Emerging Issues

Munn et al ¹ in their 1999 study for the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP) Global Environmental Outlook 2000 assessment (GEO-2000) defined emerging issues as follows:

“an issue, positive or negative, which is not yet generally recognized but which may have significant impact on human and / or ecosystem health in the 21^st Century…an emerging issue is associated with one of the following:

a) political, social, economic, financial, institutional or technological developments that may cause changes in trends of human activities….;

b) new evidence or theory that suggests potentially large environmental change, but which is currently either not widely accepted, or is considered unproven…; and

c) lack of adequate policy, action or leadership on an existing issue, which may become more significant or more urgent in the future.

An emerging issue is not necessarily an issue no one has heard of, or that comes as a shocking surprise.”

The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment of the International Council for Science conducted a special survey for GEO-2000 on environmental issues that may require attention in the 21st century. The survey was reported in the Munn et al 1999 mentioned above. The survey was conducted among 200 scientists in 50 countries. Most of the responding scientists expect that the major environmental problems of the next century will stem from the continuation and aggravation of existing problems that currently do not receive enough policy attention.

The summary of results from the survey is represented in the figure below:

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Recent documents on emerging environmental issues in Atlantic Canada:

Wells, P.G. 2010, Emerging Issues – Circa 2010. In: State of the Gulf of Maine Report; Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment.

Emerging issues for biodiversity in Nova Scotia are included in:

Drysdale, C., Jones, K.M.M. and Mockford, S. 2010. Biodiversity: The Foundation for Environmental, Social and Economic Prosperity in Nova Scotia. A panel of expertise report on biodiversity to the steering panel as part of the Nova Scotia Natural Resources

Strategy 2010 process. http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/strategy2010/pdf/phase2-reports/biodiversity.pdf

The 2010 Canadian Marine Ecosystem Status and Trends Report : Science Advisory Report 2010/30 published by Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat contains emerging issues and knowledge gaps for three marine ecosystems, Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf and Newfoundland and Labrador Shelves.

Plastic Particles

GESAMP (2010, IMO/FAO/UNESCO-IOC/UNIDO/WMO/IAEA/UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection); Bowmer, T. and Kershaw, P.J., 2010 (Eds.), Proceedings of the GESAMP International Workshop on plastic particles as a vector in transporting persistent, bio-accumulating and toxic substances in the oceans. GESAMP Rep. Stud. No. 82, 68pp.

Ocean Acidification

The second international symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World, organized by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP) was held in October 2008. The conference results are reported on the website of the Ocean Acidification Network.

Ocean Acidification Fact Sheet

Science Summary of the 2008 symposium for Policy Makers by Dr. Carol Turley, Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

1 Munn, R.E., Whyte, A.V.T. and Timmerman, P. 1999. “Emerging Environmental Issues for the 21^st Century: A Study for GEO-2000”. Environment Information and Assessment Technical Report UNEP/DEI&EW/TR.99-5, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya ISBN 92-807-1900-9