Webinars
Upcoming Webinars
Advancing Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning Through the MarinePlan Decision Support System
Wednesday, March 18, 10 am US EDT/7 am US PDT/2 pm UTC/3 pm CET. Presented by:Vanessa Stelzenmüller of Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries. Description: Achieving both conservation and green energy goals demands new approaches that more effectively align marine spatial planning (MSP) with systematic conservation planning. As a forward-looking, integrative process, MSP is uniquely positioned to help deliver sustainable marine futures, especially when grounded in strong ecosystem considerations. Implementing an ecosystem-based approach to MSP (EB-MSP) is therefore essential. This webinar will present a stakeholder-informed Decision Support System (DSS) for EB-MSP developed through the Horizon Europe project MarinePlan (www.marineplan.eu). The DSS offers practical guidance for aligning MSP processes with spatial conservation and restoration priorities. This webinar will introduce core components, including the use of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) as a central driver of conservation planning, as well as standardized guidance for defining planning scenarios aimed at meeting global conservation targets protecting 30% of marine areas, with 10% under strict protection by 2030. Finally, the webinar will compare developed planning scenarios with current MSP practices and discuss key insights. Challenges, opportunities, and areas for improvement within existing governance processes to support more effective implementation of EB-MSP will all be highlighted.
Tracking Global MPA Effectiveness: MPAtlas Tools and Tips
Thursday, March 26 at 10 am US EDT/7 am US PDT/2 pm UTC/3 pm CET. Presented by: Beth Pike, Jessica MacCarthy, and Nikki Harasta of the Marine Conservation Institute. Description: Where does the “3% of MPAs are effective” statistic come from? Would your work benefit from being able to see the number of fully and highly protected MPAs in different countries? Do you wish there was a platform for viewing High Seas MPAs? Maybe you want to see how many MPAs are protected from anchoring and aquaculture in addition to fishing, or maybe you want to view global MPAs by size class. Do you want to download the list of countries and the amount of EEZ that is fully or highly protected? Or do you want that list aggregated by sovereignty? The Marine Protection Atlas (MPAtlas) website has been tracking MPA effectiveness since 2012, but many folks do not know that it can do all this and more! Join this webinar to learn how to leverage this open access downloadable data for your conservation needs.
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.
Past Webinars
Monitoring and Evaluation of spatially managed Marine Areas
This webinar originally aired on February 25, 2014. Created by the European Community, the MESMA framework is a step-wise approach to the evaluation and monitoring…
Ecosystem Services Harmonization in Theory and Practice
The scientific community and policy makers recognize marine and coastal ecosystem services (MCES) as extremely important for human survival…
Valuing Ecosystem Services in the Face of Climate Change in North Carolina and Hawaii
To correctly value ecosystem services both today and when considering future climate change and adaptation strategies…
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…
Assessing Habitat and Community Sensitivity to Climate Change Impacts
The National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRS) are uniquely positioned across the U.S. to assess climate change impacts and the sensitivity…
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.
Webinar on Apps for Marine Conservation
Understanding changes to animal and plant species and their environments is crucial to the long-term well-being of our planet, but current methods for..
New Global Seafloor Geomorphology Map and the Management of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
This webinar originally aired on October 23, 2013. Presenter(s): Peter Harris of GeoScience Australia, and Jonas Rupp of Conservation International