outline

Sydney P. Furio IV-1 Topic: Climate Change October 20, 2008
Focus: How climate change affects the marine ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean and the fishing industry.

OUTLINE

I. Introduction
A. Causes of climate change
1. Natural causes of climate change
2. Anthropogenic causes of climate change
a. Pollution from human activities
b. Greatest contributors of pollution
(1) Industrial plants in the U.S.
(2) Gasoline-burning motor vehicles
3. Accumulation of excessive greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
a. Types of greenhouse gases
b. Effects of common greenhouse gases in the greenhouse effect
B. International cooperation is needed to mitigate the impact of climate change on the ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean and economies of the Pacific Island Nations.

II. Body
A. Climate change affects the marine ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean
1. Increasing sea water temperature of the Pacific Ocean
a. The effects of ocean acidification on the marine ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean
b. Coral bleaching causes death of many coral reefs
c. The increasing sea water temperature disables coral’s capability to recover
2. Shifting of seasonal temperature patterns
a. The effects of shifting seasonal temperature patterns to the marine food web
b. The adaptation of the marine organisms to the shifting seasonal
temperature pattern
B. The deteriorating marine ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean affects the fishing industry
1. The decline in fish availability
2. The increase in minimum catch weight
C. The repercussions of climate change on the livelihood of fishermen
1. Decrease in catch of fishermen
2. Overfishing of fishermen to increase catch
a. Using of destructive methods to increase catch
b. Jeopardizing the marine ecosystem
D. The repercussions of climate change on the economies of the Pacific Island Nations
1. Decline in fish catch
2. Decline in tourism
E. The cooperation between different countries to mitigate the impact of climate change
1. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
a. The Kyoto Protocol
(1) The Kyoto Protocol’s main objective
(2) The countries that ratified the treaty
b. The treaty’s Clean Development Mechanism
2. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
a. A background on what it is
(1) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s main objective
(2) The countries that joined the panel
b. The panel’s action plans to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases

III. Conclusion
A. Climate change and its vital effects to marine ecosystem
B. International cooperation to combat the impact of climate change
C. Simple solutions to fight climate change