Webinars
Upcoming Webinars
Designing and delivering carbon and biodiversity credit schemes to benefit MPA managers, indigenous peoples and local communities
Wednesday, May 22, 11 am US EDT/8 am US PDT/3 pm UTC/4 pm BST. Presented by: Julian Clifton of the University of Lincoln. Description: Carbon and biodiversity credit schemes (often collectively referred to as ‘nature-based solutions’) are increasingly highlighted as a means to deliver on global biodiversity and climate change targets. The total size of the nature-based solutions market is projected to reach around $200 billion by 2050, representing a significant means to address the growing gap in conservation financing in protected areas worldwide. It is imperative, however, to ensure that the design and delivery of monetary or non-monetary benefits (termed co-benefits) arising from such credit schemes involve relevant resource users, including indigenous peoples, on an equitable and just basis. This webinar will introduce the current landscape of biodiversity and credit schemes, identifying the main actors and processes involved. The webinar will identify a suite of principles and criteria which provide a framework for managers and communities within protected areas to evaluate the impacts of credit schemes on local resource users and ensure that co-benefits are tailored to the local social, cultural, political and environmental context. The role of MPA managers as intermediaries in scheme design and implementation will also be highlighted. It is hoped that this webinar will enable MPA managers to work alongside resource users in the co-design and implementation of nature-based solutions schemes to facilitate the long term delivery of appropriate co-benefits to MPAs and their resident communities.
Netting the Future: AI’s Role in Sustainable Fisheries Across the Indo-Pacific
Tuesday, May 28, 9 am US EDT/6 am US PDT/1 pm UTC/2 pm BST/3 pm CEST/8 pm WIB. Presented by: Stuart J. Green of Blue-Green Advisors and Farid Maruf of USAID-SUFIA-TS, Tetra Tech. Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Advanced Analytics (AA), and Machine Learning (ML) can be transformational in promoting fair, legal, and sustainable fisheries management across the Indo-Pacific region. This webinar will delve into the key findings of the recent USAID report “Applying AI/AA/ML in Promoting Fair, Legal and Sustainable Regional Fisheries Management in the Indo-Pacific Region.” This webinar will explore emerging technological solutions that show potential in overcoming barriers to sustainable fisheries management and enhancing monitoring, analysis, and enforcement mechanisms. These innovative technologies have the potential to revolutionize fisheries management, ensuring ecological sustainability and economic viability for coastal communities.
Assessing the ecological and social performance of artificial reefs
Tuesday, June 18, 1 pm US EDT/10 am US PDT/5 pm UTC. Presented by: Sylvain Pioch of University Montpellier 3 and Jessica Salaün of CRIOBE/EPHE University Perpignan. Description: Many types of structures – ranging from intentionally designed concrete modules with nature-inspired designs to decommissioned ships and petroleum platforms – have been deployed in marine water to create artificial reefs. Initially, the artificial reefs were deployed to enhance fishery production, but they can also protect areas against prohibited trawling, provide eco-mooring sites, substitute for natural reefs for diving activities, and help restore habitats or protect species. Increasingly, artificial reefs are being deployed to rehabilitate marine ecosystems and their functionalities (e.g., nursery, feeding, or reproductive) and to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic impacts. In the future, scientifically-informed deployment of artificial reefs could provide corridors for larval dispersal and the juvenile and adult migrations of marine organisms. This webinar will provide an overview of historic and current reasons for the deployment of artificial reefs, recent studies of why and how artificial reefs have met these goals socially and ecologically, estimates of the how much of the global seabed is covered with artificial reefs, and the risks and management needed for deploying artificial reefs successfully in the future.
The role of marine protected areas in providing ecosystem services to improve ocean and human health
Thursday, June 20, 10 am US EDT/7 am US PDT/2 pm UTC/3 pm BST/4 pm CEST. Presented by: Gillian Ainsworth of University of Santiago de Compostela. Description: Marine protected areas (MPAs) are key management tools that contribute to the conservation of marine ecosystems worldwide, increasing the ecosystem services that nature provides to people. These ecosystem services include the release of oxygen, leisure opportunities, cultural inspiration, and the provision of food and medicines that improve the health and well-being of millions of people. In this talk we explain how natural processes and components in MPAs are valued by different groups of people and how we can maximize their effectiveness and avoid negative socio-economic effects such as social conflicts and inequitable distribution of benefits. We recommend that the MPA creation and management decision-making include the collection and integration of interdisciplinary data. This data can be used to develop pluralistic methods of valuation and foster social equity by involving local stakeholders.
Past Webinars
Using Sea Sketch for Collaborative Design of Ocean Management Plans
This webinar originally aired on 25 September 2014. SeaSketch is a platform for collaborative design of science-based ocean management plans, including marine protected areas, transportation…
Marine Wilderness 10+10 Project: Bringing Back the Wild
Marine Wilderness is a powerful vision of functional, healthy and resilient marine life that regenerates populations of wild species interconnected to form productive food webs…
A Climate-Smart Approach to Adaptive Management of North-central California Coast and Ocean Habitats, Species, and Ecosystem Services
The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Climate-Smart Adaptation Project for the North-central California Coast and Ocean is an effort to integrate adaptive management..
Principles for Effective Stakeholder Engagement in Marine Planning: Training #2
Marine planning is a comprehensive, integrated, and complex process that often seeks to coordinate decisions and activities across numerous ocean stakeholders…
iMarine Data e-Infrastructure Initiative for Fisheries Management and Conservation of Marine Living Resources
iMarine is an open and collaborative initiative aimed at supporting the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and the conservation of living marine resources.
Interactive panel discussion on utility and feasibility of cleaning up ocean plastics
In this interactive panel discussion, three experts on ocean plastics will discuss the utility and feasibility of marine debris cleanup, and will take audience questions…
Building Capacity to Sustainably Manage Increasing Recreational Uses in MPAs
Recreational uses of MPAs are expanding rapidly in the US and around the globe. While promising many benefits to users and the sites..
Marine and Coastal Datasets of Biodiversity Importance
This webinar originally aired on July 1, 2014. The availability and appropriate use of marine and coastal data form the foundation of effective decision-making. The…
Preparing for Disaster at MPAs
The presentation will focus on the need to consider disaster response planning for marine protected areas using the example of the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Mississippi…
Principles for Effective Stakeholder Engagement in Marine Planning: Training #1
Marine planning is a comprehensive, integrated, and complex process that often seeks to coordinate decisions and activities across numerous ocean stakeholders…