Much as Rachel Carson's \"Silent Spring\" was a call to action against the pesticides that were devastating bird populations, Charles S. Elton's classic \"The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants\" sounded an early warning about an environmental catastrophe that has become all too familiar today-the invasion of nonnative species. From kudzu to zebra mussels to Asian long-horned beetles, nonnative species are colonizing new habitats around the world at an alarming rate thanks to accidental and intentional human intervention. One of the leading causes of extinctions of native animals and plants, invasive species also wreak severe economic havoc, causing $79 billion worth of damage in the United States alone. Elton explains the devastating effects that invasive species can have on local ecosystems in clear, concise language and with numerous examples. The first book on invasion biology, and still the most cited, Elton's masterpiece provides an accessible, engaging introduction to one of the most important environmental crises of our time. Charles S. Elton was one of the founders of ecology, who also established and led Oxford University's Bureau of Animal Population. His work has influenced generations of ecologists and zoologists, and his publications remain central to the literature in modern biology. \"History has caught up with Charles Elton's foresight, and \"The Ecology of Invasions\" can now be seen as one of the central scientific books of our century.\"-David Quammen, from the Foreword to \"Killer Algae: The True Tale of a Biological Invasion\

The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants

Sustainable development goals in mining

L’interet pour l’Arctique s’est developpe a travers l’environnement et les changements climatiques, avec avant tout la question du rechauffement climatique, qui bouleversent grandement cette region. Ces evolutions amenent aussi bien de nombreuses menaces que des opportunites importantes, qui demandent toutes une cooperation approfondie pour y repondre. La protection de l’environnement, l’acces et la gestion des ressources (naturelles, energetiques, halieutiques, etc.), l’utilisation des routes maritimes, la delimitation des limites maritimes et limites exterieures du plateau continental, le respect des droits de l’homme et des droits des peuples autochtones, l’aspect strategique et militaire sont des exemples des nombreux enjeux qui existent en Arctique. La cooperation arctique, qui se structure de maniere plus prononcee depuis la fin de la Guerre froide, se trouve devant des defis importants qui demandent son approfondissement. Tous ces enjeux depassent la seule cooperation entre les Etats arctiques, d’autant plus que les consequences et les interets presents sont mondiaux. A la multitude de domaines de cooperation s’ajoute donc une congruence d’acteurs, arctiques et non-arctiques avec, de maniere classique, les organisations internationales, les organisations non-gouvernementales et les multinationales, mais egalement les regions, les organisations interparlementaires, les peuples autochtones ou encore les associations scientifiques. La complexite de la situation se traduit au niveau de la cooperation, qui fait face aux tensions aussi bien entre les acteurs arctiques qu’entre les acteurs arctiques et non-arctiques. Deux processus contradictoires semblent donc structurer la cooperation avec d’une part une regionalisation et d’autre part une internationalisation. La cooperation entre les acteurs arctiques se bâtit ainsi autour de nombreuses institutions internationales dont la structure et le role sont voues a evoluer, avec comme institution centrale le Conseil de l’Arctique, tout en se fondant sur des cooperations internationales globales, avec comme instrument essentiel la Convention sur le droit de la mer de 1982. La cooperation arctique semble constituer un modele interessant reposant sur une flexibilite qui doit permettre une adaptation, d’autant plus importante dans une region exposee a des evolutions rapides. Elle utilise une structure unique mettant en avant une action multiniveaux et multi-acteurs en gardant un equilibre entre hard law et soft law. Si la cooperation arctique structure une veritable region arctique avec une importance grandissante sur l’arene internationale, les liens entre le monde et cette region restent incertains. L’ouverture aux acteurs extra-arctiques est necessaire, mais fait face a la reticence de certains acteurs arctiques. L’Arctique se pose comme un nouvel objet des relations internationales et peut meme en devenir un acteur, mais doit repondre aux dangers qui peuvent exister pour la cooperation dans cette region, dangers qui semblent avant tout venir de causes exogenes. La cooperation arctique necessite donc une analyse approfondie des enjeux qu’elle presente ainsi que des contradictions et paradoxes qui semblent y exister. Cette these vise ainsi a etudier la cooperation arctique en mettant en exergue ses mecanismes et specificites tout en analysant les relations qu’elle peut entretenir avec les acteurs extra-arctiques et la maniere dont elle s’integre dans les relations internationales.

