The warming world

FAO Code - кодекс продовольственной и сельскохозяйственной организации

WWF - международный фонд защиты природы

Vocabulary

sustain – поддерживать

Sustainable use – устойчивое использование

government inaction – бездействие правительства

to enforce – оказывать давление, принуждать

implementation – применение

haul of seafood – добыча морепродуктов

livelihoods – средства к существованию

eelgrass – водоросль «морская трава»

waterfowl – водная дичь, водоплавающая птица

oyster culture – разведение устриц

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources – международный союз охраны природы и природных ресурсов

Responsible Fisheries – ведение рыболовного промысла в размерах, не наносящих ущерб морским биоресурсам

Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. What actions are taken to protect coastal and ocean areas?

2. Why is it difficult to control coastal and ocean resources?

3. When did sustainable management started?

4. What is the main problem to manage marine resources?

5. What ways of the situation are suggested by the article?

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level.

"Unequivocal" is a very strong word, meaning clear, unambiguous, and leaving no doubt, and sends a clear message from the scientific community to the world that the science is confirmed "climate change is real, and it is already happening".

The natural driving force behind climate change is the greenhouse effect at work in our world's climate systems. As infrared solar radiation from the sun reaches the earth, about 30 per cent of it is reflected back into space, without entering the atmosphere. Another 20 per cent is immediately absorbed into the atmosphere, and the remaining 50 per cent reaches the Earth's surface, where much of it is absorbed and the rest reflected back towards the atmosphere and through to space. The amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth is about equal to the amount reflected, maintaining an energy balance. Without this greenhouse effect, the environment on Earth would not be favourable to sustaining life.

This energy balance is now being altered by two components of the atmosphere. First, greenhouse gases (GHGs) - the most well-known being carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxides (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) '“ capture some of the energy reflected from the surface of the earth, keeping it in our atmosphere and warming the planet. Second, aerosols - miniscule particles suspended in the air - primarily have a cooling effect on the Earth because they reflect solar radiation back into space before reaching the atmosphere, though aerosols like black carbon produced from burning of biomass and diesel engine exhaust have a warming effect.

The impacts of human activities, however, are now outpacing the long-term, natural climate variabilities. Dating back to the agricultural revolution of the 18th century, human activities have released greenhouse gases and aerosols into the atmosphere, but the amount of these emissions were at a small scale compared to the natural greenhouse gas process. It was not until the turn of the 20th century and the Industrial Revolution that emissions from our actions increased dramatically, trapping more greenhouse gas emissions and in turn more heat in the atmosphere and causing human-induced climate change.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-06