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News

Celebrating success at 2nd Annual Progress Meeting

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During the first 2 weeks of August, Blue Communities held its second Annual Progress Meeting, which was jointly hosted by Plymouth Marine Laboratory and University of Plymouth.

The first two days were the progress meeting itself, when over 80 delegates from eight countries came together to hear about the headway made by the partners in SE Asia and across the 12 interdisciplinary research projects that make up Blue Communities. The visiting partners showcased the research that has been undertaken, stakeholder engagement activities in case study sites, capacity building accomplishments, additional grant successes and further collaborations with other related projects.

Following the presentations there were a range of interactive sessions on cross-cutting activities, such as publications, ethics, data management, communication strategies and the Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN). The objective of the plenary part of the meeting was to ensure integration, cohesion and effective interactions across projects, institutes and countries.

The group then took a field trip to North Devon where they were guided around the UK case study site, the UNESCO North Devon Biosphere Reserve. During this fascinating day the group learnt about the highly biodiverse ecosystem and management of Braunton Burrows, comprising shifting sand dunes, grass lands, dense scrub and ponds. Moving onto the Northam Burrows, an environmental management expert from the Biosphere Reserve explained about the complex governance of the area and balancing the needs of such a diverse range of different stakeholders.

Once back in Plymouth, the full agenda of training workshops began, including mentoring in: statistical analysis; Bayesian Belief Networks and conceptual modelling; scenario development and application; evidence synthesis; critical analysis of marine planning, and ecosystems services and values.

A participant of the Project 2 (Critical analysis of marine planning model applications) training workshop, led by the University of Exeter, fed back:

How easily the facilitators train participants in such a way that they are having fun and learning at the same time. The way you also encourage countries to collaborate among themselves and giving safe spaces for early career researchers is commendable.”

Dr Ana Queirós, Project 11 (Ecosystem-level policy and management options) lead and Senior Benthic Ecologist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory commented:

“The Project 11 workshops were a fantastic opportunity to co-develop climate-ready strategies for marine spatial planning with each of our case-study partner teams, and to really bring out their multi-disciplinary expertise.”

“A highlight for me was gaining a better understanding of the major differences in scale and context between regions, as well as what issues affect climate resilience and planning, what sectors are important, and how priorities line up. This is an excellent demonstrator of the global challenges affecting the creation of climate-ready marine management options, and it is a testament to the real-life applicability of the Blue Communities program, which is really at the leading edge in this regard.”

“The contributions of the Advisory Board, as well as from the Programme Director and other project leads, to the workshops were also very well received. The P11 Jupyter Notebook workshop was a success in terms of scientific and stakeholder engagement, with over 30 people attending and working on P11 modelling and GIS datasets simultaneously. Well done everyone!”

Following the launch of the Blue Communities ECRN website in June, the group had a day to explore opportunities, challenges and development needs for early career researchers alongside allocated mentors, including: how to develop a research proposal; how to manage a research project, and potential project ideas. On the same day the young Swedish climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, arrived in Plymouth before her voyage across the Atlantic. The ECRN invited Greta to join their dinner plans that evening, however, this was thwarted by her extremely tight schedule.

Towards the end of the week of workshops, the conference dinner was hosted at the Marine Biological Association, providing great food and a wonderful view of the British Firework Championships.

Overall, it has been a real privilege to welcome our partners from SE Asia to the UK, endeavouring to return the favour of the exemplary hospitality shown to the UK teams during their visits to the Case Study Partners, and show the visitors the delights of Devon and Cornwall, including the weekend excursions to the Eden Project, South Devon Chilli Farm and Mount Edgcumbe. The fortnight has been extremely busy with such a packed agenda but a tremendous amount of progress has been made and many lasting collaborations have been forged.

The next meet is planned for 2020 in Vietnam, which will have a focus on outputs and maximising the impact of Blue Communities research.

Source: blue-communities.org

News

First Annual Meeting GCRF BC

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Recently the Blue Communities team met in Palawan, Philippines for its first programme-wide progress meeting.  Over 60 scientists from the UK, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam enjoyed a packed agenda of project and case study site updates, interspersed with interactive sessions over the 3-day meeting.

The interactive sessions included a highly engaging stakeholder role-play activity, led by researchers from the University of Exeter, and a ‘guess the habitat from space’ game, led by researchers from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, which helped demonstrate the different resolution levels of satellite sensors. Other workshops included information gathering for ecosystem services at the case study sites, and stakeholder communication methods, both of which resulted in some intriguing and unexpected intelligence, such as using music to convey marine management messages to the local coastal communities.

Discussing ways to use satellite data for marine managementThere was a highly pertinent panel discussion on research ethics including: how to conduct research ethically and responsibly; the procedure for an ethics approval application, and what to do if unethical practices are witnessed. This fascinating exploration of the issues surrounding research ethics demonstrated a real interest and desire to discuss further. Consequently, more capacity building in research ethics for all researchers participating in the projects within the Blue Communities programme is being planned. Other training needs identified included evaluation of research outcomes and impact, stakeholder engagement and ‘training the trainer’ workshops.

This meeting also provided the opportunity for the Blue Communities Early Career Researchers (ECR) Network to hold its first meeting. The network has been created to support ECRs across Blue Communities and offered a peer-to-peer forum to exchange knowledge on career development, challenges, collaborations, training needs, mentoring and communication ideas.

Training workshops either side of the progress meeting were also held at the Western Philippines University, covering the topics of Earth observation, ecosystem services, evidence synthesis, climate modelling and developing future scenarios that form key elements of several of the sub-projects within the Blue Communities programme. These training sessions were very well received and there are plans for wider roll-out.

