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The Global Plankton Database: an inventory and data from the former Soviet Union expeditionsCore international projects dealing with the ocean, as well as the UNEP Biodiversity and Climate Change Program, have emphasized an urgent need for information on the impact of climate change on species diversity and on the development of efforts to deal with this impact. In order to assess this impact, a global database of historical data sets is needed. For instance, there is a lack of knowledge on the interannual climate-related variability of zooplankton communities of the tropical Atlantic, central Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, and Arabian Sea due to the absence of appropriate databases. The general goal was to develop a plankton database of the Former Soviet Union expeditions (carried out by the academic research vessels), available for the international scientific community. This database contains 41 expeditions to the Atlantic Ocean and over 30 expeditions to the enclosed seas of the Atlantic Ocean, including over 30 years of sampling in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and 14 expeditions to the Indian Ocean. Basic approach to the proposed research involved: Development of co-operation between experts and data holders in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, UK, and USA to rescue and compile the oceanographic data sets and release them on CD-ROM (this is the online version of the CD as archived in Pangaea in 2008). The organization and compilation of a database based on FSU cruises to the above regions. The analysis of the basin-scale interannual variability of the zooplankton species abundance, biomass, and species diversity. The Database was created with the assistance of the following institutions: Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Ukrainain National Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Ukraine Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Ukrainain National Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Ukraine Caspian Biological Station, Institute of Zoology of Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan Institute of Zoology and NGO "Tethys", Almaty, Kazakhstan Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, United Kingdom
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State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2011After five consecutive years of robust growth, the total value of the global carbon market stalled at $142 billion. Suffering from the lack of post-2012 regulatory clarity, the value of the primary Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) market fell by double-digits for the third year in a row, ending lower than it was in 2005, the first year of the Kyoto protocol. The Assigned Amount Unit (AAU) and the United States Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) markets shrank as well. As these segments declined, the dominance of the European Union Allowances (EUAs) market became more pronounced than ever and the share of the carbon market primarily driven by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) rose to 97 percent, dwarfing the remaining segments of the market. The carbon market growth halted at a particularly inopportune time: 2010 proved to be the hottest on record, while emission levels continued their seemingly inexorable rise. In the end, however, the year may be remembered most for the political opportunities that arose, yet were ultimately failed to materialize in the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Republic of Korea. While the international regulatory environment remains uncertain, national and local initiatives have noticeably picked up and may offer the potential to collectively overcome the international regulatory gap. These initiatives signal that, one way or another, solutions that address the climate challenge will emerge.
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The Prototype Carbon Fund : Addressing Challenges of Globalization - An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank's Approach to Global ProgramsThe prototype carbon fund (PCF) is a public-private partnership whose mission is to pioneer a market for project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions within the framework of the Kyoto protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). PCF seeks to show how project-based greenhouse gas emission reduction transactions can lower the cost of compliance with Kyoto, promote sustainable development, and mobilize new resources for Bank clients. Recognizing the global environmental benefits of emissions reductions regardless of location, Kyoto allows industrialized countries and firms to offset certain obligations through the purchase of lower-cost emission reductions (ERs) in developing and in-transition countries. This review identifies Bank comparative advantage-related issues, as well as the issues raised by competition between the Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) in carbon finance.