significant risks for individuals with RBC disorders. Poor air quality, exacerbated by rising temperatures, has been shown to increase the frequency of vaso-occlusive crises in children with sickle cell disease by 30% in highly polluted areas. Additionally, climate change impacts on food security, as evidenced by a study in Ethiopia, where 41% of pregnant women with anemia also faced food insecurity, worsen nutritional deficiencies and anemia. These environmental factors, combined with the increased incidence of climate-sensitive infectious diseases such as malaria, highlight the urgent need for targeted adaptation strategies to mitigate the compounded health risks.

Spatial, seasonal, and climatic variability in mesozooplankton size spectra along a coastal-to-open ocean transect in the subarctic Northeast Pacific

Spatiotemporal patterns of high-mountain lakes and related hazards in western Austria

With consideration to research nature, scope of available materials and industrial feature, we investigate cultivation of professionals in the three new marine industries such as marine energy, marine bio-industry and submarine hydrothermal deposits development. More specific, we investigate trends of marine science and technology manpower at the national level in Korea nurturing policy to forecast mid and long term expert manpower demand and to respond to trends and forecasts of major fields. Cultivation of necessary professionals is an essential prerequisite for growth of new marine industry and its contribution to national economy. Because the new marine industry was recently introduced, the established system and policies for professionals in science and technology did not reflect demand for this new industry, which requires improvement. Since new marine industry is a new field, it is difficult for customized talent to be supplied directly from existing manpower training system. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate talented people with fused thinking and ability. In the existing system, it is necessary to strengthen efforts to develop professional manpower with fusion competence, and it is also necessary to make policy efforts to build a new system such as cooperation process.

The Deed of Deposit is a pioneering mechanism developed by the Powerhouse Museum. It redefines the relationship between Indigenous communities and collecting institutions by preserving Indigenous ownership of cultural knowledge while enabling museum care and stewardship. Rooted in the post-custodial approach, the Deed challenges entrenched colonial collecting practices and responds to the ethical concerns outlined by the Indigenous Archives Collective. Traditional museum and archive collections have often excluded Indigenous consent, fostering deep mistrust. The Deed of Deposit, however, ensures that Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination are upheld by keeping ownership with rightful custodians rather than transferring it to institutions. This chapter explores the development, implementation, and implications of the Deed from both cultural and practical standpoints, illustrating how it serves as a decolonial model for ethical collecting. By positioning institutions as facilitators, not owners, the Powerhouse is reshaping its role in cultural heritage management. Looking ahead, sustained collaboration, advocacy, and policy development will be essential in ensuring that the Deed continues to honour Indigenous rights and transform museum practice.