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Nereus member Matilda Petersson & Peter Stoett review articles published in the INEA journal to determine the lessons learnt in global biodiversity governance from 2000-2020. This work paints a picture of the main barriers to efficient biodiversity governance, and brings to light key issues to address in order to accelerate the process of protecting global biodiversity.

Alumnus Gabriel Reygondeau (UBC/Yale University) is a main contributor to a new High Level Panel (HLP) Blue Paper on critical habitats and biodiversity. You can read the full version and summary for decision makers here.

Congratulations to principal investigator Larry Crowder for receiving the International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS) Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with sea turtle conservation and biology.

April 4, 2020 | EcologyBiodiversity

Tyler Eddy is a co-author on a new study in Nature’s Scientific Reports that uses raw video footage of Rangitāhua (Kermadec Islands) filmed for the documentary “Our Big Blue Backyard” to learn more about the remote area’s rich shallow reef biodiversity.

March 14, 2020 | EcologyBiodiversityCoral

Harriet Harden-Davies co-authored an analysis of the current draft text of the UN treaty concerning the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The final round of treaty negotiations based on revised draft text are planned for March at the UN headquarters in New York City.

February 20, 2020 | Law and GovernanceBiodiversity

Alumnus Gabriel Reygondeau is part of a research team lead by the Monterey Bay Aquarium on a new open access publication in PLoS ONE, “Towards a global understanding of the drivers of marine and terrestrial biodiversity”. In it, they created the first comprehensive global map of biodiversity distribution using both marine and terrestrial species.

Nereus director (science) William Cheung (UBC) and Thomas Frölicher (University of Bern) are co-authors on the newly released Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) Summary for Policymakers (SPM). It was approved and presented at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on September 25, 2019.

Nereus research fellow Harriet Harden-Davies (University of Wollongong/ANCORS) is a co-author on a new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. In it, the authors discuss scientific best practices and accessibility to marine genetic resources (MGR), and how benefit sharing can be strengthened through a new Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement.

September 10, 2019 | Law and GovernanceBiodiversity

‘Predicting Future Oceans: Sustainability of Ocean and Human Systems Amidst Global Environmental Change’ is now available. It contains contributions from previous and current Nereus research fellows, associates and Principal Investigators, and covers a diverse span of ocean topics that include marine ecology, biodiversity, economics, fisheries management, seafood supply, climate change and many more.

A new report was just released from the workshop ‘From visions to scenarios for nature and nature’s contributions to people for the 21st century’, which was co-organized by Nereus Program, Peter Wall Institute, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’s (IPBES).

Nereus’s Tyler Eddy, William Cheung, Miranda Jones, Derek Tittensor, and Charles Stock are co-authors on a recent article that projects a 5% decline, on average, in global marine biomass for every 1 degree (C) of warming. They did this by combining several different types of models, rather than using a single-model approach.

Nereus research fellow Harriet Harden-Davies (Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong) recently published a short article in the special Oceans edition (Spring 2019) of The Geographer, entitled ‘Sharing benefits from genetic resources and sustaining the high seas’.

Nereus Fellow Zoë Kitchel (Rutgers University) writes about fellows Katy Seto, Julia Mason, Tiff-Annie Kenny, Becca Selden and Harriet Harden-Davies discussing critically important themes concerning equity and interdisciplinarity in relation to how the ocean is studied at the United Nations building, during an Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea.

Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy receives the prestigious 2019 Whitley Award from The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) for her work with traditional small-scale fishing communities throughout Madagascar. Vatosoa previously worked with Nereus Program co-directors Yoshitaka Ota (policy) and William Cheung (science), and program manager/research associate Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor as a Nippon Foundation DOALOS fellow at University of British Columbia in 2015.

Nereus Research Associate Colette Wabnitz (University of British Columbia) writes about attending the OceanVisions2019– Climate Summit, ‘Successes in resilience, adaptation, mitigation, and sustainability’ in Atlanta, Georgia on April 1-4th, 2019. She was co-chair of session VI – Integrated Modelling of Human and Climate Impacts on Ocean Systems. Fellow Becca Selden (Wellesley College) and Principal Investigator Malin Pinsky (Rutgers University) also attended.

