April, 27 2011, 11:39am EDT

On Thin Ice: New Report Identifies 13 Vulnerable Arctic Treasures as Ice Melts, Industry Moves In
NEW YORK
A report released today identifies 13 of the most vulnerable places in the Arctic Ocean that should be considered for protection as summer sea ice melts and industrial activity expands into newly accessible areas. The report, released by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, offers the first-ever Arctic-wide identification of areas most important to Arctic marine life and vulnerable to additional stress on top of global warming, loss of sea ice and ocean acidification.
"The Arctic is the last ocean frontier," said Lisa Speer, Director of the International Oceans Program at the NRDC. "We have a short window of opportunity to plan for industrial development in a way that respects and protects important and fragile ocean habitats, wildlife and communities. As nations around the Arctic plan new offshore oil development, fishing and shipping, this report jumpstarts the process of identifying areas that should be considered for protection from the environmental consequences of those activities, including oil spills, pollution, and habitat degradation."
In the U.S., the Bering Strait, Chukchi Beaufort Coast in Alaska, and St. Lawrence Island made the list of 13 top priority areas. Also included are: Wrangel Island (off the Russian Federation), Beaufort Coast/Cape Bathurst (Canada), Polar Pack Refugium, Lancaster Sound/North Water Polynya, Disko Bay/Store Hellefiskebanke (off Canada and Greenland), White Sea/Barents Sea Coast, Pechora Sea/Kara Gate, Novaya Zemlya, High Arctic Islands and Shelf, and the Great Siberian Polynya (off Norway and the Russian Federation).
The areas identified in the report are particularly unique or rare, contain threatened, endangered or declining species and/or habitats, are especially vulnerable, fragile, sensitive, or slow to recover, or meet other internationally recognized criteria. They represent top priorities in a subset of 77 total Arctic areas that should be considered for protection.
The Arctic Ocean supports a unique array of polar-adapted wildlife - from polar bears to whales, seals, walruses and sea birds. Many of the four million people residing in the Arctic rely on these animals for nutritional and cultural sustenance.
As the Arctic warms, industrial activities such as shipping, fishing, and oil and gas exploration are expanding into ocean places that were previously inaccessible due to the year round presence of sea ice. This adds stress to a region already facing environmental pressures due to the impacts of climate change.
"There is increasing interest in expanded economic activities in the Arctic," says Thomas L. Laughlin, Deputy Head of IUCN's Global Marine and Polar Programme. "The information and maps we have available now will allow governments and the international community to make the right choices regarding the conservation and use of the natural resources of the Arctic."
Also receiving an honorary mention in the report were the unique features of the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean, an area of international waters at the top of the world where marine life survives in an extreme environment of cold and darkness - outside of any country's jurisdiction. Globally unique, the high seas of the Central Arctic may be exceedingly vulnerable and slow to recover.
The report reflects the findings of leading scientists and representatives of indigenous communities in Arctic countries who gathered at a Scripps Institution of Oceanography workshop last fall.
For more information, you can find the full report online here: https://docs.nrdc.org/oceans/files/oce_11042501a.pdf.
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
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Nearly 400 Rights Groups Demand Biden Permanently End Family Detention
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Nearly 400 immigration justice and other advocacy groups on Wednesday added their voices to the call for President Joe Biden to reject family detention, amid reports that the White House is considering a revival of the practice that was used by the Trump and Obama administrations—despite the fact that it subjected thousands of families to numerous abuses and trauma.
The ACLU, Bend the Arc, and the National Immigration Law Center were among 383 groups that sent a letter to Biden Wednesday morning, calling on the president to keep the pledge he made when he took office in 2021 "to end family detention and to pursue just, compassionate, and humane immigration policies."
Despite that promise, as Common Dreamsreported last week, multiple media outlets have reported that the administration is considering once against detaining families in facilities that have been used under the Biden administration to detain single adults.
The groups warned that even short-term detention for families with children is "unacceptable."
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In 2016, the United Nations human rights office warned that the detention of children "can be devastating for a child and is not a legitimate response under international human rights law."
The letter sent Wednesday also noted that family detention robs families of due process, with "limited access to counsel at these facilities, making it nearly impossible to pursue protection claims under U.S. immigration law."
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Both lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.
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The Wednesday lawsuit also charges the Biden administration with failing to fully examine alternatives to the project it formally approved earlier this week, ignoring months of protests from climate organizations.
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Just over a decade after union members and labor advocates from across the United States rallied at the Michigan State Capitol to protest state Republicans' passage of a so-called "right-to-work" law, many of the same people were present in Lansing on Tuesday as the Democratic-led state Senate voted to end what one lawmaker called "the failed experiment of gutting Michigan workers' rights."
Lawmakers voted along party lines, 20-17, in favor of a package of bills that will repeal the right-to-work law—which barred unions from requiring that all workers in unionized jobs pay dues—and restore a "prevailing wage" requirement that construction contractors pay union wages and and benefits on state-funded projects.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer indicated on Monday that she intends to sign the bills, which will make Michigan the first state to roll back right-to-work laws in nearly six decades.
Since Republicans pushed the passage of the right-to-work law in December 2012, union membership in Michigan has fallen by about 40,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
State Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-4), the lead sponsor of the bills to repeal the right-to-work law, said on the Senate floor Tuesday that the 2012 law "systematically made it harder for unions to do their job" and "created an environment where unions were put at a disadvantage when it came to negotiating for better pay and benefits across the board."
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Camilleri added that lawmakers could hear union members and supporters "loud and clear" as they cheered the passage of the bills.
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According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 26 other states have right-to-work policies in place.
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