MARINE NEWSIUCN GLOBAL MARINE AND POLAR PROGRAMME

NEWSLETTER 2011-2012

ISSUE 9 - SEPTEMBER 2012

Managing global coasts

EditorialA Fair Deal for our Coastsby Carl Gustaf Lundin

Global CoastsCharting a course for Global CoastsMapping coastal development in West Africa

Climate Change Mitigation and AdaptationEnter a new whole dimension with the Blue Carbon InitiativeLivelihoods Fund, a unique investment approach to carbon compensation

Threatened SpeciesWestern gray whales still under close watchSave the Gentle Giants of our Oceans

Marine ProtectionRecent significant success in marine protectionSeamounts: New discoveries in the southern Indian Ocean

Working with IndustryIndustry and rich biodiversity co-exist in YemenA new approach to manage coral reefs with Kuoni Travel

PolarBig steps forward on Arctic protection

Regional UpdatesCo-governance in Sulawesi coastal resourcesCrunch time for Caribbean coralsMediterranean seagrass meadows play a major role in carbon sequestration

What’s NewNew activities & updates

Looking ahead to Jeju

New Publications & Reports

Global Marine and Polar Programme Staff

---------------------------------------------------------SPECIAL FEATURES

Fighting the Aliens in the SeaCelebrating 10 years of collaboration with Total Foundation

The Healthy Ocean ProjectAmerica’s Cup and IUCN give the ocean their voice

MARINE NEWSIssue 9, September 2012

IUCN Global Marine and Polar ProgrammeRue Mauverney 281196 Gland, SwitzerlandTel +41 22 999 0217Fax +41 22 999 0025marine@iucn.org

www.iucn.org/marine

Editor and designer: Sylvie Gardel

Back issues:Available at: http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/marine/gmp_newsletter/

Outside front and back cover pictures: © Carl Gustaf Lundin

In this Issue...

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© IUCN Carl Gustaf Lundin

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C oastal areas around the world have been transformed and degraded at an alarming rate. There are many reasons for

this, but at the heart of this is our desire to live on the coast, something that is closely linked with human evolution. The biggest migration in human history has taken place over the last twenty years in China with hundreds of millions of peo-ple migrating from the hinterland to seek a better life on the coast. We have to ask ourselves if we are loving the coast to death, or if we can really combine higher intensity human use with healthy coasts.

We are all dependant on resources from the coast, from food to rec-reation and from transport to energy production. Yet we often treat the coastline very badly with poor plan-ning and degradation of the very systems that we depend on. Rather than list all the challenges, let’s look at the opportunities for change. In light of this, we should ask ourselves: can we have a fair coast deal? Are there mechanisms for taking into account the needs of coastal people and migrants as well as maintaining the environmental health of the system and providing opportunities for eco-nomic growth? IUCN has conducted a series of independent panels that have been advising companies and stakeholders on how to best strike this balance. The intent is to provide suggestions for how the different uses of a resource can be developed and help the different stakeholders to see what opportunities exist to diminish conflicts and provide a fair deal.

One long running example of this approach is the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel, dealing with a coastal lagoon of Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East (see page 11). Through providing independent scientific recommanda-tion, the panel has managed to guide the company on how to improve the design of the infrastructure in order to reduce the impact on the whales. Panel

Editorial

A Fair Deal for our Coasts

© The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

advice on how to reduce the impact of operations in the field, including the disturbances caused by seismic surveys, has also been taken on board. Other independent panels run by IUCN have been conducted in Yemen, Nigeria and Mauritania (see pages 2-5, 21). Over-all, the experiences have been positive and the results have provided a voice for nature in the boardrooms where investment decisions are made.

Marine Special Planning and Coastal Zone Management have been around for some time to help us establish a rational use of the coastal areas and adjacent waters. In societies with strong land management practices, these tools can be an effective way of mitigating user conflicts and addressing environ-mental issues. In most of the world, the conditions for using these planning tools are too weak to make them really effec-tive. Here, using a more threat-based approach and consultative processes might be more effective. In many coast-al areas, new large infrastructure and development projects are under way. They have the potential of significantly altering the economic conditions of the coastal inhabitants, but also seriously modifying, and in many cases damag-ing, natural habitats.

If we develop a fair deal for our coasts that takes into consideration the long- term development of local livelihoods, the interests of central governments and provides a transparent develop-ment situation for private industry, we stand the chance to also consider the interests of nature. IUCN is well placed to be the voice of nature and an honest broker for such a develop-ment consultation process. A good test case for this will be the develop-ment of oil and gas resources off the African continent. A successful outcome requires striking a balance: on one hand by providing a good investment climate for the energy companies with use of innovative technologies and, on the other hand, by providing the platform for assess-

ing different development options in terms of their impact on coastal ecosystems. The opportunity for other industry groups to have a voice in the development process becomes particularly important since they often depend directly on the enduring health of the marine environment. Industries like tourism, fisheries and aquaculture will be present long after the extrac-tion of the hydrocarbons has ended. It is important that the long-term interests of nature form part of a fair coastal development.

The long-term health of the Arctic Ocean is being raised by a large num-ber of IUCN members (see page 23). Many would like to see a complete moratorium on the development of oil and gas resources. Given the state of economy in Arctic nations, it is difficult to see how this could be acceptable in the various Ministries of Finance. IUCN has been working with many of the stakeholders, particularly in the Ber-ing Sea, to develop a basis for how to provide sufficient guaranties that when development happens, we do not see a repeat of the Macondo oil spill. Clearly, there is a need for stricter rules of operation including the use of two drilling platforms at all times, so that a potential blow out can be mitigated by a relief well within a matter of days. A plan B must also be in place, to deal with a worst case scenario including all acts of nature and deliberate ill intent by third parties. Again looking to the long-term interests of all Arctic peoples and other industries that could be affected, international bodies and gov-ernments need to play a far greater role in assessing the planning and permis-sions for extractive industries. If not, the industry might see its license revoked. Nature does have a voice and we need to make it heard all around our coasts.

Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme.

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MPA management categories and guidelines);• mechanisms for regional and local implementation of global policy (and vice versa);• convening power and integration of actors at various scales;• promotion of innovative approaches;• capacity to deliver results on the ground at various scales;• its contribution as a global thematic initiative.

Delivering results on the ground

The draft programme on the next page reflects well the wealth of relevant practical experience across IUCN and the great focus on sub-stance throughout the workshop. However, it still focuses too much on studies, guidelines, indicators and toolkits. It needs to provide a platform for an operational coastal programme that is scalable and integrates action

Global Coasts is an IUCN initiative aimed at ad-vancing IUCN’s work on coastal issues. A broad

analysis of the current IUCN work on coastal issues showed that there are a lot of ongoing projects at the global and regional level. It also shows a need to improve coordination and synergies amongst these projects as well as addressing discrepancies be-tween regions. There are already well-established coastal projects in Asia and West / Central Africa, but a major effort is now needed to reinvigorate coastal and marine work in some other regions.

Global Coasts organized its first meet-ing in Zanzibar (Tanzania) from the 5th to the 9th of March 2012. It gathered over 35 participants from all IUCN regional offices, global programmes as well as members of Commissions

and IUCN Council. The discussions concluded with the identification of priorities grouped under the three pro-gramme areas for 2013-2016. Area 2 (Effective and equitable governance of nature’s use) is the most populated, whilst many objectives are focused on planning and management. The overall priority seems to be on the need to manage coastal areas for both conservation and sustainable development.

The tentative Global Coasts Programme is based on the analysis of priorities described in section 3 (see next page), tested against some of the criteria linked to IUCN’s niche and added-value strictly relevant to coastal issues. The following criteria have been used:• existing capacities and knowledge (as available from staff, Commissions and Members);• availability of assessment and management tools (e.g. Red Lists,

Charting a course for Global Coasts Meeting the challenges generated by rapid change in coastal regions.

Global Coasts

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MARINE NEWS - GLOBAL COASTS

© IUCN Carl Gustaf Lundin

1. Valuing and conserving nature

1.1. Status of ecosystems and species• Status and assessment reports of coastal species, coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses are available for future conservation ac-tions (Red Lists and databases are upgraded);• Services of coastal ecosystems and their evolution are documented to understand trends and anticipate changes.

1.2. Management guidelines on ecosystems and species• Management guidelines and toolkits on coastal ecosystems and selected themes (e.g. island biodiversity, invasive species), including indicators to monitor progresses, are available;• Ecological services and values of coastal ecosystems and biodiversity are documented to support maintenance of biodiversity offsets.

1.3. Representative networks of MPAs and MMAs• Planning toolkits for representative MPA networks, including regional and transboundary approaches, are available (gap analysis, mapping of KBAs, GIS and databases);• Managed marine areas contribute to the establishment of representative networks for marine conservation.

2. Effective and equitable governance of nature’s use

2.1. Management effectiveness of MPAs and MPA networks• Status and categories are clarified to include the full diversity of MMAs;• National legislation pertaining to coastal and marine management, sustainable use and conservation are reviewed and upgraded;• Criteria and indicators are developed for Green Listing and certification of effectively-managed MPAs;• Training toolkits are developed to build capacity of MPA networks’ practitioners.

2.2. Access rights and regulated management• Management principles and tools that respect the rights, including access rights and tenure, of coastal communities are available to guide sustainable management;• Cost-benefit analysis comparing management options are available to guide alternatives and maximize local benefits.

2.3 Spatial planning of coastal areas• Toolkits on foresight studies, socioeconomic development modeling and early warning systems are available to anticipate changes and climatic events;• Spatial planning tools, including MSP, MMAs, land use planning, ICZM, R2R, environmental strategic assessments and master plans (tourism and urban), are promoted to improve decision making;

2.4 Support to regional agreements• Cooperation and coordination with regional agreements are developed and strengthened. • Practical support to regional fisheries and environmental agreements is targeted at improving governance of biodiversity and fisher-ies.

3. Deploying nature-based solutions to challenges in climate, food and development

3.1 Protection of natural infrastructures for management and resilience• Institutional arrangements and practical tools that support strategies for ecosystem-based adaptation, mitigation and risk reduction are available;• Assessments and sustainability audits of coastal ecosystems (including on islands) are available to guide management decisions and restoration actions.

3.2 Blue Carbon• Blue Carbon is assessed and guidelines are developed at ecosystem and regional levels (including carbon credits).

3.3 Greening specific industries• Sustainable practices for coastal industries, such as tourism and fisheries, and infrastructure development are promoted and relevant guidelines made available;• Biodiversity conservation approaches are introduced into practices of extractive industries (oil and gas, mining) and coastal develop-ment (ports, infrastructures, tourism development), especially in vulnerable or valuable areas.

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MARINE NEWS - GLOBAL COASTS

Reference to programme areas Products

Providing knowledge products

2.2 Human dependency on nature: coastal communities (rights, tenure, cost and benefits, etc.)

1.1 / 2.1 Red List of species and ecosystems for key biodiversity areas / MPA networks / MSP

1.3 / 2.1 MPA toolkit (updated version)

2.1 MPA Green List

2.3 MPA Green List

1.2 / 2.3 / 3.1 Ecosystem management handbook (restoration, coral, resilience, adaptation)

1.3 / 2.1 Mapping blue KBAs

1.2 / 3.2 Method for Blue Carbon development and monitoring

Delivering results on the ground

All Mangroves for the future and R2R: livelihoods, food security, DRR, etc.

All Fair coasts: Coastal Planning and PA/MPA networks for food security, Disaster Risk Reduction (coastal conservation for the greatest impacts)

3.3 Private sector panels

Strengthening policy and governance

2.1 Implementing the Green List, certification of MPAs / MMAs

1.3 / 2.1 Measuring progress towards Aichi target 11

3.3 Marine and coastal sector biodiversity audits

Engaging and leveraging the Union

Setting up of multi-stakeholder forums and networks

and results on the ground.

IUCN has huge potential to formulate and implement large-scale, multi-regional programmes promoting the conservation and restoration of coasts and the use of coasts as nature-based solutions to climate change, disaster prevention and livelihoods development.

