Sylvia Earle: A wish big enough to change the world

IUCN’s Global Marine Programme and World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Marine are delighted to announce that they have been appointed by Dr. Sylvia Earle as technical advisors on her 2009 TED Prize wish - “to protect the blue heart of the planet.”

TED started out as an annual conference in which people from Technology, Entertainment and Design industries came together to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. Since its inception in 1984, the scope of TED has expanded to include global issues, science, business and the arts.

Each year, the TED Community uses its exceptional array of talent and resources to honor three extraordinary individuals with the TED Prize; previous winners include President Bill Clinton, Bono, E.O. Wilson, Dave Eggers and Larry Brilliant. No ordinary prize, not only does each winner receive $100,000 from TED, they are also granted “One Wish to Change the World.”
This year, the TED Prize went to the astronomer Jill Tarter, Maestro Jose Antonio Abreu and the illustrious oceanographer and deep-ocean explorer, Dr. Sylvia Earle.

"We've got to somehow stabilize our connection to nature so that in 50 years from now, 500 years, 5,000 years from now there will still be a wild system and respect for what it takes to sustain us," exclaimed an excited Earle during the TED ceremony earlier this year. "I wish you would use all means at your disposal -- films! expeditions! the web! more! -- to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet."

As we reach the mid-point of the year, Sylvia has a growing team of experts working to achieve her goal. Alongside Sylvia’s foundation, DeepSearch, IUCN and WCPA-Marine are working with other key partners to ensure the strategic development and implementation of Sylvia’s wish. IUCN member, National Geographic, is also playing a key role, as are the New York-based marketing experts Razorfish.

So far, the first exciting development is a TED expedition to be launched in Spring 2010. A select group of marine scientists, ocean explorers, musicians, artists and activists will embark on a journey to the Galapagos Islands for a TED Oceans – a conference aboard the eco-friendly Lindblad National Geographic Endeavor Ship. Streaming live for the first time and translated into many different languages, speakers will aim to bring global attention to Sylvia’s wish and discuss innovative and cutting edge approaches towards working together on ocean issues. TED Oceans is designed to be an unforgettable voyage that will: broaden public awareness of the many threats facing our oceans; inspire individuals to take action; celebrate leadership in ocean protection; and challenge world leaders to act decisively to ensure a rapid and substantial increase in both the number and extent of marine protected areas globally, as well as the resources available to ensure that they are managed effectively.

TED Oceans is just the first in a long line of exciting projects that will be revealed throughout the year so watch this space.

To help strengthen the goals of Sylvia’s TED Prize, you can help the TED Prize team get a better understanding of the public’s knowledge of the dangers facing the oceans today by completing this short survey. Help IUCN and WCPA - Marine make Sylvia Earle’s wish a reality!

IUCN welcomes reprieve for whales

IUCN is delighted that Sakhalin Energy followed the advice of an expert panel and stopped all seismic surveys affecting the Western Gray Whale.

The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel, set up by IUCN, recommended on Friday that all oil and gas companies working just off Sakhalin Island in eastern Russia stop any activity that might harm the whales.

“The fact that Sakhalin Energy decided to listen to the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel is excellent,” said Finn Larsen, of IUCN’s Global Marine Programme. “We are now calling on all other oil and gas companies operating in the same area to follow Sakhalin Energy’s lead and make the right decision for the sake of these magnificent creatures.”

There are only an estimated 120 Western Gray Whales left in the world, with 25 to 35 reproductive females. The whales come to feed in the waters off Sakhalin Island in summer and autumn, in preparation for the breeding season.

The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel said it is extremely concerned by observations in 2008 suggesting whale distribution and behaviour have changed.

It concluded that all activities planned for 2009, including Sakhalin Energy’s seismic survey, should be postponed until the Western Gray Whale population has been fully monitored and assessed.

It added that if the monitoring in 2009 reduces the uncertainty and concern over the Western Gray Whale population, the panel may be able to accept a seismic survey in 2010.

