Addressing Challenges of Coastal Communities through Ocean Research for Developing Economies (ACCORD).
Lead Research Organisation:
National Oceanography Centre
Department Name: Science and Technology
Abstract
Addressing Challenges of Coastal Communities through Ocean Research for Developing Economies (ACCORD).
The coastal and marine environments of South East Asia and the Western Indian Ocean (the regional foci of ACCORD) are rich and diverse, possessing high levels of biodiversity and productivity. These regions also have hydrate-bearing seafloor sediments and seafloor mineral resources. Coastal ecosystems and the services they provide are under threat from growth in human activities, including the demands of increasing population size (globally, 2 billion people live within 100km of the coast) and global markets, the desire for economic growth, and the less direct impact of global climate change. This affects both the resilience of living resources to pressures and the ecosystem services we derive from them. Many coastal communities depend on nearby coastal and marine resources for their livelihoods and welfare yet lack alternatives when these services deteriorate due to over-exploitation or adverse effects of climate change. A the same time coastal developing nations are looking to the ocean to provide opportunities for sustainable economic growth through resource exploitation (e.g. mineral extraction) and livelihood diversification (e.g. tourism, aquaculture, and blue carbon initiatives) and to support food security (e.g. fisheries and aquaculture). For developing coastal nations the ocean is also an opportunity for diversification of their economies through the production of clean, renewable and unconventional energy and resource exploitation, yet these opportunities need to be balanced carefully against the need to protect habitats and preserve the total value of national resources. The concept of Blue Economy integrates ocean-based economic activities with conservation and sustainable use through effective marine planning.
We identify two overarching development challenges: a) Sustainable growth of, and resilience to change for, the blue economies of partner countries and b) Resilience to natural hazards including impact-based, climate-proof coastal flood warning systems.
Our aim is to deliver high quality science outcomes required to improve the environmental information available to support these challenges in coastal states on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Aid (ODA) recipients. Identifying and protecting critical habitats from overexploitation, and degradation is the cornerstone of the integrated ocean management required for sustainable blue economies. ACCORD will achieve this firstly by understanding the mechanisms and processes that determine the potential sensitivity or resilience of marine ecosystems to both globally and locally induced environmental change. Secondly, we will use this understanding to determine the environmental and societal consequences of ecosystem change to inform risk assessment, adaptive spatial management and mitigation strategies. Our approach will provide partner countries with an improved capability for integrated and sustainable management of marine activities. This capability will help partner countries to build a resilient marine and coastal socio-ecological system, and support their growing Blue Economies.
The coastal and marine environments of South East Asia and the Western Indian Ocean (the regional foci of ACCORD) are rich and diverse, possessing high levels of biodiversity and productivity. These regions also have hydrate-bearing seafloor sediments and seafloor mineral resources. Coastal ecosystems and the services they provide are under threat from growth in human activities, including the demands of increasing population size (globally, 2 billion people live within 100km of the coast) and global markets, the desire for economic growth, and the less direct impact of global climate change. This affects both the resilience of living resources to pressures and the ecosystem services we derive from them. Many coastal communities depend on nearby coastal and marine resources for their livelihoods and welfare yet lack alternatives when these services deteriorate due to over-exploitation or adverse effects of climate change. A the same time coastal developing nations are looking to the ocean to provide opportunities for sustainable economic growth through resource exploitation (e.g. mineral extraction) and livelihood diversification (e.g. tourism, aquaculture, and blue carbon initiatives) and to support food security (e.g. fisheries and aquaculture). For developing coastal nations the ocean is also an opportunity for diversification of their economies through the production of clean, renewable and unconventional energy and resource exploitation, yet these opportunities need to be balanced carefully against the need to protect habitats and preserve the total value of national resources. The concept of Blue Economy integrates ocean-based economic activities with conservation and sustainable use through effective marine planning.
We identify two overarching development challenges: a) Sustainable growth of, and resilience to change for, the blue economies of partner countries and b) Resilience to natural hazards including impact-based, climate-proof coastal flood warning systems.
Our aim is to deliver high quality science outcomes required to improve the environmental information available to support these challenges in coastal states on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Aid (ODA) recipients. Identifying and protecting critical habitats from overexploitation, and degradation is the cornerstone of the integrated ocean management required for sustainable blue economies. ACCORD will achieve this firstly by understanding the mechanisms and processes that determine the potential sensitivity or resilience of marine ecosystems to both globally and locally induced environmental change. Secondly, we will use this understanding to determine the environmental and societal consequences of ecosystem change to inform risk assessment, adaptive spatial management and mitigation strategies. Our approach will provide partner countries with an improved capability for integrated and sustainable management of marine activities. This capability will help partner countries to build a resilient marine and coastal socio-ecological system, and support their growing Blue Economies.