Building partnerships

Based on this Programme, a number of flagship products have been identified (see table below).

Partnership and cooperation mecha-nisms will be instrumental to making the Global Coasts programme hap-pen.

These should be developed at all levels: at the global level with the CBD and also with UNEP, UNDP, UNESCO, at regional levels with the regional seas conventions and the regional fisheries management organizations as well as with regional political and economical bodies, at the national

level with relevant ministries, and finally with the civil society and the private sector.

Discussions in Zanzibar have provided the full rationale for the development of a comprehensive coastal conserva-tion programme. Global coasts will be developed along the lines of the One Programme Charter allowing a better use of the diversity of available exper-tise and the promotion of synergies.

Next steps will be led by a Steering Committee composed of staff from regional and global programmes. The SC will develop a global programme rooted in the regions which will include objectives, expected results, partnerships, flagship products, key initiatives, strategy of intervention and operational dispositions.

Next meeting of the SC will take place in Jeju during the World Conservation Congress.

As it is important to maintain the momentum created in Zanzibar, the Global Coasts Group will meet on a

regular basis to discuss programme issues. Global conferences, such as the IMPAC3 (International Marine Protected Areas Congress) in 2013 in Marseille could be used and regular Global Coasts meeting should be convened every 18 months.

Other activities may include: - Developing the website and social networking tools to share information, develop a shared work space and common e-newsletter. - Use existing opportunities offered by the GMPP website and newsletter to broadcast information on products and achievements from across the Union.- Establish a roster and organigram of expertise, with bios, including mem-bers and partners, possibly organised in clusters, and including information on major projects.

For more information, please contact: François Simard (françois.simard@iucn.org)

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Mapping coastal development in West AfricaPromoting natural solutions to achieve lasting risk reduction.

T he acceleration of coastal erosion and the increases in flooding in coastal zones of West African

countries is a growing concern.

With financial support from the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and technical support from EOS.D2C, IUCN led a vast study of littoral zone dynamics and examined the causes of the recent natural disas-ters. The report laid out a proposal for a regional master plan and action plan that was endorsed by the Ministers of the Environment of the 11 countries concerned, from Mauritania to Benin.

An analytical methodology was developed that incorporates a review of existing studies and historical data, interpretation of available images, and integrates demographic, economic and climatic data in order to model future risks. The results of the study and the development-related recommendations have been brought together in a map covering 10,000 km of coastline.

Focus on risk reduction

The recommendations call for priority action on coastal protection, a bal-anced use of space and resources by the various coastal sectors, specific strategies for high-risk areas, and the conservation of green natural infra-structures such as mangroves, sea-grass beds, small estuaries, lagoons and coastal dunes, which stabilize the coastline as well as delivering

multiple environmental services. In collaboration with the Centre de Suivi Ecologique, IUCN will pursue this ini-tiative with the setting up of a Monitor-ing Observatory for the African West Coast and an associated resource centre, focused on risks reduction and communication of the importance of integrated coastal zone management in West Africa.

Calls for replicating the study

This coastal planning approach was fully endorsed by the Conference of the Parties of the Abidjan Convention, the main body garnering regional coopera-tion for the conservation of the coastal

zones of the Atlantic coastline of Africa. The Abidjan Convention called for the study to be replicated across all its geographical range.

Beyond this region, IUCN proposes that this kind of planning approach serve as a flagship during the roll out of the Global Coasts programme, in tandem with marine spatial planning and other tools such as the “Ridge to Reef” modelling of the impacts across whole coastal river basins, with a view to reducing the impacts of the human activities in the coastal zone.

For more information: Mathieu Ducrocq (mathieu.ducrocq@iucn.org)

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Enter a new whole dimension with the Blue Carbon Initiative

Conservation Interna-tional (CI), IUCN and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Com-

mission (IOC) of UNESCO are leading the Blue Carbon Initia-tive – the world’s first integrated programme with a comprehensive and coordinated global agenda focused on mitigating climate change through the conserva-tion, restoration and sustainable management of coastal marine ecosystems.

Since the conception of the Initia-tive in late 2010, much has hap-pened. Coastal ecosystems have always been recognized for the many benefits and services they provide. Now we know that tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses also sequester and store large quantities of “Blue Carbon” in both the plants and in the sediment below them and thus play an important role for climate change mitigation as well. These ecosystems are being degraded and destroyed at a rapid pace along the world’s coastlines, resulting in signifi-cant emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.

Considerable progress has been made through the activities of the Blue Carbon Initiative, the networked activities of the Science and Policy Working Groups and its members, partners and observers, along with other efforts.

The Initiative has already supported or delivered:

• A new policy awareness of coastal Blue Carbon targeted at national and federal governments and within fora such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);

• A shift to include coastal wetlands in supplementary guidance from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Green-house Gas (GHG) inventories for wetlands;

• Progress by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and other volun-tary carbon market in efforts to include wetland restoration and management activities;

• An increasing body of science and policy analysis focused on Blue Carbon information needs;

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Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

• A range of activities around the world to establish Blue Carbon demonstration projects.

This has been achieved through a range of actions orchestrated by the Blue Carbon Working Groups:

• In February 2011, the Science Working Group produced a set of key priorities and recommenda-tions with the aim of minimizing carbon emissions and maximizing carbon sequestration and storage by seagrasses, tidal marshes and mangroves, and by calling for en-hanced national and international research efforts, enhanced local and regional management prac-tices and enhanced international recognition of coastal carbon ecosystems.

• In July 2011, the Policy Working Group met for the first time. They identified a set of policy oppor-tunities, activities and milestones for strategically advancing and implementing Blue Carbon under international and regional climate, ocean and coastal policy frame-

works. The Blue Carbon Policy Framework was developed.

• In August 2011, the Science Working Group discussed new and ongoing research activities and findings, sampling protocols for quantifying carbon storage in mangrove ecosystems, and oppor-tunities for Blue Carbon activities in Indonesia. The Group embarked on an effort to develop a field manual outlining how to measure coastal ecosystem carbon stock, seques-tration and emission rates. Efforts are also underway to develop a global coastal carbon data archive.

• In January 2012, the Blue Car-bon Policy Framework 2.0 was developed based on the discus-sion of the second workshop of the Policy Working Group. A Blue Carbon open symposium was also held at the European Parliament, together with the MEP “Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” in collaboration with the European Bureau for Conservation and Development (EBCD).

• In March 2012, the Science

Working Group came together to strengthen activities and guidance on demonstration project require-ments, support the IPCC process to supplement GHG guidance on national GHG accounting to include coastal wetlands, to further refine the development of a Blue Carbon field manual and to discuss opportunities for Blue Carbon activities in Costa Rica.

The last Blue Carbon workshop held in July reviewed policy needs and opportunities concerning Blue Carbon ecosystems, with a focus on the Unit-ed Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since Blue Carbon policies are needed on all fronts national level activities were also discussed. A third component of the workshop concentrated on Blue Carbon project activities and devel-oped recommendations for field-level Blue Carbon projects.

Contacts: Dorothée Herr (dorothee.herr@iucn.org), Emily Pidgeon (epidgeon@conserva-tion.org); Julian Barbière (J.Barbiere@unesco.org)

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J uly 2011, saw the launch of the “Livelihoods Fund” supported by IUCN, the Ramsar Convention and

Livelihoods Venture. The fund is an extended and modified version of the Danone Fund for Nature, which it superseded.

The Livelihoods Fund is a carbon in-vestment fund that provides investors access to carbon credits with an as-surance on biodiversity and commu-nity development through large-scale and high social impact projects.

It is an innovative approach to carbon offsetting in the form of a mutual fund that provides upfront investment to projects that will bring significant environmental and social benefits. In return, companies which have invested in the Fund will receive high-quality carbon credits that they can use to offset the emissions they have not managed to reduce yet.

Livelihoods Fund, a unique investment approach to carbon compensationFor a current total endowment of 26.5 million Euros from seven major companies.

The fund now unites 7 major invest-ment companies: Danone, Credit Ag-ricole, Schneider Electric, the French Post, CDC Climat, Hermes Interna-tional and Voyageurs du Monde with a combined endowment of 26.5 million Euros and is expected to generate 6-11 million tonnes of carbon credits/year within a tenure of 23 years.

Projects under the Fund are centred on developing countries and are vet-ted by an Advisory Board. The fund envisages taking on 3-4 projects within each of its three programmes:

1.Ecosystem restoration and preserva-tion2.Agro-forestry with soil restoration 3.Rural energy development that will reduce deforestation.

The Fund is particularly interested in investing in large-scale projects which deliver certified carbon cred-its (through the Clean Development

Mechanism or the Voluntary Carbon Standard). All the projects are se-lected according to their potential to be scaled up and provide benefits to local communities and biodiversity.

There are four ongoing projects within the Fund, two within “Ecosystem Restoration and Preservation” in Senegal and India, focused on man-grove restoration, and two projects on “Agro-forestry with soil restoration” in the Democratic Republic of Congo and India.

Enhancing biodiversity

In 2009, the fund invested in its first project in Senegal, an ecosystem restoration and preservation project helping 450 villages to replant 7,000 hectares of land with mangroves. The project aims to capture a total of 900,000 tons of carbon over 20 years and will rebuild a food ecosystem that produces fish and protects crops.

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MARINE NEWS — CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION

A second pilot project began in 2010 in Sunderbans, in India. The project is working on restoration of mangroves to generate carbon credits and is con-tributing to improved condition for the rural poor by provision of additional food sources and by protection of their habitat from marine encroach-ment.

1,000 hectares of mangroves were planted in 2010 and a further 2,000 hectares were planted in 2011. Plans are in place to plant an additional 3,000 hectares in 2012.

Ecosystem restoration

In Andhra Pradesh, in India, the local communities from Araku Valley have implemented a large programme to plant fruit trees, as part of a pilot project funded by the Livelihoods Fund. In addition to revenues coming from coffee, (which is currently the primary cash crop grown in the valley) fruit from the Araku valley will in future bring food resources and revenue. The project envisages developing a functional forest that will not only provide ecosystem services but will also generate revenues by supplying marketable forest products to local people. 3,700 hectares of land have already been planted since 2010.

In Ibi Bateke, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Fund is working with the regional telecom corporation Novacel to plant acacia and to cultivate cassava, a staple food crop in the region. Cassava is harvested after 18 months for food whereas acacia has a dual function in production of carbon credits and as a source of sustainable charcoal.

The project, involving 20 villages, has already restored 2,000 hectares of land, created local jobs, mitigated deforesta-tion and established markets for local people.

Partnership with IUCN and Ramsar

Danone and the Livelihoods Fund has been engaging with IUCN and Ramsar in a partnership that began over three years ago. What the three organisations share is a common vision about the critically important role that coastal intertidal ecosystems play in seques-tering and trapping carbon from the atmosphere and in providing resource-dependent communities with vital ecosystem services. IUCN and Ramsar endorse the Livelihoods Fund approach that puts communities at the heart of

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the restoration effort thereby ensuring their buy-in to the goals of the project and ensuring its long-term sustainabil-ity. As the science of carbon sequestra-tion is still in its infancy, the experiences garnered from the various pilot projects are very valuable in building a strong case for increasing protection and restoration of mangroves and other key ecosysems on an international scale. One of the main achievements of the partnership was the co-development of a UNFCCC CDM-endorsed methodology for carbon accounting associated with large-scale mangrove restoration. This has the potential to boost restoration efforts by making large-scale projects more accessible and implementable.

Improving food security

One of the founding principles of the Fund is its recognition of the close link between poverty reduction, food security and sustainable ecosystems. Whether it is the vital role played by mangroves in sustaining local fisheries or the use of fruit trees in the mix of species in agroforestry development,

addressing food security issues is a key component in achieving community ownership of projects as well as project sustainability.

Sharing experiences

Later this year, the Livelihoods Fund, IUCN and Ramsar and will convene field practitioners working on man-grove and agroforestry restoration at two important events in the biodiversi-ty conservation calendar: the UN CBD Conference of Parties (Hyderabad, India) and the IUCN World Conserva-tion Congress (Jeju, South Korea).

