IWSC 2012 GEF International Waters Science

Conference

Large Marine Ecosystem and Open Oceans Working Group

9/25/2012IWSC 2012

Ramesh RamachandranHartwig Kremer

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Transboundary Water Portfolio: Coastal Waters- Major Linkage

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Five Major Trans-boundary Water Types

1.Groundwater2.Lakes3.Rivers4.LME & 5.Open Ocean In this conference Coastal waters /

ecosystems are subsumed under LME and Open Ocean.

Transboundary Water Portfolio: Coastal Waters- Major Linkage

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Coastal zone – a spatial and temporal edge/ a resource sustainable edge: >30% human population 20% biological productivity 90% global fisheries Global Ecosystem Services

~ US $16 – 54 trillion/year

Hence there is an urgent need to provide strong emphasis for “COASTAL WATERS” in the Trans-boundary Water Portfolio

Major Findings of LBPS Projects

9/25/2012IWSC 2012

LBPS projects demonstrated significant and successful “scientific” components

Social sciences were included in some of the projects….

However… a seamless integration of Natural and Social Science into a “systems approach” that will strengthen ecosystem based, adaptive management within the IW projects was rather limited

A few projects demonstrated this integration very successfully and we categorized them as “Lighthouse Projects”

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Major Findings of LBPS Projects

9/25/2012IWSC 2012

Classic examples of “LIGHTHOUSE” projects: PEMSEA [The Partnership for the Management of the Seas

of East Asia (PEMSEA)] – addressed through DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS – the trans-boundary environmental issues in the Gulf of Thailand & Pollution “ hotspots” in Manila Bay and Bohai Sea

WIOLAB science towards adaptive managementLOICZ (Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) –

assessed Biogeochemical fluxes on a global scale and pointed towards Application of Governance and Management of Social-Ecological

Systems Some 185 peer reviewed publications resulted and regionally

communities keep further developing the application until today

Most of these “lighthouse” LBP projects had good science base and excellent underlying documentation

These projects have created a strong knowledge base with inputs from science and management

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Examples Outside of GEF Projects

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E.g. use of Indigenous KnowledgeMADAM  (Mangrove Dynamics and Management) Project in

Brazil uses indigenous knowledge to support the

formulation of mangrove management recommendations

SPICE [Science for the protection of coastal ecosystems]

project in the Indonesian Archipelago – looked at

structure/functioning of coastal ecosystems – i.e.

mangroves, reefs, coastal pelagic systems and peat

swamps, and human alteration – developed and applied

criteria for social system resilience and indicators

ELME [European Lifestyles and Marine Ecosystems] linking

social development, aspirations and wellbeing to

environmental quality and change in European coastal

seas (a social ecological systems approach) including

horizon scanning (scenarios)6

Critical Emerging Science Issues

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Coastal urbanization and Coastal Mega-cities (e.g. subsidence)

Deltas – transboundary drivers of vulnerability and

degradation

Eutrophication and interaction between sea bottom water

column

Dissolved Oxygen – especially HYPOXIA – an ecological

indicator as a consequence of increased investments in biofuels and

aquaculture

Pollution incl. microplastics

Drastical transformation of near shore continental shelves – an

unprecedented large scale experiment

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Marine Drive, Mumbai Ganges Delta Coastal Eutrophication

Critical Emerging Science Issues: New Initiatives:

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Nutrient reduction and pollution

need to build on rather innovative

approaches across the water cascade

and traditional scientific boundaries

FUTURE EARTH – RESEARCH for

GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY (ICSU, ISSC,

UNEP, UNESCO, UNU, Belmont Forum)

UNEP/GEF launched the GPNM

(Global Partnership on Nutrient

Management) –

A global platform to steer dialogues

and actions to promote effective

nutrient management

Case Study: Chilika Lagoon, India 8

Future Scientific Challenges for GEF Projects

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Challenges that International Waters are likely to face – are largely in the context of: institutionalizing applied sciences building constituency to promote changes in behavior and measure

those requiring a clear understanding of and protocols for monitoring of

the key parameters in a social ecological system scale – including both social science, natural science parameters and information from the humanities;

needs a widely accepted understanding on how to deal with uncertainty and risk

New Science is also needed in future global change and in response to it – on local regional or global scale – decisions need to be made and

scientifically informed – irrespective of knowledge being incomplete and forecasting coming with large uncertainty levels : e.g. Blue Carbon and Blue Societies

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Thank you for your kind attention