For more information about the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel, please visit: http://www.iucn.org/wgwap/

For media enquiries, please contact:

Sarah Horsley, IUCN Media Relations Officer, t +41 22 999 0127, m +41 79 528 3486, e sarah.horsley@iucn.org

Beauty and the High Seas: Luxury beauty brand teams up with IUCN

Chantecaille, a high-end holistic beauty brand, has teamed up with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to identify ten High Seas ecosystems that require protection from the effects of fishing, climate change and other human-caused impacts.

In support of IUCN’s Global Marine Program’s high seas initiatives and the efforts being made to increase the world’s quota of marine protected areas, Chantecaille has launched a special ‘La Baleine’ collection of cosmetics, from eyeshadows to lipsticks, of which five percent of all sales will be donated to IUCN.

To mark this collaboration, Chantecaille will be holding a special event alongside IUCN’s Global Marine Program at Neiman Marcus on May 16th 2009 where guests are invited to sample the delights of La Baleine and to learn more about the high seas and marine conservation from local marine experts.

The High Seas

The largest, least-protected places on our blue planet are found in the high seas – the open ocean and deep seabed that lie seaward of individual nations’ jurisdictions.

Extending from the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica to most of the Indian, Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, these areas cover 45% of the Earth’s surface. Hidden beneath the surface of the high seas are extraordinary places that are in urgent need of our protection. Belonging to no single nation, they have been, for too long, neglected by all.

The high seas are home to great whales, sea turtle, seabirds, tunas and sharks that traverse entire ocean basins in search of food. They house deep-dwelling fishes and invertebrate animals that live long, slow-motion lives in eternal darkness. High seas ecosystems include places where great water masses meet and species congregate, as well as vast muddy plains, coral-capped seamounts, and vents that shoot hot water into the frigid depths. These places give rise to many rich and precious life forms found nowhere else on the planet.

The high seas are truly hidden treasures of our blue earth. Their loses are our losses, as they threaten the ability of the oceans to sustain marine life and support human societies.

The ten high seas sites identified by scientists from all over the world illustrate just a few of the special places that require further conservation consideration.

Make-up that is ocean deep

Chantecaille’s Baleine collection (as recently featured in Vogue and the New York Times) uses a blue whale to symbolize the plight of the high seas. These mysterious and endangered species travel enormous distances, roaming the farthest reaches on their migratory routes, as they criss-cross the high seas. Along the way, they continually experience the threat of human impacts. Hundreds of whales die each year from entanglement in fishing nets. Sonar pollution and noise from container ships and undersea drilling and exploration disorient whales, hindering their communication and causing physical damage. Thousands of whales are hunted and killed each year in spite of the official moratorium on whaling.

The Chantecaille Baleine collection is available at Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Frédéric Fekkai Salons, Neiman Marcus, select Saks Fifth Avenue locations, Jeffrey New York, Space NK and online at http://www.eluxury.com/

For more information on the High Seas visit:
http://www.iucn.org/what/ecosystems/marine/

http://www.protectplanetocean.org/

Call for case studies on MPAs and their economic benefits

IUCN is preparing to launch a press release compiling marine protected areas (MPA) case studies highlighting their economic benefits. IUCN wants to draw attention to ‘What MPAs Are Good For’ and is looking for case studies which clearly show the link between environmental protection and economic gain. For example, case studies could highlight the relationship of MPAs on increased fish catch in adjacent areas, tourism income, or shoreline protection.

Your case studies will be included in a press release which will be circulated to the international press at the International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) and the 2nd International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC2) in May in Washington, DC.

Please email a short abstract to Carolin Wahnbaeck (carolin.wahnbaeck [at] iucn.org) by Friday, 24th April. Many thanks for your contributions.

Caitlyn Toropova announced as the new WCPA - Marine MPA Coordination Officer

Caitlyn Toropova has been announced as the WCPA - Marine MPA Coordination Officer based in Washington DC.

Caitlyn is based at IUCN and works between The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, The World Wide Fund for Nature and WCPA-Marine. Caitlyn started her professional life as a marine mammal biologist, working primarily in behavior and acoustics. After her master’s on grey whale behavior and residency patterns, Caitlyn worked in wildlife filmmaking and eventually founded a company that brought at-risk students into the marine environment to create in-water conservation projects.