Further to interactive workshops at the events mentioned above, the Livelihoods Fund will be organising a 3-day Livelihoods Camp from Septem-ber 8-10, 2012 in Araku, not far from Hyderabad. The event aims to go deep into the subject matter by encouraging an exchange of best practices, tools, ex-periences and approaches and thereby strengthen the Livelihoods Network, which extends beyond the existing pro-ject portfolio to include other restoration

projects with similar goals.

For further information on the Fund, please go to: www.livelihoods.eu

IUCN contacts:Olivier Hasinger (olivier.hasinger@iucn.org)James Oliver (james.oliver@iucn.org)

Livelihoods Venture contacts:Bernard Giraud (bernard.giraud@danone.com)Jean-Pierre Rennaud (jean-pierre.ren-naud@danone.com)Nadine Kouamouo (nkouamouo@livelihoods.eu) ------------------------------------------Pictures: (previous page top to bottom):- Agroforestry project, Araku Valley, India.- Mangroves restoration in Sunder-bans, India. - Mangroves restoration in Sunder-bans, India.- Mangroves restoration and preser-vation in Senegal, Africa. (Bottom of this page):- Fruit trees planting in Araku, India © Hellio Van Ingen

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Western gray whales still under close watchIUCN and Sakhalin Energy continue joint efforts to protect endangered cetaceans

IUCN, independent whale experts and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (Sakha-lin Energy) started a second

5-year phase (2012-2016) of collab-oration to protect the endangered population of western gray whales in the western North Pacific.

Through this collaboration, a credible mechanism has been established over the last 5 years to understand and mitigate the impacts of oil and gas development on the gray whales that come to feed each year at Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.

Following advice from the IUCN panels of independent, internationally recog-nized scientists, Sakhalin Energy has implemented assessment, mitigation and monitoring programmes as part of the company’s construction activities and operational procedures. Moreover, since the start of the work on western gray whales off Sakhalin, back in the late 1990s, extensive data has been collected and analyzed, increasing un-derstanding of the whales’ local habitat and behaviour .

Dr. Randall R. Reeves, WGWAP Chairman, commended Sakhalin Energy for its commitment, acknowledging the Com-pany as an industry leader in the way it has managed the issue of disturbance of whales by seismic surveys: “Seismic surveys are taking place every year on the Sakhalin shelf, but Sakhalin Energy’s project is unique in terms of what has been invested in mitigation and monitoring. We hope it will come to be regarded as a good model for other companies in Sakhalin and other parts of the world”.

IUCN considers this project to be a model for engagement between industry and conservation science and is actively encouraging other oil and gas companies operating in the Sakhalin shelf region to engage with the WGWAP process.

This is why, using lessons learned and results from the 2010 large-scale seis-mic survey, a ‘modern practices’ paper is being prepared for submission to a scientific journal by WGWAP scientists in collaboration with Sakhalin Energy contractors. In addition, the IUCN has produced a brochure on marine seis-mic survey ‘best practices’, aimed at a wider, less specialized audience.

Understanding whales’ migration

Gray whales were observed in the area before, during, and after the seismic survey in 2010, which was completed more or less on schedule. The most critical aspects of the plan-ning and execution of the survey were efforts to (a) reduce the acoustic foot-print of the operations, for example by making the survey area as small as possible in order to limit the noise needed to accomplish the survey’s objectives, and (b) separate the timing of the survey from the peak feeding period of the whales. The use of multi-disciplinary, integrated teams monitor-ing both the survey operations and the whales represented a significant advance in the way a seismic survey should be carried out in a marine area like that off Sakhalin, inhabited by an endangered whale population.

A team of scientists from Russia and the United States satellite tagged six gray

whales at Sakhalin last year, and one of them, ‘Varvara’, has been tracked for more than six months. Satellite tagging of western gray whales, which began in 2010, has provided direct informa-tion on where at least some of them go after leaving their summer feeding area. Varvara travelled for thousands of miles to the warm lagoons in Mexico before returning to Sakhalin in the spring.

Gray whales undertake one of the long-est annual migrations of any mammal, travelling huge distances every year from wintering (and calving) grounds to summer feeding areas and back. The migration routes and wintering grounds of the gray whales in the western Pacific have been poorly known compared to those of eastern Pacific gray whales as well as many other whale species. This is why satellite tagging is of vital importance for the conservation of this population.

The gray whale tagging work has been conducted by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Or-egon State University Marine Mammal Institute in collaboration with the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Kro-notsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve and Kamchatka Branch of the Pacific Institute of Geography. It has been con-tracted through the International Whal-ing Commission and IUCN with funding from Exxon Neftegas Ltd. and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd.

Updates on Varvara’s position: http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2011

For more information, please contact: Tatiana Saksina (tatiana.saksina@iucn.org)

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Anew programme to protect Manta Rays and Whale Sharks in the Maldives is just getting

going under way with the financial support of from Global Blue. The intention is to improve our under-standing of these magnificent fish and to make recommendations for their protection.

Its abundance of marine life has made the Maldives one of the top dive destinations in the world. Manta rays and whale sharks continue to be one of the ‘must sees’ for many of its visi-tors. These gentle giants are therefore extremely important to tourism in the Maldives, which is by far the largest source of revenue for the country. How-ever, despite this, they are not pro-tected by Maldivian Law and, as natural resources continue to be stretched in this developing nation, the negative associated impacts are increasingly affecting their population.

In a giant step towards protecting these threatened creatures the Mal-dives Government has proclaimed the waters around Hanifaru in the Baa Atoll a marine protected area (MPA). This and the creation of two other MPAs, An’gafaru in the Baa Atoll and Maamigili

in the South Ari Atoll, demonstrates the government’s forward thinking in ma-rine conservation. “The government is committed to protecting and preserv-ing the Maldives’ exceptional biodiver-sity. The marine environment is the bedrock of our economy, supporting our largest industries, tourism and fisheries. Not only will this initiative protect whale sharks and manta rays, but also other important mega-fauna including reef sharks,” stated Mohamed Aslam, the Environment Minister. “The Marine Protected Area sites are glob-ally significant. By protecting them we are helping to protect manta rays and sharks throughout the Maldives.”

Earlier this year the Maldives Government imposed a countrywide ban on reef shark hunting, and President Nasheed an-nounced that the Maldives will become the world’s first carbon-neutral country by 2020. “This nation is one to watch. I hope that the rest of the world will follow its lead, and we can raise the area of ocean protected worldwide to a meaningful percentage”, Chris Clarke, Director of the Save our Seas Foundation, said in a statement.

The Republic of Maldives has a siz-able population of Manta Rays. It is estimated that the total population for

this country in the middle of the Indian Ocean is likely to exceed ten thou-sand individuals. In three years of data collection, the Maldivian Manta Ray Project (MMRP) has already identified over 1,500 different mantas with new individuals being sighted on a regular basis. Many of the mantas and whale sharks are also killed when they leave Maldives waters and migrate to Sri Lanka. Maldivian mantas are year-round residents, migrating across the country’s 26 atolls with the changing monsoons as they follow the seasonal shifts in their planktonic food source. These nutrient rich waters support huge quantities of marine life and it’s not uncommon to find over 150 manta rays feeding in the shallow surface waters together with half a dozen whale sharks at one of the projects key study sites. These amazing feeding aggregations are one of the world’s natural underwater spectacles, attracting increasing numbers of tourists to this site each year.

Threatened graceful giants

Whale sharks have been hunted for decades by local fishing communities for their fins and liver oils. This fishing has been banned since June 1995 but these sharks are still found with human-imposed injuries from incidents with

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boat propellers, ghost nets and harpoon-ing. Therefore, the whale shark is already recorded as a threatened species on the IUCN Red List.

These gentle sharks can grow up to 12m in length and tolerate passive interaction, which make them a huge attraction for the divers, snorkelers and photographers. However, this kind of tourism can have negative conse-quences especially in more popular ar-eas where careless fin kicks and eager photographers can startle these gentle creatures and the bubbles from large numbers of divers can diffuse their food source, plankton. Strict guidelines have been drafted for the MPAs to help with the crucial management of tourist inter-actions with whale sharks. Divers and snorkelers are to keep a distance of at least 3m from the shark and may not touch them. Boats may not enter the core areas and divers approach aboard dive tenders instead, and the number of boats allowed at any one time is limited. All shark fishing is also banned.

It is clear that tourism is a much-needed source of revenue for the Maldives and it directly contributes towards funding the MPAs so it is important that both tourists and locals work together to conserve Maldivian biodiversity. Beside increasing

awareness and providing training to local stakeholders, the project will assess the spatial distribution, extent, population abundance of - and human interaction with - aggregations of whale sharks and manta rays in Baa and South Ari Atolls in the Maldives.

Aims and Protection Objectives

One of the best ways to understand the population of those graceful giants in the Maldives is to establish a method of recognising and recording indi-viduals. Using photographic and video identification, the project has built, for example, a comprehensive database of over 5000 sightings and 1,500 indi-vidual manta rays within the Maldives. This data is already allowing the project to highlight trends in the mantas be-haviour, estimate the population size, plot reproductive patterns and track their movements spatially and tempo-rally. The project aims to continually expand the database over the coming years and do the same with the whale shark’s population.

While the photo-database is a simple and very useful tool for researching the giants, it does have limitations. It can only tell the researchers where the indi-vidual is at the time of the sighting, rely-

ing on chance encounters which make it hard to gather consistent, large (100’s of miles) and fine (10’s of miles) scale movements of individuals. To collect this kind of data, you have to tag individuals; the project plans to continue its passive and active acoustic tagging in the com-ing year, as well as experimenting with the new Fastloc GPS systems which will hopefully be the key to successful satel-lite tagging in the Maldives.

Documenting the mating behaviour and reproductive cycle of the resident individuals is another area in which the project is particularly keen to expand its research. Courtship rituals and pregnancies are regularly documented in the Maldives and actual mating has been recorded on several occasions. Furthermore, mating occurs at distinct times of the year at specific locations in the Maldives and it is possible to follow the mating and pregnancies of individuals within the population from one year to the next. This is extremely important data because virtually noth-ing is known about the reproductive strategies of manta rays.

For more information, please contact: Carl Gustaf Lundin (carl.lundin@iucn.org), Ameer Abdulla (ameer.abdulla@gmail.com)

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Recent significant success in marine protectionAustralia, Maldives and Cook Islands have announced very large-scale protected areas.

especially if managed as an integrated whole, is preferable to a series of isolated protected areas surrounded by a “sea” of unmanaged activities. “One of the main factors has been the need to expand protection into the open ocean, simply because it is the singular place on Planet Earth that has had least conser-vation action,” explained Dan Laffoley. “By protecting a very large area, the man-agement cost per unit area actually decreases substantially. So what at first may seem like an incredibly costly idea of protecting a vast area of ocean actu-ally represents some of the best value per unit area of ocean conservation”.

This strategy is an essential compo-nent of the actions needed to protect the ocean. “Ensuring we protect the ocean sufficiently means we need many very large areas but we also need greater effort on smaller sites in national waters. We simply won’t make the CBD 10% target with large sites alone”, cautioned Dan Laffoley.

Recently, the government of Australia has announced the creation of the largest network of marine parks in the world, protecting waters covering an area as large as India while banning oil and gas exploration and limiting commercial fishing in some of the most sensitive areas. Australia’s marine reserves will increase from 27 to 60 under the new scheme, covering more than 3.1 million km2, or one-third of the island nation’s waters. New reserves will be established from the Perth Canyon in the southwest to Kangaroo Island off the southern coast, but the “jewel in the crown” will be the protec-tion of the Coral Sea area which is

immediately adjacent the Great Barrier Reef in the northeast.

