This document amends a treaty between the United States and Canada to manage tuna fishing.

This treaty further develops relationships between the United States and Pacific nations in the areas of fisheries management and conservation.

Antarctica is a continent for science. All countries working in Antarctica carry out scientific research, in a surprising range of physical and biological sciences, from the vastness of space to the minute scale of micro-organisms. Activities are regulated by the Antarctic Treaty, which has been in force since 1959 and is signed by all countries operating there. The Treaty reserves the continent for peaceful purposes, and all military and industrial activities are banned.

The Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map shows the types of vegetation that occur across the Arctic, between the ice-covered Arctic Ocean to the north and the northern limit of forests to the south. Environmental and climatic conditions are extreme, with a short growing season and low summer temperatures. As one moves southward (outward from map's center in all directions), the amount of warmth available for plant growth increases considerably.

The Earth's climate has not been constant over geological time. This record is contained in ice, which has built up as snowfall accumulated in distinct yearly layers. Pockets of air trapped between the snow crystals contain traces of past atmospheres, which in turn tell us about the climate at the time the snow formed. Glaciologists collect this record by drilling ice cores and then use sensitive chemical techniques to analyse the layers.

This report contains the proceedings of a Roundtable of panelists speaking on the connection between biodiversity and cultural diversity, and on how sustainable solutions for development will benefit both types of diversity.

This report on Definitions and Methodological Options to Inventory Emissions from Direct Human-Induced Degradation of Forests and Devegetation of Other Vegetation Types is the response from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1 to an invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)2 . The report was prepared in cooperation with the preparation of the other report under the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCC-NGGIP), on Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (GPG-LULUCF). The report discusses: Alternative definitions and provides possible framework definitions for countries to consider; Methodological options to inventory emissions from degradation and devegetation activities; Approaches to reporting and documentation; and Implications of methodological and definitional options for accounting under the provisions of Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol (including issues of scale, costs and accuracy).

Coincident with the release of the Climate Change Science Program strategic plan, the Administration announces plans for the acceleration of select high priority research projects and climate observations. These activities contribute to filling critical knowledge gaps identified in the plan (aerosols, oceans and the natural carbon cycle). The selected investments have been coordinated among the agencies to maximize the overall impact. Funding will be reallocated from lower priority areas to enable these critical investments.

Carbon cycle research is often carried out in isolation from research on energy systems and normally focuses only on the biophysical patterns and processes of carbon sources and sinks. The Global Carbon Project represents a significant advance beyond the status quo in several important ways. First, the problem is conceptualised from the outset as one involving fully integrated human and natural components; the emphasis is on the carbon-climate-human system (fossil-fuel based energy systems + biophysical carbon cycle + physical climate system) and not simply on the biophysical carbon cycle alone. Secondly, the development of new methodologies for analysing and modelling the integrated carbon cycle is a central feature of the project. Thirdly, the project provides an internally consistent framework for the coordination and integration of the many national and regional carbon cycle research programmes that are being established around the world. Fourthly, the project addresses questions of direct policy relevance, such as the management strategies and sustainable regional development pathways required to achieve stabilisation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Finally, the Global Carbon Project goes beyond the traditional set of stakeholders for a global change research project by seeking to engage the industrial and energy sectors as well as …

The ocean is a vital component of the metabolism of the Earth and plays a key role in global change. In fact, the oceans cover so much of the Earth's surface that our planet has been described as the Water Planet, and it could be argued that its most extensive ecosystems are marine. Marine ecosystems are inextricably involved in the physical, chemical, biological and societal processes of global change. It is impossible to describe and understand the Earth system without understanding the ocean, the special characteristics of the environment that it provides for life, the changes that it is undergoing and the manner in which these changes interact with the total Earth System. Understanding the functioning of marine ecosystems and how they respond to global change is also essential in order to effectively manage global marine living resources, such as fisheries. The GLOBEC project is an international response to the need to understand how global change will affect the abundance, diversity and productivity of marine populations, from zooplankton to fish, that comprise a major component of oceanic ecosystems. GLOBEC's goal is to advance our understanding of the structure and functioning of such ecosystems, their major subsystems, and responses to physical …

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to water consumption.

Discovery of the hole in the ozone layer showed that human activity can have major, and often unexpected impacts on the planet. The destruction of ozone in the stratosphere high above the planet's surface has been brought about as the result of the widespread use of chemicals which under normal conditions are chemically inert and harmless

A draft strategic plan for the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) was released to the scientific community and the public in November 2002. At the request of the CCSP, the National Academies formed a committee to review this draft strategic plan; the results of this review are reported herein.

Scientists offer comments on the Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan

Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about freshwater resources.

Tunza is a UNEP magazine for and by young people. This issue is devoted to recycling and ecological footprints.

Plants and animals live in environments which change over different periods of time. Some changes happen each year with the seasons, whilst others take hundreds or even millions of years. As these changes occur, living organisms respond in different ways. To cope with the changing seasons, individuals can change their physiology or behaviour, for instance by hibernating or migration. In response to longer-scale change, species may adapt through evolutionary change. If they cannot, they must either move away or become extinct.

The UNEP annual report for 2002 looks back over the past year and highlights various UNEP activities. The report summarizes various events, including the Johannesburg (South Africa) meeting on leadership for a sustainable future, which states that good governance within each country and at the international level is essential for sustainable development.

This law was passed by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to protect the natural environment from some of the negative effects of economic growth.

Different speakers addressed the Panel. Among other decisions of the Nineteenth Session of the IPCC: the Panel decided that well before the next round of elections the Chair would bring to the Panel a proposal describing the rules and procedures to be adopted by the IPCC when conducting elections. The Panel also decided on the terms of reference, draft table of content and draft workplan for developing definitions for degradation of forest and devegetation of other vegetation types, and methodological options to inventory and report on emissions resulting from these activities.

This meeting focused on the future of the IPCC and discussed on various reports. The Deputy Executive-Director of the UNEP, addressed the Session on key climate and environmental change issues and informed the session about relevant decisions of the 22nd session of the UNEP Governing Council. Among other speakers, Mr Taka Hiraishi, co-chair of the TFB, introduced a report on the development of the Emissions Factors Data Base (EFDB). He noted, inter alia, that the current aim is to develop a recognised library of emissions factors, and that the search for members of the editorial board is not yet complete.

An Act establishing a vehicle emissions program.

This report is about a study of the collection, allocation, and use of federal and state taxes on motor fuels the “gas tax”.

Nomadic pastoralists and the dryland ecosystems they occupy form a critically important but little known livelihood system. Pastoralists have been ill-served by development policies and actions so far, since planners have almost without exception tried to convert the pastoralists into something else, judged more modern, more progressive and more productive. Happily this is now changing, as researchers and planners revise their ideas and identify a new development agenda. Many of these changes have resulted from successfully listening to herders themselves