By João Garcia Rodrigues, CIIMAR and Caecilia Managò, ERINN Innovation
The Ocean Decade Conference Satellite Event ‘Life on Shore: Effective Marine and Coastal Restoration for Nature and People’ took place on April 9 2024 at 11:30-13:30 local time at Port Olímpic Auditorium, Espai Mestral - Sala d'actes. Moll de Mestral, S/N, Sant Martí, 08005 Barcelona, Spain.
The Policy Event LIFE ON SHORE was a MISSION ATLANTIC led, joint event among four large scale Atlantic research projects (MISSION ATLANTIC, FutureMARES, OCEAN CITIZEN, and MARCO-BOLO), groundbreaking initiatives – the Kelp Forest Challenge for global kelp forest restoration Wetlands International with a focus on Mangrove Restoration, as well as two Policy Makers from the European Commission and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change in Brazil. This composed a high-level panel represented by Patrizio Mariani (MISSION ATLANTIC), Marinez Scherer (Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima), Elena Roddom (Wetlands International), Adriana Verges (Kelp Forest Alliance), Isabel Sousa Pinto (FutureMARES), Marc García-Durán Huet (OCEAN CITIZEN), Christina Pavloudi (MARCO-BOLO), Andreea Strachinescu (European Commission), moderated by Caecilia Managò and organised by João Garcia Rodrigues, with Nertila Gojani and Silvia Chemello.
Photo Credit: Yasmin Victor. Showing from left to right: Isabel Sousa Pinto, Marc García-Durán Huet, Christina Pavloudi, Andreea Strachinescu, Caecilia Managò, Patrizio Mariani, Marinez Scherer, Elena Roddom, Adriana Verges
The joint event provided a one-time opportunity to capture and share key insights for Effective Marine and Coastal Restoration based on the panel discussion with a focus on solutions to the OCEAN DECADE Challenge 2 “Protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity”. This challenge is suggested to be overcome by “understanding the effects of multiple stressors and ocean ecosystems, and develop solutions to monitor, protect, manage and restore ecosystems and their biodiversity under changing environmental, social and climate conditions.”
Patrizio Mariani highlighted the urgency to act, “providing the knowledge needed to chart the course towards a brighter and sustainable future.”
In this sense, the main objectives of the event were to show best practices for effective marine and coastal ecosystem restoration and monitoring (Global Mangrove Watch & Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool tools) through ongoing projects and initiatives, as well as to discuss policy challenges and conditions needed to enable effective restoration efforts. Moreover, the event was aimed at raising public and policymaker awareness of the ways forward for delivering effective restoration solutions for nature and people.
Photo Credit: Pamela Cardilllo. Showing: Caecilia Managò presenting the Event Methodology.
Read more about the outcomes of the panel discussion in the 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 | 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲 - 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗖𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, DOI: https://zenodo.org/records/11191067
Photo Credit: Yasmin Victor. Showing from left to right: Adriana Verges, Isabel Sousa Pinto, Christina Pavloudi, Andreea Strachinescu, Marc García-Durán Huet, Caecilia Managò, Elena Roddom, Marinez Scherer, Patrizio Mariani.