Just a few days after, the Maldives announced it will create the world’s biggest marine reserve to protect its fisheries and biodiversity. By the year 2017, the 1192 islands of the Maldives will be a marine reserve. Moreover, the Cook Islands has been also declared as the world’s important MPA, three times the size of Australia’s Great Bar-rier Reef Marine Park, which itself was considered the world’s largest MPA for more than a quarter-century. And some more are to come…

“We focus on sites with low population where the ecological impact from fish-ing is limited”, adds Jay Nelson, Director of the Pew Environment Group’s Global Ocean Legacy project, Juneau, Alaska, US. “We also look for sites identified as having high biological, geological, his-toric, cultural, or other values, as well as sites that are at least 100,000 km2 in area or larger. And lastly we look for sites under the jurisdiction of stable governments operating under rule of law, so that once protected they are likely to stay that way. We currently have active initiatives in favour of new reserves in New Zealand (Kermadec region – 600,000+ km2), the United Kingdom (Pitcairn Island – 800,000+ km2), and Bermuda for its EEZ (300,000+ km2). We are also in initial conversations about potential sites in French waters, among others.”

For more information, please contact Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice-Chair, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (danlaffoley@btinternet.com)

Just over 1.5 percent of the ocean is now protected. At the current pace, the globally agreed goal of

protecting 10% of the world ocean may not be met before 2047, well behind even the 2020 target agreed recently by countries at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A worldwide, massive effort is thus needed to speed up the process of protecting the marine environment and its dwellers.

IUCN (www.protectplanetocean.org), UNEP-WCMC (www.protectedplanet.net) working with many IUCN members and other key partners have been highlight-ing the urgency to act. This is being met with success and the number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has grown over the past few years. Moreover, the number of sites larger than 150,000 km2 accounts now for more than a half of total MPA coverage worldwide, according to recent UN figures.

Even if the issue of MPA’s value is less about the size and more about qual-ity and purpose, those very large-scale undisturbed areas can serve as essential reservoirs of biodiversity and natural ba-rometers for the Earth’s ocean. “Another advantage is that protection of large areas ensures that we protect not only what we know but also all the algae, animals and ecosystems in a given area that science has not yet revealed much about”, commented Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice Chair of IUCN World Commis-sion on Protected Areas.

A trend is clearly occurring in the recogni-tion that the wider marine environment,

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Individual MPA greater than 75.000 km2 in area

Name of MPA Jurisdiction Marine Area (km2) Year

Coral Sea Marine National Park and southwest coast of Western Australia

Australia 3,1 million 2012

Cook Islands Marine Protected Area South Pacific 1 million 2012

Kermadec Marine Reserve New Zealand 620,000 2007

Chagos Marine Reserve United Kingdom 544,000 2010

Phoenix Islands Marine Protected Area Kiribati 408,342 2008

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Australia 343,480 1975

Papahãnaumokuãkea Marine National Monument

United States 334,154 2006

Marianas Trench Marine National Monument United States 247,179 2009

Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument United States 212,788 2009

Prince Edward Islands Marine Protected Area South Africa 180,633 2009

Macquarie Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve Australia 161,895 1999

Motu Motiro Hiva Marine Park Chile 150,000 2010

Northeast Atlantic High Seas AreasCharlie-GibbsNorth of Azores

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Galapagos Marine Reserve Ecuador 137,975 1996

Franz Joseph Land Zakaznik Russia 123,877 1994

South Orkney Marine Protected Area CCAMLR Convention 94,000 2009

Maldives Islands Marine Reserve (announced)1 Maldives 90,000 2017

Total: 191 First Country to become a Marine Reserve

7,987 million

• A Marine Protected Area (MPA) is a space in the ocean dedicated to the long term conservation of nature where human activities are more strictly regulated than the surrounding waters.

• Marine Reserves are a specific type of Marine Protected Area (MPA), where activities that remove animals and plants or alter habitats are all prohibited, except as needed for scientific monitoring. Examples of prohibited activities in Marine Reserves are fishing, aqua-culture, dredging, and mining. By contrast, activities such as swimming, boating, and scuba diving are usually allowed. Of the global marine area that is protected, only 300,000km2 - i.e. just less than 10% of the global MPA area - is in the form of a marine reserve (also known as a ‘no-take’ MPA).

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New discoveries in the southern Indian OceanThe second expedition of the Seamounts Project

Seamounts are important for ocean biodiversity: they aggregate a lot of marine life including large

predators. By conducting some of the first assessments of these deep-sea ecosystems, the project created a vital environmental sta-tus baseline from which to moni-tor future trends and impacts.

On the 7 November 2011, the RRS James Cook, a research vessel of the Natural Environment Research Council (U.K.), left Cape Town for five seamounts of the South West Indian Ocean Ridge. 54 persons, including the crew, technicians and scientists representing a wide range of exper-tise, settled on board for the next 45 days and sailed away.

Unique deep-sea habitats

The expedition aimed to explore the benthic (at the bottom of the sea) sea-mount communities. It contributed to efforts to fill the gap in scientific knowl-edge about these relatively unknown and unprotected deep-sea habitats in order to be able to protect them against present and future threats such as deep-sea mining, bottom-fishing, and overexploitation.Seamounts are defined as features of

the ocean floor that rise at least 1000m above the seafloor. They may have different origins (tectonic, volcanic) like islands. There are over 100,000 seamounts in the oceans which provide shelter for a large group of corals, sponges, small fish, sea stars, sea spiders, crabs etc. A large number of predators like sharks, squids, tunas and other fish species are attracted by them.

The isolation of seamounts is also what makes them so special. A lot of species that are found on seamounts are endemic (specific to one location). Slow-growing and slow recovery are other typical features of the deep-sea communities and it accentuates their need for protection.

Far-reaching human impact

Because coastal fish populations have been depleted and shallow fish populations have become over-ex-ploited, the fishing industry go further away from coasts and deeper into the ocean every day, using nets at 2000m depth and trawling the sea-bed for fish. For the last 30-40 years, expanding fisheries have become a major threat to many seamount ecosystems.Throughout the exploration of the

selected seamounts, the expedition has come across evidence of human impact (damage done to the seabed by deep-sea bottom trawling) and dis-covered pieces of equipment floating around the seabed (e.g. drifting pieces of fishing long lines, broken trawl wires and lost lobster pots).

Some deep-sea fishermen are aware of the problem and want to make their business sustainable. A fisher-ies association (SIODFA – Southern Indian Ocean Fishers Association) proposed to close certain areas to fishing on a voluntary basis and do not fish the seamounts within these areas. That is an admirable move and it is extremely efficient in terms of protection and conservation of target species and, moreover, of the whole benthic habitat.

Unfortunately, globally, this is not com-mon practice, and the problem of un-regulated fishing hampers the efforts of responsible states and fishers.

One project, two expeditions

This expedition was the second one planned within the framework of the UNDP-GEF mid-size Seamounts Project. The first one took place in November-December 2009 on board

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the Norvegian vessel Dr Fridtjof Nansen and focused on the pelagic (in the water column) communities of the same seamounts of the South West Indian Ocean Ridge. It represented the first comprehensive biological survey ever conducted on the pelagic ecosystems associated with these underwater mountains.

More than 200 species of fish and 74 species of squid were identified among the 7,000 samples collected during the pelagic cruise. A number of species were recorded for the first time in the region. New species, including a 70-cm long fast swimming bioluminescent squid member of the Chiroteutid family, were discovered.

One of the most important scientific re-sults of the project so far is that each of the five seamounts surveyed during the two expeditions (pelagic and benthic)

are very different from each other in terms of bathymetry (topography), fauna, biodiversity and abundance of animals.

Governance and management

In parallel with filling the lack of scientific knowledge of these deep-sea ecosystems, the project aims to improve the governance and man-agement frameworks. A workshop took place in June 2011 in Grahams-town, South Africa, and resulted in a series of recommendations on how to improve the governance framework in the region. The next phase of this pilot project is to design a road map for what could be an ecosystem-based management plan for the region, taking into account the data available and the existing governance framework.

On the left: The RRS James Cook in Cape Town before departure with Table Mountain in the background.On the right: Cruise map highlighting locations of five seamounts visited on the RRS James Cook JC066 cruise. The five seamount sites were, from south to north, Coral Seamount, Melville Bank, Middle of What Seamount, Sapmer Bank and Atlantis Bank.

We would like to recognize the many partners who have contributed to the project, and the United Nation De-velopment Programme (www.undp.org) and the Global Environment Facility (www.thegef.org) along with ACEP, ASCLME Project, CenSeam, ECOMAR, FAO & EAF-Nansen Pro-ject, IMR, IOZ/ZSL, NERC, Norad, SIODFA, Total Foundation, Univer-sity of Oxford, for their support and financial contribution to this project.

Contacts: Aurélie Spadone (aurelie.spadone@iucn.org); François Simard (francois.simard@iucn.org); James Oliver (james.oliver@iucn.org)

For more information, please visit: http://www.iucn.org/marine/seamountsExpedition blog: http://www.seamountsexpedition.blogspot.comBBC Nature expedition diary:www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15772693

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In the current context of global warming and increasing an-thropogenic pressure on the planet, the delicate balance of

the marine world is at stake. The ten-year IUCN-Total Foundation partnership has involved around 50 partners acting in the private, governmental and public arena, sharing a common vision for the protection of marine biodiversity and the recognition of the value of ecosystems services.

This fruitful partnership led to significant conservation successes like in the case of the Mediterranean marine biodiversi-ty project, in 2004, which contributed to the global Red List of threatened spe-cies with the identification and inscrip-tion of 80 endemic species. The theme of Blue Carbon is also addressed and aims at the identification of opportuni-ties for the management of natural carbon stores in the open Ocean. In Issue 8 of the Marine Programme newsletter, an extensive presentation of the Indian Ocean taxonomy workshop was published to highlight seamount biodiversity.

This special feature emphasizes the mitigation of marine AIS (Alien Inva-sive Species) which constitute a major threat for environmental sustainability and human livelihoods. Indeed, as a consequence of globalisation, many species are delocalised to environ-ments where they do not belong; either intentionally or unintentionally. If in most cases the alien species are not that dangerous in themselves, the lack of natural control (predator, para-site, disease) over them can neverthe-less transform them into invaders that dominate and threaten the natural balance of their new host environ-ment. The consequences can be dramatic. Indeed, a loss in biodiversity is directly correlated with a decrease in human livelihoods that rely on services provided by the environment. Therefore, early detection of alien spe-

cies, in order to prevent their potential invasion, is essential for the conserva-tion of biodiversity, the balance of ecosystems and local livelihoods.

Intentional introduction in Chile

The invasive potential of abalone (ge-nus Haliotis), introduced from Califor-nia and Japan and used in aquaculture systems, was investigated using 3 sites in Chile, of which two are situated on inland facilities and one in open water (see picture on the next page).

The objective of the surveys was to identify the accidental escape of aba-lone from the aquaculture facilities as well as any additional species associ-ated with the introduction of abalone. The methodology was developed in col-laboration with the IUCN ISSG (Invasive Species Specialist Group), the Chilean Subsecretariat of Fisheries, Magdalena University and the New-Zeland Depart-ment of Biosecurity.

The final report shows that the intro-duced species manage to escape from the open ocean aquaculture sys-tem (Quellon, Chiloe Island) although the escape of abalone was not inva-sive for they are prey of local fauna. The 2 other sites of study (Caldera and Los Molles) in inland aquaculture facilities presented no threat to the local environment as they possess an effluent filtration system preventing the introduced abalone from escaping into the wild.

The survey’s focus on the accompa-nying fauna of abalones (especially polychaetes and incrusting algae) demonstrated that no such species are found in the near environment of the aquaculture facilities and drew the conclusion that shell-waxing of abalones before their introduction is an effective preventative method against the introduction of alien species. Following the baseline survey, work-shops were held and posters and

booklets developed on aquaculture management practices for monitoring and minimizing the negative impacts of marine AIS on local biodiversity and ecosystems. This raised aware-ness among stakeholders, the general public, aquaculture professionals and decision makers.

Case study of ship ballast water

Ballast water dumping and houl foul-ing have been identified as one of the major threats to the ocean biodiversi-ty. Ballast water is absolutely essential for the safe and efficient operation of modern shipping, providing bal-ance and stability to un-laden ships. Shipping moves over 80% of the world’s commodities but also transfers approximately 3 to 5 billion tones of ballast water internationally each year. A similar volume may also be trans-ferred domestically within countries and regions each year and so poses a serious ecological and economic threat as well as endangering health.