Nereus Program Manager/Research Associate Vicky Lam (University of British Columbia) wrote a blog about using a modeling approach and scenario analysis to help project future biodiversity and ecological scenarios and identify approaches to achieve long-term ecological, economic and socially sustainable ways to utilize marine resources.

Nereus Fellow Gerald Singh (University of British Columbia) recently had an article accepted into the journal People and Nature, entitled ‘Climate impacts on the ocean are making the Sustainable Development Goals a moving target traveling away from us’. A description of what to expect can be found here.

Nereus’s Vicky Lam (University of British Columbia) recently co-authored an article in Regional Studies in Marine Science, entitled ‘Dealing with the effects of ocean acidification on coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and Asia’. They discuss the ecological and socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification (OA) and warming sea surface temperatures on shallow coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific, the region’s current adaptive capacity to OA, as well as potential solutions.

Nereus Research Associate Colette Wabnitz (UBC) and Fellow Tyler Eddy (University of South Carolina) attended the ‘Scenarios Forum 2019’ in Denver, CO on March 11-13, 2019. The forum hosted researchers from 41 countries across diverse disciplines who use climate change and sustainability scenarios and policy analysis to address current knowledge gaps.

Nereus researchers Robert Blasiak (Stockholm Resilience Center – SRC), Colette Wabnitz (University of British Columbia) and Henrik Österblom (SRC) recently published a paper, ‘Scientists Should Disclose Origin in Marine Gene Patents’ in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Here you can read a brief description of their work, as well as access the article in full.

March 5, 2019 | Biodiversity

Nereus alumnus Gabriel Reygondeau (University of British Columbia – UBC) was chosen to work for the Half Earth Project, and become a UBC-Yale Fellow for his work on global marine species distribution. At UBC and Yale, he will continue his research on “the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on global ocean biodiversity.”

Nereus fellow Robert Blasiak writes about the negotiations at the United Nations (UN) on conserving biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), and the timely appearance of marine genetic resources in the mainstream media.

September 24, 2018 | Law and GovernanceBiodiversity

Nereus fellows Robert Blasiak (Stockholm Resilience Center) and Harriet Harden-Davies (University of Wollongong) both appear in The New York Times article ‘What 13,000 Patents Involving the DNA of Sea Life Tell Us About the Future’. Both fellows attended the United Nations debate earlier in September, about the future global legal framework for genetic resources on the high seas, and were interviewed for the article.

September 18, 2018 | OceanographyBiodiversity

The negotiations on the fate of biodiversity in 46% of our planet, or the high seas, have begun. Since the aftermath of World War II, the distribution and intensity of anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) have been increasing almost continuously. After almost two decades of discussions about the need to better protect the high seas, the international community mobilized.

September 11, 2018 | Law and GovernanceBiodiversity

An international team of researchers has developed a comprehensive set of criteria to help the International Seabed Authority (ISA) protect local biodiversity from deep-sea mining activities. These guidelines should help identify areas of particular environmental importance where no mining should occur.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals are an admirable set of targets set out to achieve a better world–but how do they interact with each other? Are some more pivotal to the success of all? Possibly.

A story of marine genetic resources with an unusual set of characters: a fuzzy little five-inch worm, the doomed Roman city of Pompeii, the world’s largest chemical company, and a cosmetic skin cream.

As coastal and surface fisheries are depleted and fishers turn to the deep sea to fill their nets, scientists are developing innovative ways to locate and protect undiscovered deep-sea habitats.

June 22, 2018 | FisheriesBiodiversity

Many marine organisms have evolved unique and rare adaptations to allow them to survive in some of the most extreme and varied environments on earth. The genetic sequences responsible for these traits could have applications in anything from pharmaceuticals to biofuels.

Who controls the narrative on the environment? Nereus researchers have been delving deeper into work on coastal Indigenous fisheries and as they develop relationships with Indigenous community members around the world, some are starting to rethink many of the core concepts of ocean governance.

By Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, Nereus Program Fellow at Duke University

Due to their wide-ranging swimming behaviors, migratory fish, marine mammal, seabird and sea turtle species experience a variety, and an increasing amount, of anthropogenic pressures over the course of their lives. These threats, including climate change, overfishing, and marine pollution, combined with conservation strategies that largely fail to consider spatial connectivity over the life cycle, are resulting in declining populations worldwide.

September 27, 2017 | EcologyBiodiversity

The mesopelagic zone of the ocean, which includes the 200 to 1000 m below the ocean surface, is poorly understood. Our limited scope of understanding for these areas may become increasingly problematic, as they may be vulnerable to global issues such as climate warming, deoxygenation, acidification, commercial fishing, and seabed mining.

August 15, 2017 | EcologyBiodiversity

The high seas — also called international waters — comprise 64% of the world’s oceans and 45% of the earth’s surface. They are shared by the world but governed by no one country. That means that the incredible biodiversity of the high seas, from seaweeds to fish to sharks, is not currently protected.

August 4, 2017 | Biodiversity

Due to the expansion of fishing practices, fish catches have become stagnant at best while global fishing efforts continue to grow, ultimately creating major stresses on marine resources. Fisheries impacts on both coastal and deep-sea ecosystems are well understood and documented; however, the biological and ecological impacts of fishing on open-ocean systems are not well studied or documented.

June 21, 2017 | EcologyBiodiversity

In his newly published chapter “Wilderness protection in Estonia“, Richard Caddell, Nereus Fellow at Utrecht University, uses Estonia as a case study for European wilderness management.

October 26, 2016 | EcologyBiodiversity

Nereus Fellow at Duke University Daniel Dunn attended the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) Global Dialogue with Regional Seas Organizations and Regional Fisheries Bodies on Accelerating Progress Towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which took place September 26-29th, 2016 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

September 30, 2016 | Biodiversity

‘Aliens’, ‘jelly-balls’, ‘globs’, ‘buckets of snot’, and ‘sea-walnuts’. These are the names media have used to describe salps, as mentioned by Nereus Fellow Natasha Henschke, Princeton University, in her recently published paper “Rethinking the Roles of Salps in the Ocean”.

This year, the Nereus Program will hold a seminar series with UBC’s Green College on “Adapting to global changes in oceans and fisheries.” This series will consist of seven lectures looking at how ocean changes are affecting environments and people.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released their Methodological Assessment of Scenarios & Models of Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, for which Nereus Director of Science William Cheung was a coordinating lead author, as well as a contributing author for Chapter 5.

The Second Session of the Preparatory Committee related to Marine Biological Diversity Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction took place from August 26th to September 9th at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, United States.

September 16, 2016 | Law and GovernanceBiodiversity

The International Union for Conservation of Nature‘s World Conservation Congress took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, from September 1 to 5.

September 16, 2016 | IndigenousBiodiversity

Nereus Director of Science William Cheung was a plenary speaker at the ‘International Conference on Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Support of Decision-Making.’

September 14, 2016 | EcologyBiodiversity

Open data is critically important for effective conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). Open data enables effective and efficient environmental impact assessments, area-based management, sharing of non-monetary benefits of marine genetic resources and achieving marine technology transfer.

Biomass is the mass of organisms in an ecosystem or community; it is thought of in terms of energy for the next trophic level – the higher chain in the food web. For example, the biomass of plankton, which may be eaten by herring, which may be eaten by tuna.

August 24, 2016 | EcologyBiodiversity

This blog explores the collaborative process I followed as a Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program consulting artist. I was commissioned to create 17 illustrations celebrating the beauty and complexity of our planet’s oceans and fisheries.

August 22, 2016 | EcologyBiodiversity

The International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) took place from July 30th to August 3rd in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. The congress brings together marine conservation professionals and students in order to “develop new and powerful tools to further marine conservation science and policy”.

alps, a type of gelatinous zooplankton, are often confused with jellyfish and while jellyfish research has increased drastically, salps have been ignored. The authors write that there “has been no comprehensive study on the biology or ecological impact of salps in almost 20 years”. This paper looks at four misconceptions about salps, including that salps are jellyfish, salps are rare, salps are trophic dead ends, and salps have a minor role in biogeochemical cycles.

