This session will bring together conservation biologists and deep-sea scientists to discuss the challenges faced by deep-sea ecosystems. The deep sea is remote, and represents the least explored part of our planet, yet the health of deep-sea ecosystems in intricately linked to that of the global biosphere. Despite this, the rise of a deep blue economy without effective controls threatens unprecedented impacts on the biodiversity and functioning within. Critical questions that can only be answered through the IUCN Congress will be addressed: how can we best protect species that have never been discovered or named by science? What conservation tools have been successfully applied to safeguard the world's most remote and vulnerable places? The deep ocean is a uniquely global ecosystem and requires a global consensus to protect it, so how can we shine a light on these dark depths to encourage stakeholder involvement?
