This link connects to an interesting article by the BBC on the pressures at different depths of the ocean. New Zealand's marine area includes some of the deepest trenches on earth and is home to a great diversity of marine life, including whales, dolphins and fish.  The article gives an idea of the environmental conditions of some of those creatures.  For example, Hoki are found at depths up to a kilometre and orange roughy upto 2 kilometres deep.  But sperm whales and seals can dive even deeper.  Next time you hear about whale watching at Kaikoura, this link shows how deep sperm whales may dive for their meal of squid.  

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The present government is devoted to a policy of resource extraction.  In a recent policy statement, the Ministry of Economic Development states that one of key priorities is: "the framework for environmentally responsible use of New Zealand's natural resources" (http://www.med.govt.nz/about-us/briefings-to-incoming-ministers-released).  The Ministry further states that "The government is prioritising work across eight action areas to ensure that New Zealand gains everything that it can from its oil and gas resources."  (http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/natural-resources).  So far, so good.  But what worries me are the questions: Can the Ministry ensure a framework that delivers 'environmentally responsible use of resources"? and: "Do we know what is an environmentally responsible use of resources"?

 The Census of Marine Life has just announced the publication a new document entitled Scientific Results to Support the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Marine Life. The report can help marine planners, resource managers and policy makers to craft science-based policy. It summarizes the discoveries, tools and technologies from the decade-long Census of Marine Life. Included are examples and data that can inform decisions about ecosystem and species level protection.  It discusses findings about marine habitat degradation and rehabilitation and introduces Census-developed tools to identify biodiversity hotspots and large-scale ecological patterns and analyze distributions of species over time and space. 

Even if you are not a policy-maker or marine planner, the report provides a wonderful view on the majesty and mystery of life in the oceans.  It is well supported by maps and illustrations which help to give a much greater appreciation of marine biodiversity.  

The report is available for download from http://www.coml.org/policy-report. 

Great Barrier Island - symbol of wild New Zealand; image of romance; a wild and beautiful place.  But after visiting the Island, I can't help thinking, it represents a post-peak landscape; a landscape recovering from human devastation; a landscape that will take centuries to return to its full ecological capacity.

Transition Towns is a movement that began in the UK with the aim of changing urban development and urban lifestyles "from oil dependence to local resilience".  The movement is built on the assumption that the age of fossil fuels and everything that depends on oil is coming to an end, and that the way to the future is to become more reliant on local and regional networks and low-carbon technology.  The website for Transition Aotearoa (http://transitionaotearoa.org.nz/ ) brings people together "out of a desire to explore how we - and our communities - can respond to the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil."

Around the world prparations are already underway for the next great global environmental conference.  Rio+20 is the name of a conference to be held in 2012 to take stock of the changes and progress that has been made since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero in 1992.

http://www.earthsummit2012.org/index.php/news/331-uncsd-

In December last year the nations of the world met at Copenhagen to form global strategy and policy on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit predicted global warming.  The meeting, known as the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference ( en.wiipedia.org.wiki/2009_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference) was a disaster, as developed and developing countries faught about fundamentals.

A reconvening of the Copenhagen talks is happening this year, from 29th November to 10 December, known as the 16th session of the conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change.unfccc.int/2860.php  

2010 is the UN Year for biodiversity conservation.  From 18th to 29th October there was a meeting of the countries that have signed the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)  that aims to strengthen international initiatives to conserve the biodiversity of life on the Planet (see http://www.cbd.int/cop10/)

As a lead up to the meeting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released the results of a study to investigate the status of the world mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes.  Not unexpectedly, the study has found that the decline in the world's biodiversity continues, with, on average, 50 species a year moving closer to extinction (i.e. from a category of lower risk of extinction, to a category of ciritically endangeeree, endangered (threatened) or near threatened.

But I was also heartened to read that conservation efforts ARE making a difference. 

In April this year the government announced new moves to encourage fish farming (MFish, 2010). 

According to Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Phil Heatley, the government wants to, “free up the regulatory bottlenecks that have kept aquaculture planning in limbo. The industry has been stifled by inflexible rules stopping companies from investing in the sector."  He voiced support for the industry’s aim to achieve a three-fold increase from current levels to $1  billion in sales  by 2025.  "This is about growing the economy, creating more jobs and getting more people into work, particularly in the regions."

 Science for Environmental Policy, a publication of the European Commission reports a recent study which compares the levels of traffic pollution experienced by cyclists with those experienced by car drivers.  The study found that cyclists experience far higher rates of pollution than car drivers.  Reasons for the higher levels of pollution by cyclists included faster and deeper breathing, which increases the total amount of air inhaled, increased amounts of particulate matter reaching the lungs during exercise, and potentially longer times to complete a trip compared with car travellers.  The study found that cyclists breathed more frequently and took more deep breaths than car passengers and inhaled 400 to 900 per cent more emission particles than car passengers on the same route.