“I wanted to look at contemporary species distributions, arguing that we have so little data and know so little about the distribution of a lot of species that the logical first step is to look at the contemporary distribution,” says Laurens Geffert, Nereus Fellow at Cambridge/UNEP-WCMC.

June 22, 2016 | Biodiversity

Nereus Fellow at Princeton University Natasha Henschke attended the 5th International Jellyfish Bloom Symposium from May 30 to June 3 in Barcelona, Spain.

June 21, 2016 | Biodiversity

The Nereus Program was created to look at ocean questions that need input from experts on a range of topics from around the world. This past May 30 to June 3, nearly 50 of these experts gathered at the University of British Columbia for the Nereus Program Annual General Meeting.

In our current eco-friendly world, where climate change makes front-page news and the killing of a lion launches thousands of Facebook posts, how can a porpoise be nearing extinction and most of the world not even know of its existence?

Nereus Fellow Daniel Dunn (Duke) attended the Convention on Biological Diversity’s twentieth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice on April 30th in Montreal.

May 25, 2016 | Biodiversity

Nereus Fellow Phil Underwood (Cambridge/UNEP-WCMC) gave a presentation at the Friends of Madingley Symposium on May 6th at the David Attenborough Building at the University of Cambridge, which aimed to bring together the community of researchers working on the Madingley Model and to discuss the latest advancements.

May 20, 2016 | Biodiversity

Nereus Senior Research Fellow Daniel Dunn (Duke University) attended the workshop “A Conservation Agenda for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction” hosted by the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy, and Natural Resource Governance at the University of Cambridge from May 10 to 11.

May 19, 2016 | Biodiversity

Floating marine species and objects can drift from one area in the surface ocean to any other spot across the globe in less than a decade, finds a new study published in Nature Communications by Nereus Program alumnus James Watson, currently a research scientist at Stockholm Resilience Centre.

“Seasonal phytoplankton blooms in the North Atlantic linked to the overwintering strategies of copepods,” co-authored by Nereus Fellow Rebecca Asch (Princeton University), was recently published in Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.

Richard Caddell, Nereus Fellow at Utrecht, has contributed a chapter entitled “‘Only connect’? Regime interaction and global biodiversity conservation” to the Research Handbook on Biodiversity and Law, to be published June 2016.

Nereus Director (Science) William Cheung was invited as a “resource person” at the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Methodological Assessment of Scenarios and Modelling of Biodiversity and Ecosystem services, in De Bilt, The Netherlands, from January 25 to 27.

February 3, 2016 | Biodiversity

Nereus research reported on in the Washington Post, the Vancouver Sun, CTV News, Global News, NPR, Hakai magazine, The Tyee, Times Colonist and Vancouver Observer.

Climate change could affect temperatures all over the world, but what may not be immediately apparent is that climate change will affect ocean temperatures.

From November 20 to December 11, leaders from more than 195 countries will meet in Paris to discuss the future of the planet. But will oceans be on the agenda?

Water spills from the edge of a giant, melting iceberg on the cover of the November 2015 issue of Science. The special issue focused on the effects of climate change on our ocean systems, and highlighted research by Dr. William Cheung, an Associate Professor with the Changing Ocean Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, and Director (Science) of the Nereus Program.

“Boom or Bust: The Future of Fish in the South China Sea” has been published by William Cheung, Director of the Nereus Program (Science), and Rashid Sumaila, Research Director of the OceanCanada Partnership (UBC), for the OceanAsia project.

In A Sand County Almanac, the landmark book on wilderness, ecology, and conservation, we are offered a short anecdote regarding a changing environment:

“I had a bird dog named Gus. When Gus couldn’t find pheasants he worked up an enthusiasm for Sora rails and meadowlarks. This whipped-up zeal for unsatisfactory substitutes masked his failure to find the real thing. It assuaged his inner frustration.” – Aldo Leopold (1949).

William Cheung, Director of the Nereus Program (Science), and Gabriel Reygondeau, Nereus Fellow (UBC), are co-authors of a chapter on The Southern Ocean, published in the Ocean and Climate Platform’s Scientific Notes.