Webinars

Thursday, October 30, 11 am US EDT/8 am US PDT/3 pm UTC/3 pm WET/3 pm GMT/4 pm CET. Presented by: Catarina Frazão Santos of the University of Lisbon and Tundi Agardy of Sound Seas. Description: Marine spatial planning (MSP) and marine protected area (MPA) planning are two distinct area-based processes used worldwide to support sustainable ocean use and conservation. While MSP and MPA planning share similarities, they target different goals and objectives, and use different methodologies, tools, and practitioner skillsets. In this seminar we present our view of the differences and why they matter, emphasizing that using both can maximally advance conservation, especially in the face of climate change. We discuss how the conflation of MSP with MPA planning can create or fortify siloes, impeding holistic and effective management and lessening chances for broad support for conservation and sustainable use. As the world moves to incorporate climate change considerations into planning, the lack of clarity around these distinct approaches can lead to further confusion and limits our pathways to sustainable solutions. To avoid this, we encourage dialogue about scope and objectives of the tools used in planning and provide some lessons for practitioners to adopt ‘climate-smart’ approaches in MSP and MPA planning practices, optimizing synergies between the two wherever possible. We speak to several different ways to promote such synergies and build on progress being made in each arena, including how in certain circumstances OECM planning could bridge MPA planning and MSP and how climate-smart MSP in Antarctica could catalyze both conservation and sustainable use.

Wednesday, November 5, 1 pm US EST/10 am US PST/6 pm UTC. Presented by: Grant Wilson and Lucy Ward of the Earth Law Center. Description: Coral reefs are under serious threat worldwide—up to 50% have already been lost, and as much as 90% could disappear by 2050. Earth-centered laws that recognize Nature’s intrinsic value and rights are increasingly being applied to address global challenges in a holistic and grounded way. In this webinar, representatives from the Earth Law Center (ELC) will explore how these legal frameworks can be used to protect marine ecosystems, with a particular focus on leveraging Rights of Nature laws to support the protection and restoration of coral reefs. Presenters will provide an in-depth look at the toolkit “A Voice for Coral Reef Ecosystems Through the Rights of Nature and Ecocentric Law”, recently released in partnership with over 30 collaborators and endorsers working globally on reef protection and Rights of Nature initiatives. This webinar will provide a deeper understanding of how community-led projects can be supported by ecocentric legal frameworks, and how these frameworks can help shape policy and management strategies that promote locally-led, holistic solutions.

Thursday, November 13, 2 pm US EST/11 am US PST/9 am HST/7 pm UTC. Presented by: Audrey Ramsey of the Center for Protected Area Management; Will Heyman of Sustainable Marine Solutions, LLC; Lihla Noori of the Blue Nature Alliance; and Kira Sullivan-Wiley of the Pew Charitable Trusts and co-author of Ocean Equity: From Assessment to Action. Description: People must be at the heart of effective marine conservation. Yet, as the world races to meet the 30×30 goals, there is heavy emphasis on increasing the percentage of ocean under protection, often without parallel investment in supporting and strengthening the capacity needed to manage these areas. As more areas are designated and existing areas are expanded, we need managers who are equipped not only to achieve ecological outcomes, but also to integrate social dimensions – ensuring that management is equitable, participatory, and responsive to the people who rely on these marine spaces. Without this support, MPAs risk falling short of their goals and could fail to function effectively as part of the broader social-ecological systems on which both people and nature depend. This webinar will explore what social aspects involve and why they are essential for equitable and effective MPA management and point to ways participants can deepen their understanding and practice through targeted capacity-building opportunities.

Tuesday, November 18, 10 am US EST/7 am US PST/3 pm UTC/4 pm CET. Presented by: David Meyers of the Conservation Finance Alliance and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Sustainable Finance Specialist Group. Description: New guidance provides detailed frameworks, descriptions, and insights into the use of conservation finance solutions to achieve protected and conserved area outcomes. The webinar will spotlight how protected and conserved areas (PCAs) generate significant values for society and the economy, why these high economic values are not enough to ensure PCAs are adequately funded and conserved, why financial needs for PCAs are growing, and why investing in PCAs generates significant returns. In addition, this webinar will cover critical guidelines for PCA finance – optimizing resource efficiencies, discouraging harmful actions, incentivizing position action, and increasing financial capital for conservation – for a variety of finance streams including donors and philanthropies, site-based finance, and private sector finance along with special considerations for indigenous group funding.

Thursday, November 20, 3 pm US EST/Noon US PST/8 pm UTC. Presented by: Anastasia Quintana of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Eréndira Aceves Bueno of the University of Washington, and Jean Wencélius of the Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE).
Description: International conservation efforts, including “30×30” – the goal to protect 30% of the land and sea by 2030 – have focused largely on permanent or long-term protection. This is based partly on studies that link marine protected area (MPA) effectiveness to longevity, and partly on pragmatic policy concerns. However, coastal communities often rely on fisheries for their livelihoods and need ways to balance conservation and livelihood outcomes. Many forms of spatial fisheries management, especially traditional and indigenous management, rely on impermanence, including periodic and rotational fisheries closures. So how should conservation practitioners think about temporary protection? The international “TEMPO” project, a 5-year partnership between four universities, two research institutes, and two community partner organizations in Mexico and French Polynesia, brings together several lines of evidence to address this question. In this webinar, the TEMPO team will present novel results from social-ecological analysis at multiple scales, including a systematic review of temporary protection globally and in-depth results from case studies in Mexico and French Polynesia. The four main takeaways are: (1) there are diverse ways to include time in spatial management; (2) adding time to marine spatial management increases climate-adaptive policy options and potential for institutional fit; (3) temporary closures probably increase equity and justice; and (4) periodic harvest tends to deplete ecological benefits that have accrued but support long-term buy-in into ecological care.

Tuesday, December 2, 10 am MYT/Monday, December 1, 9 pm US EST/Monday, December 1, 6 pm US PST/Tuesday, December 2, 2 pm UTC. Description: Traditionally, MPAs in Malaysia have been managed in a top-down approach with little involvement of local community. In 2014, Reef Check Malaysia started working with local islanders on Tioman Island to provide advanced-level diver certification and a variety of trainings – including reef monitoring and rehabilitation, predator management, mooring buoy replacement, and ghost net removal. In 2015, Reef Check Malaysia established its first community-based conservation group – the Tioman Marine Conservation Group (TMCG) – in response to demand from local islanders who were keen to participate in management and conservation of their island’s marine resources and work for the local MPA Tioman Marine Reserve. Today, the TMCG has over 85 trained volunteers – all local islanders – who regularly participate in conservation activities. In 2019, the group was officially recognized by the Malaysian Department of Fisheries as a strategic partner under its Reef Care Smart Partnership program, which shares responsibility for coral reef management with suitable local community groups. Recognizing the effectiveness of this approach, Reef Check Malaysia has now expanded the Community Marine Conservation Groups model across 4 states and 11 islands. Collectively, these CMCGs are leading the way in showing how the involvement of local communities in marine ecosystem management can have significant conservation outcomes, as well as mainstreaming environmental protection at community level.