Webinars

Upcoming Webinars

Valuing Marine Ecosystem Services for Better Decisions

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

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

Finding the Right Tool(s) for Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning

Finding the Right Tool(s) for Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning

Many coastal natural resource managers and communities have begun to plan for the impacts of climate change on their local ecosystems and infrastructure. Practitioners are finding it difficult to select tools suited to their needs and capacities, however, because of the wide variety of tools, the difficulty of finding easily-understandable information about tool functions, and the lack of ways to compare different tools (e.g. their functionality, data and training requirements, and strengths and limitations). The EBM Tools Network released a decision guide, Tools for Coastal Climate Adaptation Planning, in early March. The guide provides information on a set of key tools for multi-sector climate-related planning (i.e. planning which incorporates both ecosystem health and human well-being concerns), explains and illustrates the utility and role of tools in planning, and outlines a process for selecting appropriate tools for a projects. This webinar will provide a short overview of resources provided in the guide (tool matrix, other tool information, case studies, etc.) and use the remaining time for answering questions from participants about the guide and incorporating climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning tools into planning processes. A number of tool experts will also be on hand to answer questions about specific tools described in the guide….

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