Looking to broaden her professional reach she joined the Nature Conservancy as a scientist for the Global Marine Team in 2006. There she was tasked with coordinating work on marine ecosystem based management, ecosystem services and coral reef resilience and undertaking a global shellfish condition analysis.

Her current goals are to implement the Protect Planet Ocean Reviews, the MPA “commitment tracker”, raise the profile of MPAs to increase progress towards the 2012 marine protected areas goal, highlight successes and challenges of MPA network development and implementation at international events, and bring partners together to increase synergies and momentum for implementing marine protected areas globally.

Conservation plans for Chagos unveiled

An ambitious plan to preserve the pristine ocean habitat of the Chagos Islands by turning them into a huge marine reserve on the scale of the Great Barrier Reef or the Galapagos was unveiled at the Royal Society this evening.

The plan were launched in London by the Chagos Environment Network, which includes the Chagos Conservation Trust, the RSPB, the Zoological Society and the Pew Environmental Group, a powerful US charity which successfully lobbied the Bush administration for marine reserves in America.

The British Indian Ocean Territory consists, apart from Diego Garcia, of over 50 tiny coral islands (only 20 square kilometres in all). It is set in over half a million square kilometres of sea in the middle of the Indian Ocean and is administered directly by the UK Government. Only Diego Garcia is inhabited (by defence personnel). The remaining ‘Ilois’ or ‘Chagossians’ were removed when the base was set up in the 1970s; they now live mostly in Mauritius, Britain and the Seychelles.

The Chagos is the United Kingdom’s greatest area of marine biodiversity by far and is probably the most pristine tropical marine environment on Earth. It has the world’s largest coral atoll, its cleanest seas and healthiest coral reefs. The area is a crucial refuge, staging post and breeding ground for marine and bird life. The Chagos provides an extraordinary and rare opportunity to protect the natural environment.

The preliminary proposal outlined this evening is that the British Government, with the support of other organisations, should create a long-term conservation framework and a Chagos Archipelago Conservation Area in the British Indian Ocean Territory. Drawing on best practice in other sites, this would aim to: protect nature, including fish stocks (benefiting neighbouring countries); benefit science, and support action against damaging climate change; be compatible with security; and provide some good employment opportunities for Chagossians and others.

To read more visit the Chagos Conservation Trust clicking here

2009 Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation Announced

We are pleased to announce the 2009 Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation. These five individuals, representing Argentina, China, France and the United States, received this year’s Pew Marine Fellowship for their proposals to create marine protected areas in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, reduce illegal poaching of marine wildlife in China, create an international coalition to protect penguin populations and develop multi-media stories to promote conservation of the Antarctic’s Ross Sea.

The 2009 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation awardees are:

· Wen Bo is Pacific Environment’s Beijing-based China Program co-director. His project is designed to address poaching and illegal trade of endangered marine species in East Asia by strengthening community-based conservation efforts.

· Pablo Garcia Borboroglu, Ph.D., is a researcher at the National Research Council of Argentina. Borboroglu will establish the “International Penguin Society,” a coalition designed to strengthen protection through sustainable management of the full range of penguin habitats.

· Matthieu Le Corre, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the University of Réunion Island in Réunion, France. LeCorre will study seabird foraging patterns to identify oceanic hotspots of biodiversity for the design of high-seas marine protected areas in the Indian Ocean.

· Fiorenza Micheli, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford University. Micheli’s project will address management of existing and establishment of new marine protected areas in the Mediterranean through assessment of human threats to the marine ecosystems and their cumulative impacts on deep and shallow Mediterranean reefs.

· John Weller is a photographer and author whose work focuses on communicating the value of pristine places. Weller seeks to raise awareness of the Antarctic’s Ross Sea through the development of “Ocean Channels,” a web-based platform that integrates multi-media narratives with marine and ecosystem research.

The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation funds science and other projects that address critical challenges in the conservation of the sea. Each Fellow receives $150,000 to conduct a three-year conservation project. Since 1996, the Pew Fellowship Program in Marine Conservation has awarded 110 Fellowships to individuals from 29 countries.

Photographs and more information about each of the 2009 Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation are available at http://www.pewmarinefellows.org/2009/