On this webpage, you will find a new series of webinar focussed on marine ecosystem restoration providing fresh perspectives on how we can benefit from better planning for a healthy marine environment.
GRID-Arendal and the Marine Ecosystem Service Partnership (MESP) will host a 5-part webinar series from MERCES (Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas), a Horizon 2020 project for Blue Growth funded by the European Commission and focused on the restoration of degraded marine habitats from the coast to the deep sea. The webinar series will be of interest to a wide variety of stakeholders from academia to businesses, economists and decision makers.
The following links take you to the webinars:
- FIFTH MERCES WEBINAR
There is potential to assist the recovery of impacted coral habitats through marine ecosystem restoration, but can it be achieved at a meaningful scale? This webinar addresses some of the methods that might be used.
The FIFTH MERCES WEBINAR "Moving to Industrial-Scale Coral Habitat Restoration" took place on Friday 6 March at 15.00h ECT.
There had two talks:
- Jesper Elzinga (Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors (Van Oord), the Netherlands) made a presentation on "The Recovery of Reefs Using Industrial Techniques for Slick Harvesting and Release (RECRUIT)"
- Joachim Garrabou (CSIC, Barcelona), Cristina Linares (University of Barcelona) and Marina Carreiro Silva (University of the Azores)presented on results from the MERCES project on "Lessons learned from coral restoration in shallow and deep environments"
Click here to follow the fifth MERCES webinar: Link (https://news.grida.no); YouTube(https://www.youtube.com)
For more information on the fifth MERCES webinar click here
- FOURTH MERCES WEBINAR
The fourth MERCES webinar "Building a Business Case for Marine Ecosystem Restoration", took place on 18 November 2019.
The webinar focused on issues relating to the valuation of three major ecosystem services relating to seagrass meadows, but which were also relevant to mangrove forests and salt marshes.
Prior to the webinar a large number of different organisations were contacted to publicise the two talks and to provide them with details of other MERCES project outputs. The webinar was introduced by DSES highlighting 1) the work of MERCES project and 2) the many MERCES deliverables on marine ecosystem restoration would become available in the coming months.
The webinar included two talks:
1) Dr. Per-Olav Moksnes, Department of Marine Sciences University of Gothenburg, Sweden on ‘Seagrass loss and restoration - implications for the value of carbon and nitrogen stocks’
2) Dr. Richard Unsworth, Seagrass Ecosystems Research Group, University of Swansea, Wales, on ‘The importance of restoring seagrass meadows for global fisheries production’
Click here to follow the fourth MERCES webinar: YouTube Link (https://www.youtube.com)
For more information on the fourth MERCES webinar click here
- THIRD MERCES WEBINAR
The third MERCES webinar "Ecosystem Restoration in Deeper Waters", took place on 27 June 2019.
The webinar focussed on issues relating to MERCES WP4. The webinar was hosted by GRID-Arendal using ZOOM. The webinar was sponsored by Equinor, Norway, which has interests in both offshore oil and gas operations and in deep-sea mining. Prior to the webinar a large number of different organisations were contacted to ask them to distribute information on the webinar, including the International Seabed Authority, the International Oil and Gas Producers organisation (through their environmental focal point), focal points for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the EurOceans network , the INDEEP network (the International network for scientific investigation of deep-sea ecosystems), MERCES partner contacts with Government officials in their home country and the MERCES Business Club members.
Click here to follow the third MERCES webinar:(https://news.grida.no); YouTube Link (https://www.youtube.com)
For more information on the third MERCES webinar click here
For written responses to the many questions asked during the webinar 3 click here
- SECOND MERCES WEBINAR
The second MERCES webinar "Private Finance in Marine Ecosystem Restoration", took place on 25 September 2018.
The webinar was hosted by GRID-Arendal and the Marine Ecosystems Services Partnership using ZOOM. The webinar started with a short introduction by David Billett to the MERCES project and the aims of the MERCES Business Club, including how the webinar series was intended to bring together businesses, policy makers, decision takers and scientists with an interest in marine ecosystem restoration.
Click here to follow the second MERCES webinar (http://www.grida.no). YouTube link (https://www.youtube.com)
For more information on the second MERCES webinar click here
For written responses to the many questions asked during the webinar 2 click here
- FIRST MERCES WEBINAR
The first MERCES webinar "Restoration of shallow, soft-bottom ecosystems", took place on 15th February 2018.
The first webinar focused on two important projects:
- Valuing Multiple Eelgrass Ecosystem Services in Sweden: Fish Production and Uptake of Carbon and Nitrogen
- Using 3D Computer graphics to convey restoration goals to decision makers and the general public
Click here to follow the First MERCES webinar: (https://news.grida.no).
For more information on the first MERCES webinar click here
