Focusing on the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of the world, this course will introduce the concept and practice of ecosystem-based management. LMEs occupy areas of coastal ocean at least 200 000 km² or greater in size. These coastal waters produce 12.6 trillion USD in ecosystem goods and services annually and are vitally important for billions of people around the globe. Because LMEs are bounded by ocean features and are globally linked, management of human activities needs to occur in an integrated fashion across political boundaries and economic sectors (e.g. fishing, shipping, energy, tourism, and mining.) This represents a new type of management approached - shifting from single sector-based to multi-sector assessment and management within the spatial domain of the world's 66 Large Marine Ecosystems. There is global high-level support for this new approach and in this course, we will introduce the concepts and tools for assessing and managing LMEs. Together, leaders and experts in a global movement to recover and sustain the goods and services of LMEs will introduce you to the mechanisms used for assessment (Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis), planning and implementation (Strategic Action Programme). Based on recent activities in implementation and practice of the LME approach in 22 projects around the globe, we will showcase examples of effective management at this scale, and highlight the challenges and issues. By the end of the online course, we hope you will be able to actively use this knowledge to advance sustainable development of the world’s oceans. The course was created with the support and input of: the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), UNESCO-IOC and IW:LEARN.
Dr Sherman's perspectives
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Del curso dictado por University of Cape Town
Large Marine Ecosystems: Assessment and Management
29 calificaciones
De la lección
Implementing transboundary marine Ecosystem-based management (EBM)
Moving into the application of the approaches and the tools we have been discussing - with a description of how LME projects are implemented.
Conoce a los instructores
Coleen MoloneyAssociate Professor
Marine Research Institute
You now have had considerable experience in the large marine ecosystem approach,
the assessment and management of Coastal Ocean goods and services.
As I reflect back on the weeks,
I think it's worth reiterating some especially important points.
It's important to recognize that no single country or even a single group of
countries can accomplish a global transformation
of the kind being described in this MOOC.
It takes quite a lot of outreach activity and commitment at the United Nations level.
And so, here, perhaps for the first time,
is a global success story for the United Nations.
Having fostered the interest in the environment in terms of mitigating action,
I think they have due credit to the UN system.
Without it, there is an absence of a mechanism to go forward to deal with global issues,
particularly those issues affecting the environment.
So, we have five major environmental agencies of
the United Nations participating in the LME activities.
There are non-governmental organizations that are participating.
And there have been individual countries that have committed resources,
both intellectually and financially, to this effort.
The US and the US-NOAA,
the Norwegian government, the Swedish government,
and the German government,
these governments have been very forthcoming in assisting developing countries with
scientific and technical assistance as
the countries move forward with their LME projects.
And most important in the real game changer,
as I've indicated in my mind,
is the Global Environment Facility.
It's a creation of the UNCED in '92.
It's been dedicated financially to support
the approved project for mitigating stress on the coastal ocean.
At the same time, the world community of nations is
encouraging and promoting this forward movement towards ecosystem-based management.
And recognizing that they are economically
developing countries with limited budgets for environmental kinds of issues,
the GEF has been vested with a trust fund,
a very large trust fund,
a trust fund that's unprecedented and can be measured not only in the millions,
but in the billions.
So, when countries indicate an interest in moving towards ecosystem-based management,
they can apply for grants to the Global Environment Facility.
And in doing so,
they are actually committing to mitigating
the stresses and promoting sustainable development towards ecosystem-based management.
But this is not done at the local level,
it's actually done at the ministerial level,
at the highest levels of government.
And it's not just one government,
most large marine ecosystems extend beyond
the boundaries of politically bound countries.
And so, we do owe a debt of gratitude and should learn more about the GEF
and its contribution towards the present and the future work on large marine ecosystems.
But their track record up to now has been quite extraordinary in
that there are 162 coastal nations on the planet.
Of that number, 110 are participating in
the GEF projects that are funded principally by the GEF's grants,
and their supplemental funding from the World Bank to add to the GEF.
And there have been a significant amount of funding.
So, we have 110 countries moving towards
ecosystem-based management in 22 of the world's 66 large marine ecosystem.
And the future looks quite good in that the network that's been generated,
that you learned about in the past weeks is vital, it's moving forward,
it's growing in vigor and vitality,
and from this period to
the 2018 is the sixth replenishment the GEF.
In the first five tranches of
GEF funding beginning in 1994-2014,
there was a total and unprecedented total of $3.15 billion that have been
catalyzed through the GEF activity and
provided to the countries to move forward their LME project.
And in the future,
we see another $2.86 billion in the pipeline
for the countries that are successfully carrying forward their LME project.
And so, we can look forward to their efforts
in contributing to fisheries recovery and sustainability,
in improving the ecosystem health through control of pollution,
and nutrient over enrichment among other things, plastics control,
habitat recovery of sea grasses and mangroves and reefs to the extent possible,
and more practice in planning Marine Spatial Planning,
and Integrated Coastal Management activities.
So, the future is looking bright.
The history had been a will and an interest in doing but not the substance,
not the funding, not the financial support to go forward.
That's not the case. The GEF has changed that.
Now the funds are available,
the will is there,
and the science is being brought to bear on
the issues as you learned through these weeks of the course.
And what's made it possible is the willingness and
capacity of the Marine Science Community to work towards a pragmatic solution,
taking that science and applying it to the issues at hand through this modular approach.
And you've learned about the naturally generated kinds
of science being conducted for the productivity,
for the fisheries, for pollution ecosystem health in terms of metrics and
assessment and how that's being coupled with the social sciences,
socioeconomics,
and the governance mechanisms for carrying this forward around the globe.
And we're experiencing now a fusion of
the science activities under the modules of productivity,
fish fisheries, pollution ecosystem health,
socioeconomics, and governance.
That's the umbrella, the framework for moving with the assistance of the GEF through
the TDA and SAP process to actual pragmatic ecosystem-based management practices.
And in the next weeks,
you're going to be introduced to
at least two of these projects that are underway and very successful.
One in Asia, the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem with
China and Korea participating in multiple phases of that project,
and in Africa with the Benguela Large Marine Ecosystem project,
or Angola, Namibia,
and South Africa are working together successfully to
mitigate the transboundary issues of their coast.
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