L'Arctique comme enjeu de coopération internationale

Mining in the Arctic environment - A review from ecological, socioeconomic and legal perspectives.

This paper considers the role of the Arctic Council (AC) and its relationship to the future or even futures. Factors such as sea ice thinning and melting permafrost, alongside globalisation, have been cited as consequential in transforming the Arctic region. While we might be cautious about the novelty of change per se, there is a need for further debate about how the ‘future’ is imagined and put into practice. Exploring different logics, including precaution, pre-emption and preparedness, consideration is offered on how the AC attempts to anticipate the future. The contentious role of observers is investigated by way of an example, and it is concluded that there is more work to be done in terms of how different futures are assembled, mobilised and put into practice.

https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/c7704c62-4548-ab5d-9a9f-cb5209c2836a/7/S0032247412000198a.pdf

Anticipating the Arctic and the Arctic Council: pre-emption, precaution and preparedness

The European Union’s (EU’s) intention of becoming a permanent observer in the Arctic Council and the reluctance of Arctic actors to grant it that status have made the union’s aspirations in the Arctic the subject of a continuing debate. The discussion appears to be dominated by geographical considerations and the EU’s gradually emerging Arctic policy. This article puts forward a different view of the EU’s presence in the region, one drawing on an analysis of relevant EU competences. As a complex international actor, the EU has acquired a broad array of decision making powers from its member states, powers that partly extend to Iceland and Norway via the EEA Agreement. Moreover, the EU has in many cases become a relevant actor in international negotiations and treaty making processes the outcomes of which are of crucial importance for the governance of the Arctic. Our argument in the third and concluding section is that only by including the EU in Arctic governance can the international community provide better prospects for the union to sensitise its policies and discourses to the Arctic realities and for other Arctic actors to understand how the union functions. This argument is supported by an analysis of the EU’s restrictions on the import of seal products and the ensuing litigation.

The Present and Future Competence of the European Union in the Arctic

The European Union's (EU's) intention of becoming a permanent observer in the Arctic Council and the reluctance of Arctic actors to grant it that status have made the union's aspirations in the Arctic the subject of a continuing debate. The discussion appears to be dominated by geographical considerations and the EU's gradually emerging Arctic policy. This article puts forward a different view of the EU's presence in the region, one drawing on an analysis of relevant EU competences. As a complex international actor, the EU has acquired a broad array of decision- making powers from its member states, powers that partly extend to Iceland and Norway via the EEA Agreement. Moreover, the EU has in many cases become a relevant actor in international negotiations and treaty making processes the outcomes of which are of crucial importance for the governance of the Arctic. Our argument in the third and concluding section is that only by including the EU in Arctic governance can the international community provide better prospects for the union to sensitise its policies and discourses to the Arctic realities and for other Arctic actors to understand how the union functions. This argument is supported by an analysis of the EU's restrictions on the import of seal products and the ensuing litigation.

/pdf/the-present-and-future-competence-of-the-european-union-in-25dj5117yh.pdf

The present and future competence of the European Union in the Arctic

Sustainable mining is an objective as well as a tool for balancing economic, social, and environmental considerations. Each of these three dimensions of mining – and sustainable development – has m ...

/pdf/sustainable-mining-local-communities-and-environmental-16wxr7j027.pdf

Kai Tapio Kokko

Papers

The Present and Future Competence of the European Union in the Arctic

The present and future competence of the European Union in the Arctic

Sustainable mining, local communities and environmental regulation

EU competencies affecting the arctic

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms and Their Economic Impact on Finland and the EU