In order to deal with this issue, the Total Foundation-IUCN partnership initiated a survey addressing critical awareness and capacity gaps. The

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approach consisted of desk studies and extensive internet research, as well as interviews with organizations, agencies and individuals to catalogue available materials, and establish a list of key institutions.

The outputs consists in (1) the creation of an online searchable meta-database providing a consolidated database of marine AIS capacity building, awareness and outreach materials. This helped to avoid duplication of efforts in produc-tion of further materials, while making it possible to consilidate the many initiatives and tools; (2) the translation of key documents to French and Arabic to increase their uptake by regional practitioners; (3) the enhancement of awareness and capacity to address ma-rine AIS among maritime administrators through the development of a Profes-sional Development Course (PDC) at the World Maritime University. The resilience of coral reefs

Coral reefs are at particular risk from marine AIS and a major focus of the Total Foundation-IUCN partnership to date. Indeed, coral reefs are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change, as exemplified by coral bleaching. Thermal stress in combination with ocean acidifica-tion is predicted to reduce the range of healthy corals by affecting their growth, development and reproduc-tion, which in turn reduces the ability of

reefs to cope with other human-related activities and impacts. As coral reefs are important hotspots of biodiversity, support local livelihoods and mitigate natural disasters, it is essential to un-derstand and predict their response to anthropogenic and natural pressure to design efficient management princi-ples specifically for reefs. Since 2005, baseline knowledge and resilience data has been compiled for the Indian Ocean (Chagos and Seychelles) and the Red Sea. The accumulation of data collected relative to coral reef ecology set the stage for capacity building and public awareness activities.

The scope of the Total Foundation-IUCN partnership has been enlarged and strengthened. It is now possible to implement new scientific methodologies that integrate large-scale satellite im-agery in order to understand coral reef ecology and their response to climate change impacts. This is particularly the case for the ongoing project on coral reef protection: "safeguarding the resilient, managing the vulnerable". The project intends to produce guidelines for the collection of ecological and socio-economic data, enhance the resilience of coral ecosystems and support train-ing for national and local managers.

For more information, please contact: James Oliver (james.oliver@iucn.org)

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IUCN and America’s Cup give the Ocean a VoiceBy promoting education, awareness and action on a global and local scale.

IUCN has joined forces with the prestigious America’s Cup and their “America’s Cup Healthy Ocean Project” (ACHOP). The

objective is to use the extraor-dinary communication platform offered by the event to raise aware-ness on the fragility of our oceans and educate the public how to protect it.

Driven by its commitment to have the 34th America’s Cup be “more than a sport,” the America’s Cup Event Author-ity (ACEA) has set an ambitious goal with the AC Healthy Ocean Project to develop the world’s largest communi-cation outreach program focused on improving ocean health. To accomplish this goal, ACEA has partnered with some of the leading voices in the ocean conservation field, including IUCN Patron of Nature Dr. Sylvia Earle and her organization Mission Blue, Ocean Elders, Sailors for the Sea, One World One Ocean and IUCN, the only interna-tional NGO included, infusing scientific knowledge in the project.

The oceans form one of the key operat-ing systems of our planet. They create more than half our oxygen, drive weath-er systems and modulate the atmos-phere, as well as providing us with vital resources. Damage to the oceans is not as immediately apparent as terrestrial

destruction, but it is just as serious. “The world’s greatest race against time is taking place above and below the sur-face. Many people have heard how challenging it is under the surface, but they don’t recognize how grave it is. We need to take action now. The America’s Cup provides an exclusive platform to raise awareness”, explains Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director of IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme. “The Americas’ Cup Healthy Ocean Project is a partnership opportunity to see greener races and more attention given to marine protected areas that are home to significant biodiversity. This event shows the rest of the world how the race against time is only one that we can win if we are one team”.

Three areas to make a difference

The America’s Cup Healthy Ocean Project focuses on three important areas where individuals can take and make a difference:• Ocean conservation by increasing the percentage of the oceans under protection;•Encouraging sustainable sea life choices;• Reducing the amount of single use plastic that ends up in the ocean.

During the America’s Cup World Series in Italy, IUCN, as the main scientific

partner, ran photo exhibitions, with guided visits for school children, ran debates with local and international experts, and organized conservation activities involving racers, volunteers and media.

IUCN aims to conserve marine protected areas for the future generations. Thanks to the cooperation with the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) & Regional Coordinators, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation Interna-tional, WWF and NOAA/National Marine Sanctuaries, the Healthy Ocean Project is developing tools and networks to train and help MPA managers. “The way to achieve this is to focus on local actors and to define effective projects involv-ing local inhabitants as well as local authorities”, details Carl Gustaf Lundin.

The America’s Cup utilizes its many media and engagement platforms to communicate messages on ocean health as an integral part of the story-telling around the America’s Cup and to help establish a number of legacy projects for the benefit of future gen-erations.

For more information, please contact:Carl Gustaf Lundin (carl.lundin@iucn.org)Giuditta Andreaus (giuditta.andreaus@iucn.org)

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Working with Industry

Industry and rich biodiversity co-exist in YemenReview of IUCN’s 3-year partnership with the Liquid Natural Gas plant in Balhaf.

When a large industrial complex is built in an area of rich and unique biodiver-

sity, the outcome most people would expect to see would be a depressingly familiar one of bio-logical decline and degradation. However, with the use of modern technologies, careful investment and regular monitoring, indus-try can ensure that biodiversity continues to thrive and, in some cases, even be enhanced. This is the case at the Yemen LNG liquid natural gas plant in Balhaf, Yemen, at the current stage of its operation, and following three years of independent monitoring and guidance convened by IUCN.

The plant was controversially sited in a coral reef area of international impor-tance and a rich fishing ground for local communities. Conscious of this, the Company went to great lengths to both protect and transplant corals during the construction phase and make compensatory investments in the local fishing communities; both activities have been monitored and assessed by IUCN. Instrumental in protecting corals was the use of silt curtains to contain the large quantities of sediment generated during the construction phase, a practice that IUCN would like industry to use much more systematically.

IUCN’s latest survey of the area revealed that, benefitting from a sizeable no-go security area around the plant and the loading area for ships, both the coral reefs and associated species were flourishing and many fish observed were of a size rarely seen in the Gulf of Aden or beyond. It is a testament to the resilience of corals in this region, and their international importance, that the survival rate of the transplanted corals has been impressively high, as much as 97% in one of the sample areas. The loss of coral during transplantation has been more than compensated by new growth on the new substrate offered by the water intake and outfall pipelines and other new infrastructure in the water.

Considering long-term protection

Managing the expectations of the local fishing communities has been more of a challenge. The construction of Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs), structures placed in the water to attract fish, went some way towards appeasing the loss of fishing grounds. The Company has also invested money in a variety of other areas for community benefit, such as fish landing infrastructure and a solid waste management site. The loss of some FADs during recent storms has underlined IUCN’s recom-mendation that continued Company support is needed to ensure long-term community benefits as well as the

need for solutions that local communi-ties can take ownership of.

As with any positive environmental news, the good news from Yemen is only temporary in nature. IUCN has urged the Company to review its storm water evacuation system as, if storm water is heavily charged with sediment, it could seriously damage the coral reefs. IUCN also urged the Company to work with the government authori-ties to consider the longer-term protec-tion of the site as part of a network of Marine Protected Areas in the region to ensure it retains its biodiversity value beyond the lifetime of the LNG plant.

As Yemen LNG has moved from the construction phase to the operational phase, their focus is now on achieving ISO Environmental Management certi-fication. IUCN hopes that these efforts will contribute to turning short term en-vironmental successes into long-term safeguarding of some of the most re-silient and biologically-significant reefs in the world. If the degradation of the marine environment at a global scale continues apace, havens of biological richness such as these will become increasingly vital for the restoration of our oceans.

For more information,please contact: James Oliver (james.oliver@iucn.org)

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A new approach to manage coral reefs with Kuoni Travel

Although calls for networks of representative marine protected areas have been frequent and global in the past two decades, progress towards on-the-ground protection in developing countries has faltered severely due to lack

of financial resources, technical capacity, institutional will, and stakeholder opposition.

Establishing networks of marine managed areas (MMAs) - that may or may not include protected no-take zones - provides better opportunities for legal designation, credible MPA establishment and effective manage-ment of marine resources than do strict MPAs or individual, un-linked MMAs. The IUCN Global Marine Programme is utilizing this novel ap-proach in the Maldives where coral bleaching and mortality has been se-vere due to the 1998 El Niño and where more than 100 individual island resorts provide the most credible platform for coral reef management in the country. In a clear case of conservation leadership, Kuoni Travel has partnered with the IUCN Global Marine Programme to develop a col-laborative approach with the Marine Research Center, the Environment Protection Agency, Seamarc, and Ministries of Fisheries and Environ-ment in oder to empower island resorts to manage their house reefs.

Ecological surveys to assess reef resilience on individual islands were used to develop house reef management plans with the aim of endorse-ment and implementation by government and resort managers. Key strengths of this approach include the capacity to address local and regional scale ecological threats and management needs. In Small Island Developing States (SIDS) with large geographical expanses and diverse number of reefs such as the Maldives, this methodology may present the most useful approach for managing coral reefs.

IUCN will utilize successful case studies from the Maldives to replicate this approach in other SIDS in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific where similar conditions may be conducive to decentralized governance of marine resources.

Resort house reefs declared as privately managed marine areas

Speaking about the project in Male, Kuoni’s Head of Corporate Responsibil-ity Matthias Leisinger said that “tourism is like fire you can cook with it, but it can also burn your house down.” The tourism industry generates about 30% of the country´s GDP and recalling the bleaching events in the past. “Incidents like this are likely to increase as stock diminishes everywhere”, says a representative from the Ministry of Tourism in the Maldives. Another representative from the Marine Research Center (MRC) pointed out the “new challenges arising with the changing market profile of tourism in the country, since the European visitors do form part of taking care of the natural environment but “the market is changing and is constituted of guests that are walking on the reefs, catching and eating crabs….” Maybe it is about time for the resorts “to take responsi-bility for the natural environment for the duration for the lease”.

Adjustment is essential if the different sectors, including tourism, aim to reduce the vulnerability to climate change and limit its negative impact and in doing so optimiz the capacity of the local community to cope with these changes. By developing and declaring resort house reefs as privately managed marine areas, more expanded research can be car-ried out to obtain more knowledge on how these marine managed areas work in comparison with natural reefs and integrate these aspects into the coral reef resilience and socioeconomic approach.

For more information, please contact: Ameer Abdulla (ameer.abdulla@gmail.com); Sylvia Jagerroos (sylvia@seamarc.com)

© IUCN Carl Gustaf Lundin

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Polar

Big steps forward on polar protectionEcosystem-based management is now widely pursued and implemented by governments in the Arctic environment.

IUCN with the National Defense Resource Council (NRDC) developed an Arctic Eco-system-based management

strategy. Together they identified first steps that States might take collaboratively to advance and implement EbM within the context of the Arctic Council.

IUCN is providing ongoing exper-tise and recommendations to the deliberations of the Arctic EbM Expert Group under the Arctic Council which is considering the application of EbM both on land and in the ocean.

EbM provides an organizing frame-work for decision-making. With respect to marine activities, such an approach includes defining portions of ocean space for management pur-poses based on oceanographic and ecological criteria, and the develop-ment of transboundary management arrangements. A key element of EbM is the identification ecologically-im-portant and vulnerable areas that may require enhanced protection.

IUCN and partners also developed a set of maps depicting Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) based on internationally - agreed crite-ria by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Following up on these

activities, IUCN is now embarking on a new project with the goal to identify several viable options for the protec-tion of EBSAs of the North Bering Sea, Bering Strait, the areas of the Chukchi/Beaufort Coast and Wrangell Island from the possible negative effects of shipping and other activities in the marine environment.

