Protection of the Three Poles

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction: Why Three Poles and Why Protect Them?

      • Falk Huettmann

      Pages 3-32

3. Polar Overview

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33

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   2. IPY 2007–2008: Where Threads of the Double Helix and Sputnik Intertwine

      • David J. Carlson

      Pages 35-50

4. The Antarctic

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 51-51

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   2. Unnatural Selection of Antarctic Toothfish in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

      • David G. Ainley, Cassandra M. Brooks, Joseph T. Eastman, Melanie Massaro

      Pages 53-75

   3. Protection of Wilderness and Aesthetic Values in Antarctica

      • Rupert Summerson

      Pages 77-109

5. The Hindu Kush–Himalayas

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. Real World Protection for the “Third Pole” and Its People

      • Nakul Chettri, Arun B. Shrestha, Yan Zhaoli, Birendra Bajracharya, Eklabya Sharma, Hua Ouyang

      Pages 113-133

   3. Mining the Himalayan Uplands Plant Database for a Conservation Baseline Using the Public GMBA Webportal*

      • Dirk Nemitz, Falk Huettmann, Eva M. Spehn, W. Bernhard Dickoré

      Pages 135-158

6. The Arctic

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 159-159

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   2. Community-Based Surveys and Management of Walruses and Polar Bears in the Area of Cape Kozhevnikov (Chukotka, Russia)

      • Andrei Boltunov, Viktor Nikiforov, Varvara Semenova

      Pages 161-170

   3. Toward the New Role of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas in the Arctic: The Russian Case

      • Vassily Spiridonov, Maria Gavrilo, Yury Krasnov, Anton Makarov, Natalia Nikolaeva, Ludmila Sergienko et al.

      Pages 171-202

   4. Status, Threat, and Protection of Arctic Waterbirds

      • Christoph Zöckler

      Pages 203-216

   5. Global Issues for, and Profiles of, Arctic Seabird Protection: Effects of Big Oil, New Shipping Lanes, Shifting Baselines, and Climate Change

      • Grant R. W. Humphries, Falk Huettmann

      Pages 217-245

   6. Polar Diseases and Parasites: A Conservation Paradigm Shift

      • Susan J. Kutz

      Pages 247-261

7. Synthesis

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 263-263

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   2. Yet Another, But This Time Realistic, Polar Synthesis, Meta-Analysis, and Outlook: Protecting Ice, Snow, People, Species, Habitats, and Global Temperatures for Good?

      • Falk Huettmann

      Pages 265-330

8. Back Matter

   Pages 331-337

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The Arctic, the Antarctic, and the Hindu Kush-Himalayas form a trio of terrains sometimes called “the three poles”. Mainly composed of rock, snow, and ice, these precious regions, which are home to many unique species such as the polar bear, the emperor penguin, and the snow leopard, contain the primary water resource of this planet and directly shape our climate. This book presents a first-ever global assessment and progressive review of the three poles and demonstrates the urgent need for their protection. Sins of the past have irrevocably harmed and threatened many of the unique qualities of these regions, and the future looks bleak with the global population forecast to reach 9 billion by 2060, and with climate change on the rise. Presented here is a wide-reaching and coherent overview of the three poles’ biodiversity, habitats, and ongoing destruction. Failed protection and social targets set by the United Nations and other bodies are exposed while economic growth, unconstrained or inappropriate development, and urban sprawl are promoted unabated. Polar regions play a major role in the global agenda as they are rich in oil and other resources, marking them for contamination, overfishing, and further degradation. Tourism in the Antarctic has benefited from enlightened self-regulation, but there are signs that this is changing, too. The chapters of this book are written by experts in their fields, and their evidence leaves no doubt that we already live beyond our carrying capacity on a finite but decaying space. A global protection role model and several outlook scenarios are proposed to help set in motion polar protection priorities that are actually valid. Humanity has demonstrated through international treaties such as the Antarctic Treaty and the Madrid Protocol that we can put the interests of the planet as a whole first. This must become the norm, not the exception.

• Antarctic
• Arctic
• Himalaya
• Polar Conservation
• Protected Areas

From the reviews:

“Huettmann (Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks) and collaborating authors have made a brave attempt to document the environmental pressures facing the ‘three poles’--the Arctic, Antarctic, and the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. … the book is divided into five parts, one for each pole, preceded by an overview of the polar regions and concluded by a synthesis, also contributed by the editor. … Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals.” (J. D. Ives, Choice, Vol. 50 (4), December, 2012)

• EWHALE lab- Institute of Arctic Biology, Biology & Wildlife Department, University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF), Fairbanks, USA

  Falk Huettmann