Articles

An international research team has established a link between aquatic deoxygenation and the general stability of terrestrial systems, which should lead to the inclusion of deoxygenation as the tenth planetary boundary. This study also proposes to improve tools for monitoring and predicting aquatic systems, and oxygen in particular, by developing numerical models of improved accuracy and setting up a global database of the highest quality.

Existing production destroys more value than it creates due to medical and environmental costs, researchers say

When Rishi Sunak granted 27 new North Sea licences this week, he wasn’t thinking about the survival of the living world, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Climate breakdown and crop losses threaten our survival, but the ultra-rich find ever more creative ways to maintain the status quo, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

A major concern for the world’s ecosystems is the possibility of collapse, where landscapes and the societies they support change abruptly. Accelerating stress levels, increasing frequencies of extreme events and strengthening intersystem connections suggest that conventional modelling approaches based on incremental changes in a single stress may provide poor estimates of the impact of climate and human activities on ecosystems. We conduct xperiments on four models that simulate abrupt changes in the Chilika lagoon fshery, the Easter Island community, forest dieback and lake water quality—representing ecosystems with a range of anthropogenic interactions. Collapses occur sooner under increasing levels of primary stress but additional stresses and/or the inclusion of noise in all four models bring the collapses substantially closer to today by ~38–81%. We discuss the implications for further research and the need for humanity to be vigilant for signs that ecosystems are degrading even more rapidly than previo

An investigation by conservationists has found evidence that deep-seabed mining of rare minerals could cause “extensive and irreversible” damage to the planet.The report, to be published on Monday by the international wildlife charity Fauna & Flora, adds to the growing controversy that surrounds proposals to sweep the ocean floor of rare minerals that include cobalt, manganese and nickel. Mining companies want to exploit these deposits – which are crucial to the alternative energy sector – because land supplies are running low, they say.

By replacing thousands of equations with just one, ecology modelers can more accurately assess how close fragile environments are to a disastrous “tipping point.”

This paper analyses how recent trends in heat waves impact heat warning systems. We performed a retrospective analysis of the challenges faced by the French heat prevention plan since 2004. We described trends based on the environmental and health data collected each summer by the French heat warning system and prevention plan. Major evolutions of the system were tracked based on the evaluations organized each autumn with the stakeholders of the prevention plan.

The WFPHA proposes to lead a discussion about global aid and Global Health Initiatives (GHIs), beginning in these Federation Pages. In this issue (JPHP 31.1), we have invited authors from the Department of Public Health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, and from the Federal Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the ‘New dichotomy in health systems’ strengthening and the role of global health initiatives’. Next, the WFPHA will take a very active part in the upcoming Geneva Forum, 19–21 April 2010, entitled Globalization, Crisis & Health Systems: Confronting Regional Perspectives (http://www.ghf10.org/). The problems of GHIs will be the topic of a special session. In it, the organisers will integrate views of researchers, such as the contributors here, along with those of GHIs professionals, and participants from recipient countries.