"Frustrated with the pace of the United Nations group charged with protecting Antarctic waters, a coalition of environmental groups announced its own initiative on Tuesday, calling for the creation of what would be the world’s largest network of marine reserves in the Southern Ocean."
"The Antarctic Ocean Alliance, which includes environmental and conservation organizations like Greenpeace, WWF, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the American oceanographer Sylvia Earle, is proposing that 19 areas be set aside as marine protected areas or no-take zones where fishing and mineral exploration are prohibited.
Many fisheries scientists argue that such reserves offer the best hope for restoring ecosystems stressed by overfishing, pollution and global warming. United Nations members meeting in Nagoya, Japan, agreed in October 2010 to set aside 10 percent of the world’s oceans as reserves by 2020 under the Convention on Biological Diversity, a target that all agree remains distant."
David Jolly reports for the New York Times' Green blog February 28, 2012.
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