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| Mini Symposium | Date:
June 23, 2011 Organizer:
Marea Hatziolos Chair:
Magda Lovei Location:
Washington, DC (Video -forthcoming)
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The Ocean covers 70% of the surface of the planet, yet we are only beginning to understand the extent and depth of the services it provides to us daily in terms of economic and ecological benefits. The more fundamental role of the ocean in absorbing nutrients, cycling carbon, regulating climate, harboring biodiversity and providing basic life support to planet Earth remains to be quantified. This 3 hour Mini-symposium explored some of the essential ecosystem goods and services that Coastal and Marine Ecosystems provide to the hundreds of millions of people who depend on these services directly for livelihoods, nutrition and environmental security, as well as the costs to society at large from the loss of ocean services related to pollution absorption, changes in ocean productivity, CO2 sequestration, and climate regulation as a result of rapidly increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations and more local human pressures. We will also heard about the need to better value these non-market services and to capture the costs of their degradation in decision-making as a fundamental step toward reversing the incentives and behaviors that have led to rapid declines in ocean health in the last century. Finally, we heard about some new opportunities in the emerging field of Blue Carbon--capturing and protecting carbon in natural coastal carbon sinks--which may offer some needed financial incentives to protecting threatened ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs. Speaker and Presentation: 1. Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the Global Change Institute of the University of Queensland:  The Ocean and Essential Ecosystem Services: Can we live without them?
2. Dr. Glenn-Marie Lange, Team Leader of the Policy and Economics Team in the Environment Department at the World Bank: Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services: A Global Partnership 3. Prof. Linwood Pendleton, Director of Ocean and Coastal Policy at Duke University, an of US NOAA: The Economics of Coastal Blue Carbon |
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