Webinars

Upcoming Webinars

Bringing local communities and sustainable growth opportunities together for sea turtle conservation

Thursday, May 2, 10 am US EDT/7 am US PDT/2 pm UTC/1 pm CVT/3 pm BST/4 pm CEST/4 pm SAST (Cape Town)/8 pm BST (Dhaka). Presented by: Kirsten Fairweather of Project Biodiversity. Description: Project Biodiversity (Projeto Biodiversidade) is a Cabo Verdean NGO that unites local conservation efforts with opportunities for sustainable growth through programs that benefit Cabo Verde’s unique ecosystems and its people. At the heart of Project Biodiversity’s work is the protection and conservation of the loggerhead sea turtle. The archipelago supports one of the world’s largest nesting aggregations of loggerhead sea turtles and the only major nesting area for loggerhead turtles along the eastern Atlantic. Project Biodiversity runs a wide range of programs to protect nesting turtle populations – including running night patrols and drone monitoring of turtle nesting beaches to prevent poaching; providing educational programs to local communities, youth, and tourists; designating Tourist Friendly Hotels; and relocating nests to hatcheries. Join this webinar to learn about the wide range of measures taken to protect Cabo Verde’s sea turtle nesting aggregations, what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and how Project Biodiversity has created sustainable growth opportunities for local communities with this work.

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.

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

Coastal Resilience 2.0

Coastal Resilience 2.0 is a suite of interactive tools to help decision-makers assess risk and identify nature-based solutions to reduce socio-economic vulnerability to coastal hazards…

MPAs as Sentinel Sites

“Sentinel sites” are areas with the capacity for sustained ocean observations to track environmental change. Within national marine sanctuaries…

Demonstration of Marin Explore

Making sense of the increasing volume of complex ocean data is a difficult and time-consuming task. Marin explore is a “big data platform” to help offshore industry…

Impacts of Sea Level Rise on National Parks

Climate change and sea level rise will challenge National Park efforts to protect natural and cultural resources and to provide visitor access and recreational opportunities.