In May, Costa Rica’s National System of Conservation Areas tested the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor collect evidence of illegal fishing and poaching. In an email interview, Marco Quesada Alpízar, the director of Conservation International’s Costa Rica program, discussed Costa Rica’s fishing industry and fisheries policy. WPR: What is the current state of Costa Rica’s fishing industry? Marco Quesada Alpízar: Over 90 percent of Costa Rica’s fishing industry operates on the Pacific coast. The main fishing fleet comprises small-scale operations, composed of thousands of fishermen—4,000 to 6,000 in the Gulf of Nicoya alone—30 to 50 percent of which [...]
Today, the phrase “Arctic energy” has become synonymous with snowy oil rigs, icy ocean exploration and Greenpeace activists. The conditional U.S. approval in May of Shell’s plans to drill in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska has reinforced this narrow delineation of what’s included in polar energy debates. Reflecting how observers and international policymakers view the Arctic more generally, northern energy is written as an extractive narrative. From the opening of shipping routes to warnings of climate change consequences, the Arctic is frequently framed and valued by how it can help those living below the 66th parallel. But there is another [...]
This month represented another stepping stone in the long diplomatic march toward a prospective international climate change agreement in Paris in December. In the Bavarian Alps on June 7-8, the G-7 countries agreed on a communiqué reiterating their support for the goal of limiting climate change to below 2 degrees Celsius—compared to pre-industrial baseline levels—and pledging complete decarbonization of the global economy by 2100. The G-7 countries also restated their commitment to a promise that they have been making repeatedly since the Copenhagen climate accord talks in December 2009. Developed nations pledged billions of dollars a year in financial assistance [...]