Planned Impact
The primary beneficiaries of our research will be the coastal states on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Aid (ODA) recipients in our two study regions. For the western Indian Ocean region these are Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa and Tanzania; for SE Asia we will be collaborating with Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The primary beneficiaries are policy makers, resource managers and coastal managers tasked with delivering sustainable management of marine living resources and climate adaptation options (including protection from natural hazards). The benefits are an increased knowledge base and local capability to deliver up-to-date relevant environmental and socio-economic information to deliver evidence-based development plans and adaptation planning.
ACCORD will work in partnership with all identified states (focused by our stakeholder consultations and strategic analyses) to develop resilience to natural hazards and the growth of Blue Economies via supporting decision-makers in identifying ways to adapt to the next century of environmental and climatic stressors. The evidence and tools provided by the research will allow decision makers to better include the needs and values of some of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in future cost-benefit analyses to guide the decision-making process.
Our research will inform and influence policy and management, strategy and technology advances for coastal economies through the following objectives:
(i) to enhance the available environmental information by improving the observations, numerical models and other predictive tools available to determine how ecosystem services are affected by climate change in relation to other endogenic stressors;
(ii) to combine the improved physical and socio-economic data to provide decision support for policy development, planning, coastal zone management and resilience to natural hazards on a range of spatial and temporal scales and hence
(iii) to deliver evidence on the value to local communities of services from key coastal ecosystems in SE Asia and the western Indian Ocean;
Through these case studies we will deliver specific development outcomes at the national scale through government agencies. For example, our sea level work will directly support the development of impact-based, climate-proof coastal flood hazard warning systems in all our partner countries. We will pave the way for the in-state development of fit-for-purpose operational warning systems which allow partner countries to deliver reduced disaster risk measurable under the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
The evidence and tools provided by the research will allow decision makers to better protect sustainable growth and deliver resilience to natural hazards and will include the needs and values of some of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in these countries. The work will also leave a legacy of collaborative links and improved capability and capacity for all our partners.
ACCORD will work in partnership with all identified states (focused by our stakeholder consultations and strategic analyses) to develop resilience to natural hazards and the growth of Blue Economies via supporting decision-makers in identifying ways to adapt to the next century of environmental and climatic stressors. The evidence and tools provided by the research will allow decision makers to better include the needs and values of some of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in future cost-benefit analyses to guide the decision-making process.
Our research will inform and influence policy and management, strategy and technology advances for coastal economies through the following objectives:
(i) to enhance the available environmental information by improving the observations, numerical models and other predictive tools available to determine how ecosystem services are affected by climate change in relation to other endogenic stressors;
(ii) to combine the improved physical and socio-economic data to provide decision support for policy development, planning, coastal zone management and resilience to natural hazards on a range of spatial and temporal scales and hence
(iii) to deliver evidence on the value to local communities of services from key coastal ecosystems in SE Asia and the western Indian Ocean;
Through these case studies we will deliver specific development outcomes at the national scale through government agencies. For example, our sea level work will directly support the development of impact-based, climate-proof coastal flood hazard warning systems in all our partner countries. We will pave the way for the in-state development of fit-for-purpose operational warning systems which allow partner countries to deliver reduced disaster risk measurable under the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
The evidence and tools provided by the research will allow decision makers to better protect sustainable growth and deliver resilience to natural hazards and will include the needs and values of some of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in these countries. The work will also leave a legacy of collaborative links and improved capability and capacity for all our partners.
