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As the climate crisis intensifies, there is growing interest in policies that might supplement emissions reduction and adaptation, such as carbon removal systems and solar radiation modification. One newly prominent class of proposed interventions, which we call "radical adaptation," would aim to stabilize Antarctic ice sheets, the loss of which threatens significant sea-level rise worldwide. Ice-sheet stabilization does not fit neatly within the conventional taxonomy of climate responses. Like adaptation, it would target the consequences of climate change, not the causes. But it would do so through spatially concentrated, high-leverage developments to reduce harms worldwide, rather than by separate actions in thousands of threatened coastal regions. Furthermore, these interventions would have to be researched, assessed, and executed in the unique geopolitical, legal, and administrative context of Antarctica. This Article examines how radical adaptation might interact with the governance and geopolitics of the Antarctic Treaty System. It argues that early research into ice-sheet stabilization could readily proceed under the present system. Operational deployment would require substantial governance changes, but these may be less extreme than they initially appear and may even benefit Antarctic governance more broadly. Researching and developing ice-sheet stabilization could provide an avenue to sustain the System's core values of peace, science, and environmental protection, while also strengthening its global legitimacy. The governance challenges under the Antarctic Treaty System are substantial, but they are ultimately surmountable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions ( ACBRs), originally proposed in 2012, are now established as an important tool in Antarctic science, conservation, management and policy. Here, we provide a revised version of the ACBRs, reflecting updates in underlying spatial layers, together with the results of new analyses justifying the inclusion of a 16th bioregion. This updated version now covers all ice-free areas of Antarctica and is publicly available through the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. In light of the interest in the ACBRs across a variety of research fields, we also provide a new set of summary statistics for the updated spatial layer, including landscape metrics, climate data, protected area coverage and an overview of human activity. The updated ACBRs represent a contemporary, practical and evidence-based foundation for understanding, conserving and managing Antarctic biodiversity at a continental scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A report is presented from a May 17, 2012 conference for doctoral candidates in Munich, Germany on the history of technology. Topics of discussion included the use of the Arctic regions and Antarctica by the U.S. and the Soviet Union as technological testing grounds during the Cold War, the history of East German environmental policies, and cultural transmission of technology in 19th-century Württemberg, Germany.

The article discusses the significance of developing protected areas in Antarctica. It provides an overview on developments in protected areas in the continent as well as the establishment of environmental protection policy after it signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. The author explores the arguments among Consultative Parties at the Antarctic Consultative Meetings which pose challenges towards the effective management of protected areas. It also offers information on the process of considering areas as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA) which will play essential role in enhancing environmental protection in the continent.

New technical information may lead to scientific beliefs that diverge over time from the a posteriori right answer. We call this phenomenon, which is particularly problematic in the global change arena, negative learning. Negative learning may have affected policy in important cases, including stratospheric ozone depletion, dynamics of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and population and energy projections. We simulate negative learning in the context of climate change with a formal model that embeds the concept within the Bayesian framework, illustrating that it may lead to errant decisions and large welfare losses to society. Based on these cases, we suggest approaches to scientific assessment and decision making that could mitigate the problem. Application of the tools of science history to the study of learning in global change, including critical examination of the assessment process to understand how judgments are made, could provide important insights on how to improve the flow of information to policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the international treaty known as the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic and an annex to this treaty which would establish principles of liability arising from environmental emergencies. Arguments for the ratification of the annex are presented, although it is said to be limited in scope and the need for a more comprehensive liability regime is described. An overview of the Antarctic Treaty System is provided along with a brief history of the negotiations involved in writing the liability annex.

The article presents several international developments related to the field of environmental policy and management. The number of activities in Antarctica are growing continuously. It was also proposed that a bronze sculpture of 7 meters height should be installed in Antarctica for an unlimited time period including samples of human hair and microchips containing data related to individuals in order to pass on this information to future species after human extinction. The legal implications of Kyoto Protocol and new mechanisms for reducing emissions were discussed in an International conference held in Siena, Italy from June 9-10, 2006. The Elizabeth Haub Prize for Environmental Diplomacy was awarded to James MacNeill, at Pace University Law School on April 20, 2006.

Antarctic Treaty- The Development of a Liability Annex to the Madrid Protocol (Sam Blay/Julia Green) 24OECD- Siting of Nuclear Power Plants 38Biological Diversity- First Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rio Convention 38 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on Bill C-42 passed by the House of Commons of Canada, an act respecting the protection of the Antarctic Environment in June 2003. Ratification of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty or the Madrid Protocol, designating Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science; Summary of the Act; Provisions of the legislation.

Presents briefs related to environmental issues. Research on the shrinking ozone in the stratosphere over Antarctica by scientists at New Zealand's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research; Findings from a global survey that sewage is used to irrigate 10 percent of the world's crops; Announcement of a plan for FedEx to built a solar-power system atop its central offices in Oakland, California in order to produce one-fourth of the city's power; Others.

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