Webinar BluEco

Official Program

Introductions

Felix Appelbe (Ocean Ambassadors): Ocean Ambassadors was founded in 2018 by Felix Appelbe.

A solicitor, farmer and conservationist, Felix is an alumnus of Atlantic College, which was where his life-long passion for the oceans was born. He has founded a number of charities including Save the Elephants, The Contributive Society and most recently, Ocean Ambassadors. 

Olivier Adam (Sorbonne University): Prof Olivier Adam is a specialist in bioacoustics and works on sounds emitted by cetaceans since 2001.

His main research deals with the humpback whale songs, the mother-calf interactions in humpbacks, and the social structures of sperm whales. He also studies the effects of anthropogenic activities on marine mammals. He regularly participates in radio broadcasts, film documentaries and he was the curator of the whale exhibition, called Baleinopolis, held in Paris in 2019-2020.

Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius (European Commission Environment, Oceans and Fisheries):

Ensuring the environment, oceans and fisheries remain at the core of the European Green Deal he is also leading on a Circular Economy Action Plan to promote the use of sustainable resources, promoting plastic-free oceans and proper implementation of legislation on plastics, particularly microplastics, ensuring full implementation of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy. Promoting international ocean governance, playing a lead role in international discussions. Taking a zero-tolerance approach to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Developing a new approach for a sustainable blue economy drawing on research, maritime spatial planning, marine renewable energy, blue investment and regional cooperation.

Session #1: What should be the oceans in the near future?

Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor (School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University) "Social equity is the cornerstone of a Blue Economy"

Dr Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor is an ocean economist specializing in equitable strategies for

resource management and development in coastal communities, recognizing their social, cultural,

ecological, and economic contexts. He is a deputy director of the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus

Center, an international initiative comprised of an interdisciplinary team of 20+ institutes working

on bringing justice and equity into ocean governance.

Scott Barrett (Columbia University, USA) - "Sustainable Ocean Governance: Property Rights versus Cooperative Approaches"

Prof Scott Barrett is a specialist in Natural Resource Economics. He works on the economy for a

better Earth.

Mario Caña (GRID-Arendal, Norway) - "Marine Spatial Planning as a tool for sustainable ocean development"

Mario Caña is an Expert in Ocean Governance at GRID-Arendal (Norway). His work is focused on

building capacities and facilitating knowledge exchange for conservation and sustainable use of the

oceans, particularly with Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Mario has been involved in several

European and international marine initiatives, such as Blue Solutions, Panorama – Solutions for a

healthy planet and the Mami Wata project.

Session #2: Are sustainable oceans real?

Mauro Randone (WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative) - "Towards a sustainable and inclusive blue economy in the Mediterranean region".

Mauro Randone coordinates WWF's Sustainable Blue Economy Programme in the Mediterranean

region. His work focuses on sustainable planning and management of marine and coastal economic

activities. He will present the current blue economy trends in the Mediterranean and the enabling

conditions to support the transition towards a truly sustainable and inclusive economic model.

Tanya Bryan (GRID-Arendal, Norway) - "Building Blue Bridges: Putting integration at the heart of sustainable ocean management"

Tanya Bryan is a Senior Programme Officer at GRID-Arendal, with extensive international

experience in ecosystem service, ocean governance and community-focused approaches to ocean

management. Most recently, Tanya has led two large marine management projects in western

Africa, the Mami Wata project and the ResilienSEA project. In her work, she promotes peer-to-peer

learning and local capacity development to ensure a long-lasting positive impact.

Session #3: How fisheries could be sustainable?

William Cheung (University of British Columbia, Canada): "Are fisheries and sustainable oceans really compatible in the changing climate?"

Prof William Cheung is Director of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of

British Columbia. He works on fisheries and their sustainability under global change.

Sven Biermann (Fisheries Transparency Initiative, Seychelles): "Why sustainable fisheries management needs transparency?"

Sven Biermann is the Executive Director of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), a global

multi-stakeholder effort to increase government transparency on marine fisheries. He will speak

about the need to increase the public availability of fisheries management information and to

promote an enabling environment that demands, understands, utilizes and incentivizes online

government transparency for marine fisheries.

Nick Branigan (HMRC Fraud Investigation Service Edinburgh, UK): "How to fight against illegal fishing?"

Nick Branigan is the fisheries crime lead for HM Revenue and Custom’s Fraud Investigation

Service and is currently the chair of the North Atlantic Fisheries Intelligence Group. He will discuss

the current methods for combatting illegal fishing and suggest ways in which these strategies could

be made more effective in the future.

Session #4: Financial fundings and policies for effective blue economy

Claire Jolly (Head STI Ocean Economy Group, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, France): "Building the evidence to support current and future policies for a sustainable ocean"

Claire Jolly heads the STI Ocean Economy Group within the OECD, which produced the landmark

report on The Ocean Economy to 2030. The STI Ocean Economy Group provides evidence

supporting decision-makers to foster efficient ocean policy initiatives. Its work contributes to

improving ocean economy measurement at national and international levels. It also supports the UN

A decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development by mapping the landscape of ocean science,

technology and innovation, as ocean research will become ever more crucial to monitor ocean

sustainability.

Daniela Diz (Heriot-Watt University, Scotland): "Marine biodiversity conservation and sustainability: Ensuring synergies across treaties for policy coherence"

Dr Daniela Diz is Associate Professor at the Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt University, UK, specialised

in international oceans governance with a special focus on the Law of the Sea Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Dr Diz has over 20 years of experience in environmental law and has been involved in several UN processes concerning the conservation and sustainability of the marine environment. Her talk will focus on international law and policy-making opportunities for ensuring the achievement of conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity both within and beyond national jurisdiction in a coherent manner. Examples to be explored include the ongoing negotiations of a new implementing agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction

(BBNJ Agreement), and processes developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity with regards to, inter alia, the description of areas important for marine biodiversity (i.e., ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs).

Julia Kercher (WoMen+Sea, Norway): "The Blue Economy and the four dimensions of sustainability"

Julia Kercher is a lawyer and has worked as a staff and consultant for UN agencies and leading

Non-Governmental Organisations over the past 20 years, including on human rights, governance,

the SDGs and fisheries crime. Julia Kercher is also a co-founder of WoMen+Sea (https://womensea.org) a new initiative that helps key actors involved in shipping, cruising, fishing, ports, and yachting industries accelerate their transition towards sustainability and respond to new regulations and stakeholder expectations on Environmental, Social and Governance performance of the maritime sector. Julia will take a birds-eye view at the concept of Blue Economy and discuss how connecting the four dimensions of sustainability can make policies in any dimension stronger.

Olivier Thébaud (Ifremer, AMURE Research Center, France) and Linwood Pendleton (Ocean Knowledge-Action Network, France): "Governing marine socio-ecological systems"

Olivier Thébaud is a Senior Scientist at Ifremer (France) and Linwood Pendleton is the Executive

Director of the Ocean KAN. Both are economists. The presentation will focus on the challenges

associated with governing marine social-ecological systems, and on how interdisciplinary and

transdisciplinary research supports this governance.