Decisive year for the Southern Ocean

Later this year, the international community is to decide on specific locations for a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the South-ern Ocean. The Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is work-ing towards the establishment of a representative system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean by the end of 2012.

The Ross Sea is often described as the ‘crown jewel’ of the Southern Ocean and its future level of protection is cur-rently under discussion. The Ross Sea is the best-studied part of the Southern Ocean. It has to date experienced low human impact and is remains a habitat for many whales, seals, penguins and birds. The Establishment and manage-ment of a large MPA in the Ross Sea will protect areas that are critical to the life-history stages of mammals and birds, as well as for Antarctic toothfish,

and will allow for continued collection of long-term datasets that under-pin crucial research into ecosystem function and environmental change, including the impacts of climate and ocean acidification.

IUCN continues to inform CCAMLR members on the need to provide a balance between sustainable resource management and long-term protec-tion of important habitats, species and ecosystem functions.

IUCN is also engaging in efforts with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and several other partners, to develop such a revised Antarctic Conservation Strategy under the banner of ‘Antarctic Conservation for the 21st Century’.

For more information, please contact: Dorothée Herr (dorothee.herr@iucn.org)

The three different workshop reports can be downloaded here: http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/arctic_workshop_report_iceland_final.pdfhttp://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/Rep-2011-001.pdf http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/arctic_workshop_report_final.pdf

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Regional News

Co-governance in Sulawesi coastal resources

Straddling three provinces -North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo and 14 districts, Tomini Bay cov-

ers a vast area of approximately 59,500 km². Located near the equa-tor at the heart of the Coral Trian-gle, Tomini Bay in Indonesia has rich and diverse natural resources and cultural heritage. In 2008, fisheries production was valued at $ 2.3 billion mainly from the tuna capture fishery.

At least 100,000 coastal people from various ethnic groups directly depend on the Bay’s resources for food and income. The local economy is domi-nated by small-scale capture fisheries; the main catch include large pelagic species like tuna, and small pelagic species including mackerel and sar-dine. The majority of the Bay’s coastal populations are traditional, small scale fishers, with non-motorized fishing boats. The majority of captured fish is consumed and sold locally. The well-being of local communities is therefore directly dependent on the ability of the Bay’s ecosystem to provide sustain-able resources to supply local food security and livelihoods.

The pressures on Tomini Bay’s ecosystem are immense: water pol-lution and sedimentation, (legal and illegal) mining, destructive fishing (with bombs, cyanide), mangrove clear-ance to build fish ponds and/or obtain timber for housing and fuel wood, and coral mining. Resource scarcity in turn leads to social conflict as more and more people are competing for ever diminishing resources.

SUSCLAM (Sustainable Coastal and

Livelihoods Management) is a CIDA-funded IUCN project implemented in Tomini Bay. The project is assisting stakeholders in improving the sustain-able management of the Bay’s natural resources for continuous livelihood benefits of local communities. The pro-ject is working to build capacity and to develop strong cooperation at the pro-vincial, district and village level for co-management of the resources of the bay. A Memorandum of Understand-ing signed in 2008 between the three provincial governors for collaborative action for resource management and sustainable development of Tomini Bay provides the overarching governance framework and goal for the project.

To achieve its influence, IUCN adopt-ed an Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) approach. The project decided to focus on mangroves as an entry point for establishing co-management governance arrangements for manag-ing coastal resources at the district and village level.

Based on local communities

Since local communities are at the front line of resource use, their active participation was the key to the suc-cess and sustainability of the project. Using gender-sensitive Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques, village women and men were trained to recognize and assess the condition of their local assets (social, physical, natural, institutional capital) and identify local socio-economic and ecological problems and possible solutions. The PRA results laid the basis for the inte-grated village development plans which lead to district budgetary allocation for implementation of a number of village

development conservation activities.

At the district level, the project began with the analysis of LANSat imagery to determine coastal forest cover around Tomini Bay and validated the analysis through ground surveys to collect biophysical and socio-economic data. Information was disseminated to stakeholders and used as the basis for mobilizing the district-level environmen-tal governing bodies – the mangrove POKJA – a multi stakeholder group composed of government, NGO and civil society leaders. The information was also used for identifying large and small scale mangrove restora-tion areas, and for drafting mangrove regulations.

Within the space of three to four years, four POKJA or mangrove multi-stakeholder working groups were established in four districts, active and mobilized with mangrove action plans and mangrove regulations in place, effectively liaising with village and provincial governmental bodies, and, by the end of the project, mangrove restoration had been facilitated in a total of 862.91 ha leading to increased fisheries production in the short term and a sense of community ownership and responsibility for local resources. In addition a total area 13,570 ha of mangrove habitat was brought under the protection of mangrove regula-tions. Provincial, district and village governments learned that with good facilitation at the local community level, mangrove restoration and other issues can be tackled effectively and benefits sustained.

Contact: Maeve Nightingale (maeve.nightingale@iucn.org)

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Crunch time for Caribbean corals

T he Global Coral Reef Moni-toring Network (GCRMN) was established in 1995 as the operating unit of the

International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). IUCN took over the coor-dinating role of the GCRMN in 2010 with the primary objective of strengthening the scientific pro-gram and communications within the network, and to make reef monitoring data publicly available online in a timely manner.

The purpose of GCRMN’s scientific endeavour is to establish quantita-tively rigorous baselines for earlier reef conditions and to document the extent to which different reefs have declined. Due to the enormity of the task, the strategic plan is to focus on separate biogeographic regions in a stepwise fashion and then combine all of the re-sults for a global synthesis in 2016. We have chosen the Tropical Americas as the pilot region for this endeavour, due to the familiarity and the large amount of coral reef studies, and to help us refine our methods of analysis before moving onto other regions.

To date, the IUCN team has assembled more than 255 monitoring data sets from 29 countries in the Caribbean re-gion and were able to conduct prelimi-nary analysis for 7 key regions (Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Florida Keys, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands). Information collected include routinely monitored components of coral reef ecosystems including corals, macroalgae, other sessile invertebrates, sea urchins, and fishes based on raw data from scientists, peer reviewed scientific literature, past and current monitoring programs and reports.

Apart from data collection, a ma-jor aspect of GCRMN’s work is to convene workshops to directly involve the scientists and managers that have contributed their data in a collabora-tive analytical process. The Tropi-cal Americas Coral Reef Resilience Workshop was held in Panama from April 29-May 5, 2012 in partner-ship with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Austral-ian ARC Centre of Excellence, where participants reviewed data contribu-tions of more than 100 data sets from 28 countries, provided by around 50 contributors. Participants also spent time to produce timelines of significant environmental changes in each of the locations where data were gathered, and discussed the status and trends of these data spanning more than 35 years.

Different histories from the reefs

We constructed trajectories of change in coral reef community composition for seven intensively studied sites in the Florida Keys, Jamaica, Cayman Is-lands, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Curacao, and Bonaire. Results have been presented in talks at the Smith-sonian Institution; the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, Australia; and the International Coral Reef Initiative meetings in Cairns. Three general points are apparent from these preliminary analyses:

1. The histories of reefs in different parts of the Caribbean are profoundly differ-ent. For example, reefs at Curacao and Bonaire still have about 30 percent living coral cover in contrast to an average of 10 percent or less for the entire region. 2. The routine procedure of averaging

all the data from the entire Caribbean for a given year, instead of focusing on the history of individual reef sites, obscures ecologically important differences among locations of fundamental impor-tance for policy and management.3. The healthiest reefs have benefitted from some combination of reduced fishing pressure, pollution, and hur-ricanes, among other factors, but we do not yet understand why some reefs decline faster than others and how that variability may affect their capacity for recovery.

Average live coral cover on Caribbean reefs has declined to just 8% of the reef today, compared with more than 50% in the 1970s according to the report’s findings. Furthermore, rates of decline on most reefs show no signs of slowing, although the deterioration of live coral cover on more remote reefs in the Netherlands Antilles, Cay-man Islands and elsewhere is less marked—with up to 30% cover still surviving. These areas are less ex-posed to human impact as well as to natural disasters such as hurricanes.

“We need simple universal metrics for the status and trends of coral reefs worldwide and a central reposi-tory for coral reef data that is freely and easily accessible to everyone,” says Jeremy Jackson, Science Director, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN). “We are rising to this chal-lenge by extending the methodology of our Caribbean analyses through-out all tropical seas. Results of these separate studies will be posted online as they are completed and will provide a global synthesis by 2016.”

Contact: Vivian Lam (vivian.lam@iucn.org)

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IUCN, through its Regional Of-fice for West Asia, is working with the Ministry of Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman to

strengthen its ecotourism sector by providing technical support, advice and capacity building. Two coastal areas have been selected for detailed planning.

The first area, Bandar al Khayran is located in close proximity to the capital, Muscat, and is a magnificent environ-mental and cultural asset for Oman. It is a complex mix of steep mountainous lands and wadis that meet the Gulf of Oman in beaches and protected coves fringed by diverse coral communities. Gazelle roam the rugged coastline while turtles nest on the protected beaches. The local community uses Bandar Al Khayran for fishing and agriculture and a look at the cultural heritage reveals an association with the land and sea that has prevailed for thousands of years. Nowadays, the waters are shared with Omani and international tourists who come to experience its natural environment, outstanding beauty and rich history. The Government of Oman recognised the uniqueness of Bandar Al Khayran and protected it by Royal De-cree in 2007, establishing it as a Public Ecotourism Area.

The increasing pressure from visitors and the lack of facilities necessitated the drafting of a Management Plan. IUCN assembled an international multidisciplinary team that conducted a number of site visits and interactions with local stakeholders. The Manage-ment Plan was completed during 2011 and submitted to the Ministry of Tourism. The vision for the area is that its environment and biodiversity should

IUCN guides for Oman’s coastal jewelsremain protected, and the cultural values preserved, while allowing and managing appropriate tourism activities that do not degrade these values.

The second area, Wadi Darbat, is lo-cated in the far south of the Province of Dhofar close to the border with Yemen. Its importance lies in its great natural beauty, biodiversity and historical herit-age. The wet and temperate climate conditions in Wadi Darbat during the khareef or monsoon season result in a verdant landscape with lakes and occasional waterfalls. The fog-affected escarpments of Dhofar have the highest number of endemic species and some of the most species-rich habitats in Oman. Fauna include the critically en-dangered Arabian leopard, the reintro-duced Nubian ibex, along with a variety of other mammals including the Arabian gazelle, Arabian wolf and striped hy-ena. This area falls within the Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert (AT1302) ecoregion as defined by WWF.

A natural and historical spot

Also valued as a very strong cultural and historical spot, with settlements dating back to the third millennium BC and famed for the production of frankin-cense, the area forms part of a “com-posite” UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has been attracting a large number of visitors who want to escape the very hot and uncomfortable summer conditions experienced elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf region. These large numbers of visi-tors, coupled with insufficient infrastruc-ture and a lack of systematic planning, threaten the quality of the landscape and the biodiversity of the area. At the same time, the local communities cur-rently enjoy little benefits from tourism

activities.

The IUCN team has been on site. An Ecotourism Concept Master Plan and Management Plan is currently being drafted for discussion with the Ministry of Tourism and other stakeholders. The conservation and development concepts stretch over 20 km from Khor Rori with the archaeological site of Sumhuram at the coast to the valleys and hills north of the Wadi Darbat Lakes. There is a high degree of landscape connectivity between the northern and southern extremes of the study site. Firstly, there is a physical connection in the landscape through the wadi (this also becomes important in terms of con-nectivity and as dispersal corridors for fauna and flora). Secondly, there is also a historical link through the frankincense that was harvested in the mountains, brought down to the plains and exported through the port at Sumhuram. Finally, there is also a cultural link in the transhumance be-tween the plains and the mountains in search of the best grazing for the local community’s livestock.

The IUCN team came back with a proposal for the improvement of the current tourism infrastructure and a diversification of the tourism offering. The proposed development approach will, on the one hand, strengthen the integrity of the natural environment and reduce the current visitor impact. On the other hand, new ‘value’ will be created by structuring the devel-opment in a number of interlinked ‘nodes’.

