How would you describe the state of coastal and marine ecosystems today?
I think that we’re seeing a lot of renewed motivation to focus on coastal and marine conservation and restoration due to recent reports, most notably the IPCC ocean and cryosphere report released in 2019 that shows the climate change impacts on these ecosystems and how they continue to decline. Coastal development continues to be on the rise, populations are still moving towards the coast, and overfishing is still occurring. On top of that, when you add issues related to pollution, in particular agricultural run-off and plastic pollution, and climate change impacts, it’s not looking very good.
We’re still seeing a decline in overall health and abundance of the ocean and we’re still losing coastal ecosystems – mangroves, saltmarshes, and seagrasses – at a rate that rivals coral reefs and rainforests. When you talk to someone in the street, they all know that corals are dying and that the Amazon is in trouble, but they don’t understand that other coastal ecosystems are in just as bad of a situation. They have just as many threats and overall losses.
How is climate change affecting the health of coastal ecosystems? How is this, in turn, affecting coastal communities?
Climate change is creating severe weather threats, causing storms to be more intense and frequent. Coastal ecosystems are a community’s first level of defence, by reducing wave energy, absorbing floodwaters, and preventing shoreline erosion, so having healthy and intact coastal ecosystems can protect and increase the resilience of coastal communities. This benefit though is threatened by sea level rise and ‘coastal squeeze’. Coastal squeeze occurs where you have high population density along the coast, and as seas rise, coastal ecosystems that would otherwise retreat landward and keep pace with sea-level rise are moving up against communities, cities, or coastal developments and they have nowhere to go. These ecosystems are basically drowning in the ocean.
Coastal ecosystems also offer climate mitigation strategies because they have such a high carbon value. The more we conserve and restore them the better for climate change mitigation. Coastal ecosystems provide a potential solution and a buffer but they are suffering some of the most devastating impacts.
What would you say are some of the greatest challenges to marine and coastal conservation, and what is Conservation International doing to address these challenges?
I think one of the challenges is just the scale of the problem – the ocean is 70% of our planet so there’s probably no bigger problem that we have to solve. It’s important to come up with comprehensive strategies that add value at both a local level to protect communities that are the most threatened, and also at an international level with comprehensive policies. How do we make sure that oceans and coasts are adequately represented within larger international treaties and conventions so they receive the recognition, support and attention that they deserve? When it comes to the ocean, one challenge is that it’s all under water, for lack of a better word, so many issues are hidden.
Nevertheless, we are starting to see a shift towards focussing on the ocean and people are recognising its value and the many threats. The challenge now is to find ways to take advantage of this awareness by letting people know what they can do. Conservation International (CI) has been working for many years to get people to this point of recognition, and to have an action plan ready. This leads to a lot of our carbon work, again looking at climate mitigation strategies. Countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and many others, have a lot of real estate when it comes to coastal ecosystems that should be included in their mitigation strategies.
CI also has an adaptation strategy using what we call green/grey infrastructure. We look at threatened communities where conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems would provide the greatest benefit of protecting these communities against storms and sea level rise, and at the same time improve ocean health, fisheries health and livelihoods. We look at this in combination with grey infrastructure – things like sea walls – realising that not all locations can be fully protected by green infrastructure alone. In these cases, we look at how we can include a minimal amount of grey infrastructure to maximise the green infrastructure’s impact, and get the biggest bang for your buck in order to protect the most people.
Finally, CI has fully invested in large-scale ocean conservation and we’re looking at those places where marine resources are currently located, where resources are going to move under climate change, and to really protect those places now and in the future at a scale that actually makes a difference.
SDG #14 addresses the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas, and marine resources. How can countries and communities help implement this goal to improve ocean health?
I would say that at the national level, it is important for governments to fully understand the social, economic, and ecological value that oceans and coasts contribute, and to include them proportionately within regulations and commitments, not forgetting that they exist.
At the local level, it’s also important for communities to be well educated about the importance of marine ecosystems and what they can do to help. Individuals can be encouraged to make consumer choices that help oceans, like supporting sustainable seafood and learning about certifications, and reducing their plastic consumption and carbon footprint.
I think that governments really need to be focusing on oceans and coasts when they plan their targets and agreements, and include this directly into their mitigation plans, their Nationally Determined Contributions toward the Paris Agreement and SDG implementation plans, because oceans in particular have not been well represented in those spaces in the past.
Restoring ocean health is one of the themes of the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020. If you had one issue that you could have addressed at Congress, what would that be?
It would be around conservation at scale, and what I mean is thinking at a level that we’ve never thought of before. Some of the large-scale marine protected areas that we’re seeing are great, but they need to be enforced and they need to have strong management plans and support at the government level.
We need to think not just about a small fishery or small community or single ecosystem. We need to be protecting the coast, the near-shore and the offshore, and to really get this right... the 30X30 (protecting 30% of oceans by 2030). That would be my main message. We need to get to that larger scale, it needs to be science-based, and it has to be implemented effectively.
About the author
Jennifer is the Marine Climate Change Director at Conservation International (CI). Her work focuses on establishing mechanisms to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems to protect vulnerable coastal communities from the threats of climate change. In this role, she helped to found the Global Mangrove Alliance and represents CI on its Strategy Team where she works on comprehensive mangrove restoration and conservation strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change, enhance biodiversity, and increase human wellbeing for the most vulnerable coastal communities. She sits on the scientific advisory board for the International Partnership for Blue Carbon. She also manages the Blue Carbon Initiative, a global program on coastal carbon science and marine policy working to mitigate climate change through the restoration and sustainable use of coastal and marine ecosystems. Jennifer also leads CI’s work on marine debris where she is developing CI marine debris strategy, represents CI on as a member of the Trash Free Seas Alliance, and provides technical support to our teams on the ground all over the world.
