Webinars
Upcoming Webinars
The Community Voice Method: Amplifying community voices in decision making processes
Tuesday, September 29, 11 am US EDT/8 am US PDT/3 pm UTC/4 pm BST/5 pm CEST. Presented by: Amdeep Sanghera and Emily Bunce of Marine Conservation Society, UK. Description: For marine conservation initiatives to be effective and ethical, it is crucial that the views and ideas of local communities and resource users be represented in decision making. Community Voice Method (CVM) is a holistic and inclusive way of stimulating more meaningful and equitable community engagement in natural resource policy development, decision-making and management. Engaging with community members in a way that seeks their views and encourages discussion on marine issues, CVM combines arts-based social research with best practice in stakeholder engagement to deliver insights and conversations which can support positive, constructive, and enduring relationships and improved outcomes for people and nature. This webinar will present an overview of this film-based transdisciplinary approach, its origin, its application within the context of the UK and the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories, and its impact on people and nature. In addition, the webinar will feature an existing project in the Turks and Caicos where significant resources are being applied to the upskilling of local partners on the method, reducing the territory’s reliance on external researchers and resulting in a more locally-led project.
Seagrass Loss and Restoration: Case Studies from the Indo-Pacific
Wednesday, September 30, at 0400 UTC. Presented by: Dr. Rohani Ambo Rappe of Hasanuddin University and Dr. Jennifer Verduin of Murdoch University. Description: Seagrass meadows are vital to food security, livelihoods, and coastal resilience across the Indo-Pacific. They provide gleaning and small-scale fishing opportunities for the region’s most food-insecure households, as well as essential habitat for commercial fisheries. They also protect coastal communities by reducing wave energy and erosion, buffering storm surges, stabilizing sediments, and filtering pollutants, pathogens, and excess nutrients to improve water quality. Greater Southeast Asian has the largest global extent of tropical seagrass, but over half is degraded. Restoration projects are underway across the region, with varying degrees of success. A recent synthesis of this work identified several factors—including species, restoration methods, light levels, wave energy, and water depth—that are associated with greater survival and establishment of restored seagrass. In this webinar seagrass restoration experts Dr. Rohani Ambo-Rappe and Dr. Jennifer Verduin will share lessons from two of the most extensive and well-studied seagrass restoration programs in the region, including: 1) The use of simple, low-cost restoration methods in the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, 2) Work to replant foundational seagrass species in partnership with Indigenous traditional owners in Shark Bay, Western Australia. The presenters will discuss why seagrass loss occurred, describe the restoration approaches used and their successes and challenges, and share lessons learned about what works, what doesn’t, and why. The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A, providing attendees an opportunity to ask the presenters questions.
Designing High Seas MPAs that work: Practical solutions for monitoring, control and surveillance
Thursday, October 8, Noon US EDT/9 am US PDT/4 pm UTC/5 pm BST/6 pm CEST. Presented by: Klaudija Cremers, Julien Rochette, and Alexandra Oliveira Pinto of IDDRI. Description: The credibility of future high seas marine protected areas (HSMPAs) established under the BBNJ Agreement will depend on their effective implementation and enforcement. Experiences from existing MPAs and high seas governance show that monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) is a decisive factor for compliance and enforcement. While the remoteness of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) poses major challenges, recent technological advances offer practical, scalable and cost-effective solutions, provided they are embedded in a broader compliance strategy. States and coalitions championing HSMPAs should therefore integrate a site-specific compliance strategy that includes MCS activities into their proposal from the outset, combining emerging technologies with complementary policy, legal, technical and cooperation measures. Over the past two years, IDDRI has conducted extensive research on MCS tools and services, including through interviews and expert consultations. This work resulted in a Guide that aims to support States and stakeholders in integrating MCS considerations into HSMPA proposals. This webinar will present the key findings of this work.
Past Webinars
Where’s My Fish? New Tools to Visualize Climate and Other Impacts on Marine Animals
By 2100, ocean waters are expected to be substantially warmer than they are today, with profound effects on fisheries. One of the most commonly observed impacts of climate change…
Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Ocean Currents in the Bering Strait Region
In this webinar, Julie Raymond-Yakoubian of Kawerak, Inc. will presented a recently completed project on indigenous knowledge and use of ocean currents…
Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into the Ocean
Considerable progress has been made in determining the amount and location of plastic debris in our seas, but how much plastic actually enters them in the first place is more uncertain.
Lessons in Managing Public Space: From Public Lands to the EEZ
One of the most recent trends in ocean management has been the introduction of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) to reconcile multiple human objectives, including economic growth and ecosystem protection,
Climate-Smart Adaptation: Vulnerability Assessment Results and Next Steps for the North-central California Coast and Ocean
Learn how the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary MPA is planning for climate-smart adaptation and how you might be able to use the same approach..
Estimating Blue Carbon Storage in Texas Coastal Wetlands
Blue Carbon is a term used to define carbon that is stored and sequestered in coastal wetland habitats. Wetland habitats found along the Gulf Coast of Texas include coastal salt marshes…
Application of the Sea-Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to New York and Connecticut
In 2013, the states of New York and Connecticut and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission funded the application of the Sea-Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM)..
Integrating Oceans into the Landscape Conservation Cooperative Network
Conservation challenges of the 21st century are complex and include both local challenges and widespread threats such as drought, climate change, and large-scale habitat fragmentation…
Assessing Data-Limited Fisheries: the Framework for Integrated Stock and Habitat Evaluation (FISHE)
Thousands of commercial and recreational fisheries exist worldwide, representing an important component of many countries’ economies and supporting billions…
An Ocean of Story Maps
The story map is a relatively new medium for sharing not only data, photos, videos, sounds, and maps, but for telling a specific and compelling story by way of that content…