Contact: Mohamed Eltayed (mohamed.eltayeb@iucn.org)

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could lower the capacity for protection of the shore. Like mangroves and salt marshes, seagrasses play a major role in the fixation and sequestration of so-called “blue carbon”. In the case of Posidonia oceanica, primary production is estimated at between 45 and 542 gC m-2 a-1, and a significant proportion of fixed organic car-bon (10 to 25%) is sequestered within the sediment, constituting a long-term carbon sink (a few decades to several millennia). Inversely, biologically- or chemically-mediated carbonate precipitation may provide the atmosphere with a significant source of CO2 (estimated between 28 and 83 gC m-2 a-1).

Even though caution should still be ex-ercised when looking at values currently available, the observation of organic car-bon sinks (sequestration) and sources of non-organic carbon (calcification) seems to indicate that Posidonia oceanica meadows could be a major sink of CO2. On the scale of the Mediterranean, the average quantity of fixed carbon could be in the region of eight million tons per year.

Over and beyond these values, it seems evident that the essential interest of Posidonia oceanica seagrass lies in the accumulation, over long periods of time, of considerable quantities of carbon within the sediment. Efforts should therefore focus primarily on conserva-tion of these reservoirs to avoid the carbon they contain being released into circulation.

Contact: Alain Jeudy de Grissac (alain.jeudy@iucn.org)

Mediterranean seagrass meadows play a major role in carbon sequestration

Seagrass meadows reflect the history and bio-geographical diversity of the Mediterra-nean Sea. The many human

pressures brought to bear on it today are likely to cause significant disruptions in the distribution and sustainability of these habitats.

Among these disruptions, climate change could lead to a general warm-ing of the Mediterranean and to in-creasing frequency of extreme weather events. The rise in the average tem-perature of the sea and its acidification (via dissolution of CO2) would not be without consequence for the seagrass meadow ecosystems.

Posidonia oceanica, the species most emblematic of the Mediterranean, exhibits relatively strong resilience to temperature, and the few regressions recorded seem to be related to weather events (thermal anomalies), either extreme or restricted to regions where summer temperatures are already very high. On the other hand, Zostera noltii and especially Zostera marina seem to be much more sensitive to the rise in sea water temperature, and for this last species several regressions have already been documented over the past few decades. In contrast, Cymodocea nodosa, a warm affinity species, and Halophila stipulacea, a Lessepsian spe-cies introduced into the Mediterranean in the late 19th century, seem rather to benefit from this warming.

When environmental conditions become unfavourable for one species, it can be replaced by another. However, while this

replacement can occur with “indige-nous” species, it can also be favourable to more opportunistic “introduced” spe-cies, or species with weaker structuring capacities, likely to cause deep changes in the communities.

Rises in temperature favour aliens

The replacement of meadows com-posed of species of average or high structural complexity (Zostera marina and Posidonia oceanica) by meadows composed of species with a lower one (Cymodocea nodosa and Halophila stipulacea) would therefore have an effect on the diversity and role of the ecosystems associated with them. Furthermore, the rise in the temperature of the surface water of the sea leads to modification of the relative abundance of closely related species, to the benefit of those with the most “meridional” affinities, and favours the naturalization of alien species, particularly those origi-nating from the Red Sea. This accelera-tion of the colonization process of the Mediterranean by Lessepsian species carries the risk of significant alteration of the functioning of Magnoliophyta meadows.

Among their many functions, sea-grasses play a part in mitigating swells and waves, and protecting the shore from erosion. Thus, accumulation of Posidonia oceanica drift debris on the beaches provides very effective protection against erosion of the coast. The replacement of high biomass spe-cies (Zostera marina and Posidonia oceanica) by smaller ones (Cymodo-cea nodosa and Halophila stipulacea)

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What’s new

Consequences of selective fisheries reconsidered

Concern about the impact of fishing on ecosystems and fisheries production is increasing and strategies are being designed to im-plement an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) to reduce these impacts while addressing the growing need for food security.

Reducing the fishing pressure by reducing fishing capacity is the first priority for fishery institutions. Increasing selectivity to protect juveniles, whilst reducing un-wanted by-catch and discards, also fundamental in the conventional management paradigm, can only be effective if and when capacity is tailored to the productivity of stocks. The IUCN/CEM Fisheries Experts Group (FEG) has helped bring together the increasing evidence that simply attempting to make fishing gear and practices more conventionally selective, neither maximizes production nor minimizes impacts.

The scientists participating in the international scientific workshop organized by FEG and EBCD in Nagoya in 2010 suggested that a more Balanced Harvest-ing strategy (distributing a moderate fishing mortality across the widest possible range of species, stocks, and sizes in an ecosystem, in proportion to their natural productivity, so that the relative size and species composition is maintained) would more effectively (i) mitigate adverse ecological effects of fishing and (ii) maintain sustainable fisheries production. This strategy challenges the present paradigm, designed 60 years ago, for industrial single species fisheries. Some of the policy implications of Balanced Harvesting have been recently discussed in an article in Science (Garcia et al. 2012).

Clearly, more work is needed (and is ongoing) to analyse further these implications. In the meantime, the adequacy of the conventional paradigm to satisfy EAF require-ments should at least be reconsidered and possible transition pathways identified.

For more information: Garcia, S.M. 2012. Reconsidering the Consequences of Selective Fisheries. Sci-ence (Policy Forum), 335: 1045-1047

Contact: Serge M. Garcia, Chair IUCN/CEM/FEG (garcia.sergemichel@gmail.com)

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«Mieux connaître pour mieux respecter. Respecter pour mieux préserver». Telle est la démarche du site web www.respectocean.com, lancé en mai 2012. Celui-ci permettra de faire connaître des usages, des activités humaines, liées aux océans et associées à de bonnes pratiques, des engagements pour mieux respecter cet immense ensemble d’écosystèmes riches et pourtant si fragilisés.

Le site présente et met en valeur des actions qui favorisent une meilleure connaissance de nos océans, pour plus de respect. Autre originalité du site, la volonté de fédérer les entreprises qui soutiennent cette action dans tous les secteurs de la mer autour d’une charte d’engagement transactionnelle.

Respectocean.com se veut aussi un moyen de réunir et de créer un réseau entre des mondes qui, parfois, ont du mal à se cotoyer: le milieu de la recherche, le secteur associatif, et le monde professionnel.

La visibilité du site sera en particulier assurée par le bateau de la véliplanchiste Raphaëla le Gouvello qui participera à la Minitransat ou Transat 6.50 en solitaire en octobre 2013.

For more information: www.respectocean.com

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Recent developments in the Sargasso Sea

Launched in 2010, the Sar-gasso Sea Alliance (SSA) is a partnership led by the Government of Bermuda,

to protect the Sargasso Sea. The SSA is based in the Washington DC Office of IUCN, and is pleased to report a number of important recent developments.

In spring 2012, the Sargasso Sea was successfully described as an EBSA (Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area) and will be under consideration by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2012.

A report entitled “The protection and management of the Sargasso Sea: The golden floating rainforest of the Atlantic Ocean-Summary Science and Supporting Evidence Case” is now available for download http://www.sargassoalliance.org/case-for-protec-tion. This synthesis of data and other evidence of the importance of the Sargasso Sea, developed with 74 col-laborators from over 10 countries and 11 science institutions, will be used as the basis for protection proposals at international and regional entities.

In July 2012, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced official support for the SSA objectives. Also in July 2012, Henry Bellingham, UK Secretary of State at the FCO with

responsibility for UK Overseas Territo-ries answered a Parliamentary question from UK MP Zac Goldsmith as to UK policy on the establishment of a marine protected area in the Sargasso (High) Sea. Bellingham told the House of Com-mons that members of the Sargasso Sea Alliance have met with officials from the Department for Environ-ment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department of Transport to discuss the project. He reported that “The Government of Bermuda supports the proposal to provide appropriate protection for the Sargasso Sea. The UK Government, the Sargasso Sea Alliance and the Government of Bermuda are working together to this end through the appropriate fora. In addition, the UK Government sup-ports the work of the OSPAR Com-mission, under which seven Marine Protected Areas in ABNJ have been identified, in assisting the Alliance with its proposals.”

Declaration of protection planned

SSA continues to build relationships with government agencies and indus-try associations by sharing informa-tion on the ecological importance of the Sargasso Sea through a series of events and announcements at the International Maritime Organization and ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas)

and individual discussions on potential protective measures and necessary evidence.

Working across regions, in August, the OSPAR and SSA Secretariats have also signed a Collaboration Arrange-ment to “maximize opportunities for the sharing of research, expertise and practical experience in seeking to pro-tect and manage the marine environ-ment of the North Atlantic, particularly in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction.”

In 2013, the Government of Bermuda is planning an Intergovernmental Meeting in Hamilton, Bermuda to draft a Declaration on the Protection of the Sargasso Sea, setting out a framework for informal co-operation among States which border or have an interest in the ecological impor-tance of the Sargasso Sea. The SSA is also working with the Bermuda and UK governments to submit protective measure proposals to IMO, ICCAT and other competent international organizations.

For more information, please visit: www.sargassoalliance.org and follow us on Twitter @ SargSeaAlliance.

Contact: Dr. David Freestone (davi-dacfreestone@gmail.com) and Kate Killerlain Morrison (kmorrison@sargas-soalliance.org)

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MARINE NEWS - WHAT’S NEW

Red Sea Rangers patrol and protect a substantial portion of the Egyptian Red Sea. Their mandate under the Egyptian Environ-mental Affairs Agency (EEAA) in the Ministry of the Environment is more than just enforcement, as they also aim to raise public

awareness on the protection of the Marine Parks by monitoring tourist dive boats and by installing and maintaining moorings. As such, these rangers need to be trained in many field skills relevant to marine man-agement and operations.

As part a three-year collaboration between the international tour operator Kuoni and IUCN, a training course was held on PADI Search and Rescue operations for the Red Sea Marine Park Rangers in the South of Egypt. Organised by the IUCN Global Marine Programme, in association with the Red Sea Protectorates, the Red Sea Protectorate Development Association, and the Red Sea Diving Safari Eco-Adventure, the course set out to increase the skills and preparation of the Rangers in the face of potential emergencies and to enhance their ability to deal with unforeseen situations at sea.

Participation in the course was subject to a competitive process and was designed to enhance field skills for each participant so that they can be further passed on to their colleagues. A panel of referees led by Dr. Ameer Abdulla, Senior Advisor of the Global Marine & Polar Programme (GMPP), selected five highly motivated Rangers to participate in the course from a list compiled by Mr. Usama Ghazali, Chair of the Red Sea Protected Areas Development Associa-tion. Ms. Olivia Meylan from GMPP, a certified PADI Instructor, organized and led the course.

The course took place over 4 days in Nakari Red Sea Diving Safari Center near Marsa Alam and included both theory and water skills sessions, culminating in a final written examination. Throughout the course, the Red Sea Rangers showed a great deal of enthusiasm, a high level of performance and all were success-fully certified. In addition, a few terrestrial Rangers were given the chance to try SCUBA for the first time and discover the wonderful coral reefs of the Red Sea.

This successful and productive week of training will be followed by a training component on ecological sampling design, data collection and analysis. This additional training will give rangers the tools and skills for improved monitoring and management of the Marine Protected Areas of the Egyptian Red Sea.

For more information, please contact: Olivia Meylan (olivia.meylan@iucn.org)

A boost for Marine Protected Area Rangers in the Red Sea

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Marine World Heritage AppJune 8th, the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre laumched a new iPhone Application in celebration of World Ocean Day.

This year’s Oceans Day theme “Youth: the Next Wave for Change” inspired the development of the mobile application, which will act as a window on marine heritage sites around the world. Of all 6,000 marine protected areas on the planet, only 45 have the highest interna-tionally recognized status for conserva-tion, World Heritage. The application aims at increasing visibility of these exceptional places and facilitating access to information about their outstanding value.

