The MPA Health Tracker tool: Measuring, tracking, and communicating MPA performance in real time

The MPA Health Tracker tool: Measuring, tracking, and communicating MPA performance in real time

This webinar originally aired on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. Presented by: Christine Ward-Paige of eOceans. Description: Marine protected areas, and all ocean management areas, urgently need to work. Measuring, tracking, and communicating performance in real-time is necessary to iterate towards success. A participatory framework — integrating technology, cloud-computing, and big data processing with purpose-built maps, analytics, and algorithms, and an ethical approach to data sharing — can help. The eOceans app and analytics platform were specifically designed to host the MPA Health Tracker and MPA Health Score. These tools provide both in-depth and high-level assessments of MPAs across social, biological, and anthropogenic dimensions, accessible to all stakeholders, rightsholders, and decision makers. The system was created to break down silos and enable collaborative MPA performance tracking to facilitate smart actions in a timely and united way.

The MPA Health Tracker tool: Measuring, tracking, and communicating MPA performance in real time

Developing Offshore Wind in US Waters Part 2: Offshore Wind Development and the Structure and Function of Marine Ecosystems

This webinar originally aired on Thursday, September 21, 2023. Presented by: Jon Hare of the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Description: The pace, scale, and magnitude of offshore wind development in the US and around the globe is increasing rapidly. Countries are committing to this new ocean use to decarbonize their energy systems and as a goal for economic growth. The scale of this development has moved from small turbines in shallow waters of the North Sea to new technologies that allow for large-scale industrialization in marine ecosystems. This webinar will explore the potential interactions of this growing industry with the structure and function of marine ecosystems and what science is still needed to better understand these interactions.

The MPA Health Tracker tool: Measuring, tracking, and communicating MPA performance in real time

Planning for MPA Resilience: Lessons Learned from Using the Resilience Self-assessment Tool (R-SAT)

This webinar originally aired on Thursday, September 14, 2023. Presented by: Jean-Jacques Goussard of the Ocean Governance Project, Mike De Luca of the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mathieu Ducrocq of the Regional Network of Marine Protected Areas in West Africa (RAMPAO), Lilian Wetzel of the Ocean Governance Resilience Partnership, and MPA managers from Senegal, Colombia, Brazil, and the US. Description: The Ocean Governance Resilience Partnership has developed the Resilience Self-assessment Tool ( R-SAT) for addressing the resilience of MPAs. Over 80 MPAs in 17 countries have conducted resilience self-assessments with the tool, and since December 2022, several trainings of trainers have been organized, including in Senegal, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, and the US. This webinar will present lessons learned from applying the tool and feedback from the recent training of trainers, including how future-oriented management approaches and risk reduction are being integrated into the tool. In addition, several MPA managers will share their experiences applying the tool. Learn more about R-SAT at https://tinyurl.com/MPAresilience.

The MPA Health Tracker tool: Measuring, tracking, and communicating MPA performance in real time

Addressing ocean sewage pollution: Financing wastewater treatment upgrades at scale

This webinar originally aired on Thursday, August 3, 2023. Presented by: Tanya Amaya of the Coral Reef Alliance, Roderic Hodges of Marine Change, and Jos Hill of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Description: Ocean sewage pollution is a global challenge that is damaging marine and coastal ecosystems and harming people’s health. Improving management of human waste can be complex and expensive, yet the impacts can dramatically improve coastal ecosystems and human health. In this webinar we will hear from Tanya Amaya, Regional Program Director for Mesoamerica at the Coral Reef Alliance, about how they improved wastewater management in West End, Roatan, Honduras, and their approach and challenges to scaling wastewater improvements across Honduras. We will also hear from Roderic Hodges, Director of Investment at Marine Change, about an assessment of sanitation investment in Southeast Asia and the operations and management business model innovation necessary to finance fixing this issue at scale.

The MPA Health Tracker tool: Measuring, tracking, and communicating MPA performance in real time

Strengthening Blue Carbon Solutions in US Ocean Policy

This webinar originally aired on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Presented by: Anne Christianson of the Center for American Progress. Description: The ocean is gaining prominence in climate change policy circles as a tool for addressing the climate crisis. Blue carbon, the carbon captured and stored by marine and coastal ecosystems and species, offers potential as a “nature-based solution” to climate change. However, some blue carbon interventions may not be suitable as a climate mitigation response. This presentation will present results from a recent paper that gives context to numerous blue carbon sequestration pathways, quantifying their potential to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and comparing these sequestration pathways to point-source emissions reductions. The applicability of blue carbon will be discussed in terms of multiple international policy frameworks, to help individuals and institutions utilize the appropriate framework to reach ocean conservation and climate mitigation goals.