Climate Science: Antarctic Warming

research highlights CLIMATE SCIENCE affecting carbon dioxide emissions have rarely found large capacity gaps in 49 countries, Antarctic warming been analysed in light of gender inequality. mostly in Africa, and small capacity gaps in Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L06704 (2012) Christina Ergas and Richard York of the only China, India, Mexico and Argentina, University of Oregon, USA, used 2003 and where forest area is increasing. 2004 cross-national data to analyse the The researchers emphasize the need relationship between women’s political to design REDD+ monitoring systems status — measured by the length of time and capacity building efforts based on women have had the right to vote and the specific REDD+ characteristics and women’s representation in parliament and circumstances of each country. They suggest ministerial government — and carbon that countries with good existing capacities dioxide emissions per capita. In their analysis, could have an important role in south– they include socio-economic development in south cooperation. MC terms of per capita gross domestic product, urbanization, industrialization and the age ECONOMICS structure of the population. The researchers Carbon tax revenues also include measures of militarization, Energ. Econ. http://doi.org/hsz (2012) world-system position, foreign direct investment and level of democracy. The effects of environmental policies on low- They found that, even when controlling income groups have always been a concern © ISTOCKPHOTO/THINKSTOCK broadly for modernization, per capita carbon of policymakers. Carbon taxes in particular dioxide emissions are lower in nations where are opposed by politicians, especially in In recent times, the Antarctic has not women have higher political status. MC developing countries, as they are thought to experienced the same level of warming as hit poor people the most. the Arctic. The ‘bipolar seesaw’ has been POLICY Fidel Gonzalez of the Sam Houston State proposed by some to be the major reason Monitoring forest carbon University, USA, developed an analytical for this difference. However, Antarctic Environ. Sci. Policy 19–20, 33–48 (2012) model to examine the impact of a carbon temperature data for the early twentieth tax on different income groups in Mexico century is limited, which may result in an when the tax revenues are earmarked in two artificial estimate of the climate trend for different ways. When the revenues from the this region. Before the mid-1940s only one tax are used to cut taxes in the manufacturing subantarctic station provided the data. sector, low-income groups’ purchasing power David Schneider and David Noone of the decreases and that of high-income groups National Center for Atmospheric Research increases. However, when tax revenues are and the University of Colorado at Boulder, given back in the form of a food subsidy, the USA compared temperature data from outcome is reversed and the inequalities in the subantarctic station, the reconstructed income distribution tend to diminish. Southern Annular Mode index and ice-core The researcher then calibrated his reconstructions of Antarctic temperature model with US data and, despite different to estimate climate variability and discern magnitudes, the findings were confirmed. its drivers. He concludes that the viability of carbon Individually, none of these data sets taxes depends on how their revenues are were significantly correlated with the Arctic redistributed in the economy. MC or North Atlantic climate records, or the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation — the OCEANOGRAPHY proposed driver of the bipolar seesaw. The Ocean oxygenation data sets showed correlation with tropical Countries active under the Reducing Biogeosciences 9, 1159–1172 (2012) Pacific sea surface temperatures, which may Emissions from Deforestation and Forest partly explain strong regional warming in Degradation plus (REDD+) scheme need Increased global temperatures could lead to an the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica. to report changes in forest carbon stock. Yet expansion of low oxygen waters (dead zones) This work rejects the bipolar-seesaw theory many of them lack the capacity to implement in the open ocean. Reduced oxygen solubility as applied to recent trends, but notes that a national monitoring system. and increased stratification are expected to a combination of factors are needed to Erika Romijn, of Wageningen University, cause this increase, which would have wide fully explain all variability and trends in The Netherlands, and colleagues integrated reaching implications for marine life. the Antarctic. BW different global data sources to assess A modelling study by the status and development of national Anand Gnanadesikan — from Johns SOCIOLOGY monitoring capacities between 2005 and Hopkins University, Baltimore and the Women and climate change 2010 in 99 developing countries. They National Oceanic and Atmospheric Soc. Sci. Res. http://doi.org/hsx (2012) combined four indicators — national Administration Geophysical Fluid Dynamics engagement in the REDD+ process, existing Laboratory, Princeton, USA — and Empirical evidence has shown that women monitoring capacities, country-specific colleagues found that most deoxygenation support environmental protection more than challenges with REDD+ monitoring and occurs in waters with relatively high levels men, and that women’s status is connected to technical challenges for the use of remote of oxygen. The volume of very low oxygen nature exploitation. However, the social forces sensing — to calculate the capacity gap. They waters (suboxic) does not increase globally. 312 NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | VOL 2 | MAY 2012 | www.nature.com/natureclimatechange © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

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