IUCN has a long-standing partnership with UNESCO’s World Heritage Conven-tion, which remains a powerful tool to protect these precious places and has known fascinating successes in many of them over the past 40 years. With this iPhone Application, it becomes possible to have all information about them at hand. The application can be downloaded for free from the app store: http://mpapps.net/MarineWH, and will soon also be available for android compatible devices.

The work has been made possible by the generous ongoing support of the Tides of Time partners Jaeger Le Coultre and International Herald Tribune and the government of Flanders.

Contacts:Dan Laffoley, Vice-Chair Marine, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (danlaffoley@btinternet.com)Fanny Douvere, Coordinator, Marine Programme, UNESCO’s World Heritage Center (f.douvere@unesco.org)

For more information on UNESCO’s Marine World Heritage programme, please consult: http://whc.unesco.org/en/marine-programme

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Oceans at Jeju: What’s on at the 2012 World Conservation Congress

MARINE NEWS - WHAT’S NEW

Hosted in Jeju, South Korea, from September 6 to 15, 2012, the IUCN Congress is held every four years to give an opportunity to all IUCN’s members and partners to touch base, share experiences and set IUCN’s priorities and mandates for the next four years. IUCN’s network of organisations and individuals have come together to produce a dynamic and varied programme of events on marine and coastal issues.

The programme offers more than 70 marine and coastal events covering a broad range of themes and represent-ing all main geographical regions at a variety of scales. Important emerg-ing issues are well represented, such as “blue carbon” topics looking at the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems as a means to trap atmospheric carbon, address climate change impacts and improve livelihoods of resource-dependent communities. Other emerging issues featured include deep-sea mining and greening of ocean-based industries.

Marine events are featured in a “Marine Journey” made available at the Blue Planet pavilion, the meeting area for all ocean-minded people at the Congress. The pavilion hosts daily events, product

launches, films and exhibits, includ-ing a demonstration of Google Liquid Galaxy, an immersive Google Earth experience using a chamber of moni-tors arranged in a circle around the viewer. The technology can fly the user anywhere in the world in seconds over mountains and buildings, down valleys, and even incorporates the ocean floor in peripheral vision. The Canadian Wildlife Federation is also hosting an exciting range of daily events.

As IUCN strengthens its collaboration across regions and with partners on coastal projects, this is reflected in the array of coastal-related events including such themes as disaster risk reduc-tion in coastal zones, coastal wetland restoration, management and resilience, and the identification of constraints and opportunities for restoration and conser-vation of wetlands globally.

Marine Protected Areas will feature prominently in the programme and at varying scales. One workshop will look at how locally-managed MPAs can feed into a national network whilst there will also be a Knowledge Café on the prospects for building a region-wide network in Asia. WWF and IUCN Oceania will take the concept even wider with a look at protection of ma-

rine habitats at a global scale.

Marine species issues will be covered with special attention to individual marine species of particular conserva-tion concern. Events are planned that address the future for tuna, dolphins, whales, sawfishes and turtles.

Climate change topics will be exam-ined at a regional level for Mediter-ranean and Asia but also globally in the context of ecosystem-based adaptation and food security. Among the other topics covered are islands, the Arctic, Antarctica, world heritage, fisheries, regional ocean governance, the high seas and oil spill monitoring.

The Congress is also about debate on IUCN policy on key issues. From the 21 marine-orientated motions set to be voted on, there is one on protecting deep ocean ecosystems from the threats of deep sea mining, one on the strengthening of European provisions for biodiversity in overseas entities, and one on accelerating the global pace of establishing marine protected areas and the certification of their effective management.

The Global Marine and Polar Pro-gramme welcomes you to Jeju!

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Mediterranean Submarine Canyons

The MedRAS Project is an initiative financed by the MAVA Foundation, Total Foundation and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), and coordinated by IUCNMed with many Mediterranean partners. Its general objective is to help Mediterranean countries to identify and develop the most representative and coherent network of areas of conservation interest. Its implementation is conducted with the participation of scientistsand practitioners from the participating countries.

Whales & dolphins need more protected areas

A new book, Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises has been released, calling for accelerated efforts to conserve marine mammals by protecting a greater area of the ocean. Currently only 1.5% of the ocean is protected but many new Marine Protected Areas are being created. Erich Hoyt, the book’s author and IUCN’s cetacean specialist, examines cur-rent and future developments in ocean protection.

New Publications and Reports

Réflexions et recommandations pour la pisciculture de truites

L’objet premier de ce guide publié par l’UICN, à la demande du ministère français de l’agriculture, de la pêche et de l’aquaculture(MAAPRAT) par le biais de la Direction de la Pêche maritime et de l’Aquaculture (DPMA), est de proposer des réflexions et recommandations pour une aquaculture durable et responsable à l’intention des gestionnaires, des techniciens, des producteurs et des autres parties intéressées tels les élus ou les collectivités locales, et des représentants de la société civile. Il présente un caractère opérationnel et sa présentation facilite l’appropriation par tous, des recommandations formulées.

Towards a representative network of marine protected area in Lybia

This IUCN report contains a compilation of information from national and international ex-perts and from documentation available on marine and biodiversity in Libya. It proposes and describes sites of conservation interest along the Libyan coast within the framework of the MedRAS Project (Mediterranean Representative Areas and Species).

Groupers of the World: A Field and Market Guide

Groupers are a commercially important family of tropical fish found globally on coral and rocky reefs. Vulnerable to over-fishing, 13% of all grouper species are considered to be threatened globally according to the criteria and categories of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. The book contains more than 350 colour photographs of both dead and live animals that will aid the identification of these large and colourful fish in all situations.

Acidification des océans et biodiversité

Sous l’égide de la Fondation d’entreprise Total, la 6ème édition des entretiens de Port-Cros souligne l’importance de pousuivre les études liées à l’acidification des océans et d’augmenter la précision des modèles afin d’accélérer les connaissances à l’échelle globale. A court terme, il paraît indispensable d’introduire le sujet de l’acidification océanique dans toutes les négocia-tions en cours, notamment le pacte mondial pour le climat qui se tiendra à Durban en 2015 (en français and in english).

Toward Recovery and sustainability of the World’s Large Marine Ecosystems during climate change

The integrity of all 64 of the World’s Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and the livelihoods of bil-lions of people that depend upon them are under threat not only from climate change, but also from overfishing, toxic pollution, nutrient over-enrichment, invasive species, habitat degradation, and biodiversity loss. With the support of IUCN, this brochure led by UNDP Environment and Energy Group gives an approach for the sustainable development of coastal ocean resources.

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Blue Carbon Policy Framework 2.0

The International Blue Carbon Policy Working Group, co-organized by IUCN and Conservation International, revisited Blue Carbon policy recommendations. The revised Blue Carbon Policy Framework 2.0 outlines new and revised activities needed to include coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses into climate change mitigation policies and financ-ing processes, taking into account the outcomes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP) in Durban and other relevant fora.

Identifying Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas on Seamounts

This IUCN report, based on a workshop organised by GOBI (Global Ocean Biodiversity Initia-tive) and Censeam and supported by the Sloan Foundation, describes the provisional process for identification of EBSAs (Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas) for seamounts. These major topographic features on the high seas are a focus for conservation within national boundaries but are not specifically managed on the high seas.

Ecologically or biologically significant areas in the pelagic realm: examples and guidelines

This report, based on a workshop of 27 international experts on pelagic biodiversity was con-vened by the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative (GOBI) and the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab (MGEL) of Duke University, provides examples and guidelines for the identification of important pelagic areas necessary for the policy makers involved in the process of identifying ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSAs).

Next steps for marine ecosystem-based management in the Arctic

This IUCN report, based on a Workshop held in Reykjavik in cooperation with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), underlines that perceived barriers to implementation of marine ecosystem-based management (EbM) are fictitious. The report further explores what benefits would accrue if Arctic States were to fashion a regional strategy for EbM implementa-tion.

All the publications can be downloaded from: www.iucn.org/marine

Mediterranean Seagrass Meadows: Resilience and Contribution to Climate Change Mitigation

Published by IUCN and produced by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, this document is a short summary of a technical report on the current state of affairs in the Mediter-ranean basin with regard to seagrasses and their contribution to climate change mitigation. It is a must-read for policy-makers (read also page 27).

Through the Net: the entry of illegally-caught fish into Europe

Through the Net charts EJF’s investigations into ‘pirate’ fishing in West Africa and tracks the journey of fish caught illegally in Sierra Leone to the European seafood market through the Spanish port of Las Palmas. The film reveals gaps in the EU regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fish and highlights steps that need to be taken to ensure that the regulation works effectively. The film features interviews with the EU Fisheries Commissioner, Members of the European Parliament and fishing communities that suffer the impacts of ‘pirate’ fishing in West Africa. The voiceover is provided by award-winning journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Dimble-by.This film was produced with the support of IUCN.

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Where we are and what we do

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Where we are and what we do

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Who we are

Carl Gustaf Lundin Director, Global Marine and Polar Programme

François Simard Deputy Director and Senior Advisor for Fisheries

James OliverProject Officer

Tatiana Saksina WGWAP Coordinator

Headquarters Switzerland

Aurélie SpadoneMarine Programme Officer

Olivier HasingerMarine Officer

Elisabeth KjellqvistAdministrative Assistant

Olivia MeylanAdministrative Assistant

Joao SousaTemporary Marine Officer

Dennis KjellqvistWebsite Support

Suzanne Garrett Research Fellow slgarrett[at]hotmail.com

Vivian LamGlobal Marine Programme Officer

Harlan CohenSenior Advisor, Ocean Governance and Antarctic Issues

Dorothée Herr Marine Programme Officer

David Freestone Executive Director, Sargasso Sea Alliancedfreestone[at]sargassoalliance.org

Kate Killerlain Morrison Assistant to the Executive Director, Sargasso Sea Alliancekmorrison[at]sargassoalliance.org

Laura CassianiUS fundraising lcassiani[at]indigobayus.com

USA Multilateral Office

Martha McConnell Polar Programme Coordinator

Unless another email address is provided, the format is: FirstName.LastName[at]iucn.org

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Magnus NgoileHigh Seas SeniorPolicy AdvisorDar-el-Salaam, Tanzaniamagnus.ngoile[at]asclme.org

Kristina GjerdeHigh Seas Policy AdvisorPoland kristina.gjerde[at]eip.com.pl

Anna Rulska-DominoHigh Seas AssistantPolandanna.rulska-domino[at]eip.com.pl

Advisors

Dan LaffoleyPrincipal Advisor, Marine Science and ConservationPeterborough, Englanddanlaffoley[at]btinternet.com

Jeremy JacksonSenior scientist, Coral ReefsWashington DC, USA jeremybcjackson[at]gmail.com

Andrew HootenMarine Ecologist and Principal of AJH Environmental ServicesWashington DC, USA ajh[at]environmentservices.com

Patricio Bernal GOBI Coordinator, High Seas BiodiversityParis, Francepatricio.bernal[at]gmail.com

Ameer Abdulla Senior Advisor, Marine Biodiversity and Conservation ScienceMalaga, Spainameer.abdulla@gmail.com

Francis Vorhies Senior Advisor, Economics Switzerland fvorhies[at]earthmind.net

Thomas Laughlin Arctic AdvisorWashington DC, USA

Claire NouvianOcean Ambassadorclairenouvian[at]bloomassociation.org

Pierre-Yves CousteauIUCN Goodwill AmbassadorParis, France

Patrons of Nature & AmbassadorsHRH Prince Carl Philip of Sweden Mattias Klum

IUCN Goodwill AmbassadorUpsala, Sweden

HRH Prince Albert II of Monaco

Sylvia EarleMission Blue San Francisco, USA

Christophe LefèbreOcean Councillor, IUCNchristophe.lefebvre[at]aires-marines.fr

Phil Weaver Senior Coordinator Southampton, United Kingdom ppew[at]noc.soton.ac.uk

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

WORLD HEADQUARTERSRue Mauverney 28 1196 Gland, Switzerland marine@iucn.org Tel +41 22 999 0217Fax +41 22 999 0025www.iucn.org/marine