As the overall progress meeting drew to a close, discussion turned to where the next meeting will be held. It is hoped that this will be in the South West of the UK, offering the opportunity for Case Study partners to visit research institutes in the UK whilst returning the favour of the wonderful hosting by the Western Philippines University and University of Malaya partners for this very well-received meeting and the successful kick-off meeting in Kuala Lumpur last January.

Source: www.blue-communities.org

Projects

GCRF Blue Communities: Project 4 (Marine Renewable Energy)

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Project 4 case study site is located in Taka Bonerate Selayar Islands Biosphere Reserve, which was designated as a UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere site in 2015. The area is a mini archipelago of 130 islands in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia with 60 village-level marine protected areas, covering 52 coastal villages, a national marine park, 11 sub-districts, 57 coastal Villages and 74 non-coastal villages.

With a total of 17,504 islands, Indonesia itself is the largest archipelago in the world. Its coasts and seas stores enormous potential, not only from a diverse range of marine ecosystem services, but also from their significant renewable energy resources. Whilst the national electricity company (PLN) has a mandate to supply all of Indonesia’s communities with a reliable and consistent source of electricity, it has significant challenges in achieving 100% coverage, particularly in remote areas. Many of these areas are inhabited by small maritime communities who live nearby marine energy potential that can be utilised to meet their local demand for electricity supply, as well as to meet their energy requirements for aquaculture, water desalination, ice production, and refrigeration, which are essential for their sustainable livelihoods.

The Project aims to investigate the possibility of, and introduce where appropriate, marine renewable energy systems as part of an integrated solution to obtaining Taka Bonerate-Selayar Islands’ local community welfare whilst protecting the natural ecosystem and mitigating the challenges of climate change. For this, baseline information on energy supply and demand, natural resources governance, and local businesses and supply chain have been gathered this year, and throughout the next 3 years Project 4 team members will continue to engage in participatory planning and action research with local community members, decision makers, government officials, local businesses, and academic partners to produce:

  • Identification report on Taka Bonerate Selayar Islands Biosphere Reserve’s energy demand-supply profile
  • Joint paper publication on marine renewable energy resources potential in Taka Bonerate Selayar Islands Biosphere Reserve
  • Training modules on approach to renewable energy assessment in remote communities
  • Training modules on marine renewable energy systems conceptual design in remote communities
  • Strategic report on marine renewable energy systems for Taka Bonerate Selayar Islands Biosphere Reserve
  • Strategic report on skills development needs to establish local business case and supply chain in Taka Bonerate Selayar Islands Biosphere Reserve
  • Strategic report on marine spatial planning recommendations for Taka Bonerate Selayar Islands Biosphere Reserve
  • Policy brief for Local Government Departments and Indonesia’s relevant Ministries
  • Joint paper publications on relationships between sustainable energy and resources management in relation to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets

By Dr Leuserina Garniati, Centre for Sustainable Energy and Resources Management, Universitas Nasional

Source: www.blue-communities.org

Projects

GCRF Blue Communities: Project 2 Introduction

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Tropical marine and coastal ecosystems – coral reefs, mangroves, seagrasses – are vital for the livelihoods, food security and well-being of millions of people in Southeast Asia. However, many families are locked in poverty as the marine resources that they depend on dwindle due to destructive practices, overharvesting and the deterioration of ecosystems. Clearly the current way we manage tropical marine resources is not working. We therefore need new or improved approaches to – or innovations in – marine management.

In Project 2 of Blue Communities, we are analysing promising marine planning models in three UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserves in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam, and a large marine park in Malaysian Borneo. Using a newly designed Participatory Marine Governance Analysis toolkit, we are seeking to discover the ingredients of – and obstacles to – success so that we can find opportunities to improve management of these reserves and parks. And then share this learning across the reserves and parks, and more widely. By understanding this, we can reveal how the Blue Communities programme can add value to existing efforts and investments in marine management in the region.

Blue Communities researchers in each country invited key practitioners managing the reserves to be part of their project 2 team. The practitioners offer an insider’s perspective on the workings of the reserve and increase the chances that the findings of project 2 will be acted upon.

At an event in Kuala Lumpur, these practitioner and academic teams received training from UK researchers in participatory methods, which help those involved in implementing a new marine management approach to reflect on what has worked, what has not worked, and what could be done better in the future. Each team is now planning their research in their case study marine reserve.

The Western Philippines University (WPU) project 2 team began field activities in October 2018, studying the Environmental Critical Areas Network (ECAN) in the province of Palawan, an island in the west of the Philippines. Through the ECAN, the seas of Palawan are being designated as biologically important core zones, where human activity is prohibited, and multi-use zones, where limited small-scale fishing, mariculture, recreation and education and research activities are permitted. The team sought to learn from its implementation so far to support future zoning efforts.

A workshop was held with provincial level actors and a workshop in the municipality of Aborlan, which has been a frontrunner in implementing ECAN at the local level. Firstly, participants at each workshop conducted an innovation history analysis, whereby timelines of the establishment and implementation of ECAN were co-created by stakeholders, who then discussed what lessons could be learnt so far. Secondly, they mapped on flip chart paper the key people and organisations involved in or affected by ECAN, the important and challenging relationships between them, and created towers to represent how influential they perceived each actor to be on the successful implementation of ECAN. The team is currently analysing the results, but some previously unrecognised challenges were identified that are likely to have major implications for how ECAN is rolled out across marine areas of Palawan.

Fieldwork begins in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam over the next three months, with Project 2 research promising to make significant contributions to helping stakeholders in each case to understand issues with, and opportunities to improve, their current governance approaches. We hope for the teams to share what they have learnt from their cases with each other at the Blue Communities annual meeting in 2019.

By Dr Matt Fortnam, University of Exeter

Source: www.blue-communities.org