Webinars
Upcoming Webinars
Valuing Marine Ecosystem Services for Better Decisions
Wednesday, April 8, 1 pm US EDT/10 am US PDT/5 pm UTC/6 pm BST. Presented by: Angela Fletcher and Glen Delaney of Earth Economics. Description: Marine and coastal ecosystems provide many ecosystem services that are essential to human communities, including food, recreational opportunities, and protection of infrastructure from natural disasters. These benefits are not often framed in economic terms, which can lead to them being overlooked in decision-making. Communicating ecosystem services in economic terms can support more holistic decision-making that accounts for the full range of benefits these systems provide. In this webinar, Angela Fletcher and Glen Delaney of Earth Economics will introduce the fundamentals of ecosystem service valuation and demonstrate how they have applied these methods in marine and coastal contexts. Earth Economics is a nonprofit economic consultancy with 26 years of experience applying valuation techniques in decision-making, policy, and project implementation. They will begin with a brief overview of ecosystem services and valuation basics, then walk through three real-world case studies that illustrate how valuation can inform conservation, restoration, and policy decisions: a valuation study of kelp forests along the California coast; the use of valuation to inform a National Marine Sanctuary application for the St. George Unangan Heritage site; and how valuation can support funding for salmon habitat restoration in the Duckabush Estuary in Washington State.
Coastal Marine Litter Observatory: Combining drones and AI for real-time beach and coastal monitoring
Thursday, April 16, 10 am US EDT/7 am US PDT/2 pm UTC/3 pm BST/4 CEST/5 pm EEST. Presented by: Kostas Topouzelis of Scidrones. Description: Marine litter is a significant environmental problem that can dramatically affect flora and fauna and have severe economic impacts on coastal communities, tourism, and fisheries. Currently, most mapping protocols for marine litter in the coastal environment rely on conventional on-site sampling, with limited ability to spatially display concentrations of coastal zone marine waste. To provide real-time, actionable data, Scidrones has created the Coastal Marine Litter Observatory (CMLO), an online platform that detects, maps, and monitors marine litter in the coastal zone using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and machine learning. UAS aerial images – collected using the Scidrones data acquisition protocol and uploaded to the CMLO platform – provide wide area coverage of actual litter, and machine learning algorithms are used to detect marine litter and categorize it (i.e., plastic, paper, metal, cloth, glass and ceramic, rubber, and wood). Marine debris in the coastal zone is then visualized through high-resolution density maps and spatiotemporal analytics, enabling scalable, operational monitoring and empowering stakeholders to take precise, data-driven action for cleaner beaches and coastlines. A free trial covering 1 km of coastline is available, allowing users to test and explore the platform’s capabilities.
Past Webinars
Sharpening Our Focus on MPAs for 2020 and Beyond
As countries work toward meeting their Aichi and SDG targets of protecting 10% of the ocean by 2020, and as post-2020 agenda discussions begin, many players are wrestling with the confusion around the plethora of types of MPAs and other related conservation measures.
New Study Highlights Need to Tackle Fisheries and Climate Together
The world’s oceans have the potential to be significantly more plentiful than today even with climate change, provided good management practices ..
Climate-driven species redistribution in marine systems
This webinar originally aired on October 25, 2018. Presenter(s): Gretta Pecl of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and Centre for Marine Socioecology in…
Marine Heatwaves – Trends, Impacts Attribution, and Software
Extreme climate and weather events shape the structure of biological systems and affect the biogeochemical functions and services they provide for society.
Tackling ghost gear in hot spot areas: How innovative partnerships are helping developing countries address lost and abandoned fishing gear
This webinar originally aired on October 18, 2018 Presenter(s): Ingrid Giskes and Joel Baziuk of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, Nick Mallos from Ocean Conservancy’s…
Implications of climate change for managing coastal and marine protected habitats and species
Climate change is already affecting a wide range of marine and coastal conservation features (habitats, species, and communities).
Managing Global Acidification on a Regional Scale: How the US Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Coastal Acidification Networks (MACAN and NECAN) Are Working to Understand Impacts through Partnerships.
The chemistry of the ocean is changing. Carbon dioxide released through emissions and deforestation is absorbed and dissolved into the ocean.
Integrating social network development into MPA management capacity building and institutionalization in the Philippines and Indonesia
This webinar originally aired on August 9, 2018 Presenter(s): Anne Nelson and Gabrielle Johnson of NOAA
Climate Change Threatens the World’s Marine Protected Areas
This webinar originally aired on July 23, 2018 Presenter(s): John Bruno, UNC Chapel Hill Click here to view on YouTube
The NOAA Digital Coast: Turning Coastal Data and Tools into Actionable Information
This webinar originally aired on July 3, 2018 Presenter(s): Josh Murphy, Doug Marcy, and Nate Herold of NOAA Click here to view on YouTube