Organisations
- National Oceanography Centre (Lead Research Organisation)
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Collaboration)
- University of Malaya (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW (Collaboration)
- Government of Indonesia (Collaboration)
- University of Malaysia (Collaboration)
- University of Da Nang (Collaboration)
- Malaysian High Commission (Collaboration)
- Government of Cambodia (Collaboration)
- Marine Conservation Cambodia (Collaboration)
- East West University (Collaboration)
- University of Malaysia, Terengganu (Collaboration)
Publications
Bayhaqi A
(2019)
The Variability of Indonesian Throughflow in Sumba Strait and Its Linkage to the Climate Events
in American Journal of Applied Sciences
Josso P
(2019)
Improving confidence in ferromanganese crust age models: A composite geochemical approach
in Chemical Geology
Murnane R
(2019)
Data schemas for multiple hazards, exposure and vulnerability
in Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal
De La Fuente M
(2020)
Consolidation of gas hydrate-bearing sediments with hydrate dissociation
in E3S Web of Conferences
Petersen S
(2018)
Modern Seafloor Hydrothermal Systems: New Perspectives on Ancient Ore-Forming Processes
in Elements
Lusty P
(2018)
Deep-Ocean Mineral Deposits: Metal Resources and Windows into Earth Processes
in Elements
De La Fuente M
(2019)
Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupled Modeling of Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments: Formulation and Application
in Energies
Bruneau N
(2020)
Estimation of global coastal sea level extremes using neural networks
in Environmental Research Letters
Bricheno L
(2021)
Saline intrusion in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna megadelta
in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
Hattam C
(2020)
Using nexus thinking to identify opportunities for mangrove management in the Klang Islands, Malaysia
in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
| Title | NetComFish film |
| Description | A four minute film has been created by the NetComFish team to highlight the importance of the mangroves in the Klang Islands, the threats that they face and how local communities and businesses can be part of the solution for mangroves in the area. The general public are the target audience for this film. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | We have only just completed the film and have yet to start sharing it widely. We will use it in our follow-on project NexAMS as an engagement tool. |
| Description | Tim Le Bas & James Strong presented some of the first results of the March 2018 ACCORD fieldwork in Malaysia at the Commonwealth Marine Science event held at NOC on 9 April 2018, demonstrating the capacity of NOC and the ACCORD programme to have a real impact through scientific collaborations in Commonwealth countries. Their work shows that acoustic techniques developed by NOC can be used in Malaysian MPAs with suitable training. This has significant implications for future management of MPAs in developing countries. Tools for the development of sectorally balanced economic development in Vietnam (Da Nang Bay) have been developed and will be applied in a planning demonstrator process during 2020. Our work in Bangladesh has led to new proposals and new observational strategies for delta management by the Bangladesh government. The model scripts we have created have driven other projects (see 'other funding') and proven the value of fast application regional models Modelling tools developed under ACCORD have been used to address critical gaps in knowledge of ecological connectivity between the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) and the coastal zones of least developed countries. The results were used as evidence in the UNCLOS negotiation process. The information has been published in both peer-reviewed literature and policy documents. See: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X19300764 and associated Policy Brief: https://pubs.iied.org/17500IIED/ A workplan for the Danang case study and been agreed with the goal of providing the scientific evidence and understanding required to characterise the biogeochemical functioning of Da Nang Bay. This involves a combination of ecosystem mapping, biogeochemical and physical characterisation, and the development and maintenance of an effective environmental monitoring program. It will also incorporate ecosystem modelling and valuation, training and education for local stakeholders and scientists, stakeholder engagement, and practical assistance. Ongoing constructive negotiations with the DONRE to agree and MOU to support this. This has now been passed to the Peoples Committee for approval. Work in Malaysia has been jointly designed around using marine habitat mapping techniques for investigating the distribution of coral disease across a reef. These activities strengthened the collaboration with Malaysian partners who will ultimately produce national guidance documents on coral reef mapping in protected areas and on the management of marine habitat mapping data, supporting the national management of marine resources. |
| Exploitation Route | The same approach applies in all countries developing MPAs. The ACCORD project has shown the value of 'deep' international cooperation where the objectives are co-designed and co-mananged with overseas partners. Long term relationships are essential for effective capcity building |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Creative Economy,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | We have engaged with overseas collaborators and have scoped out the case studies for the remainder of the ACCORD project. Importantly, we have identified the targets for social and economic impact A number of key reports have emerged that assist Capacity Building in the various Case Studies that form a key part of the project 1. "Recommended Operational Guidelines for marine habitat mapping of Malaysian protected sites": document compiled by James Strong and provided to Malaysian partners for use in their habitat mapping programme 2. Data management guidance documents developed by James Strong, Tim Le bas and Claire Postlewhaite, and provided to Malaysian partners to support their habitat mapping programme Case Studies have been developed with our collaborators in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa and Malaysia. We are capacity building in all locations around a broad range of skills including: marine modelling, marine spatial planning, habitat mapping, coastal flood forecasting and marine minerals Kenyan and Tanzanian case studies from ACCORD feature in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Ocean Science in Action: Addressing Marine Ecosystems and Food Security in the Western Indian Ocean". This innovative approach to communicating scientific results for capacity development and policy uptake during COVID-19 has seen 1,660 learners enrolled from 100 countries (38% from Africa) with significant contributions to the material from African partners. African early career scientists form part of the online mentoring team to back up 30 video lectures on the use of marine technology to support food security and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Science excellence from the programme is accelerating. Key publications during this period demonstrate co-ownership of the research outputs, an increased capacity for our overseas collaborators, and equitable authorships. A study on the management of pelagic fisheries in the Pemba Channel (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569120302325 ) was led by one of our overseas partners with 17 other authors from developing countries; a paper identifying the role of monsoonal wind variability in food security for Tanzania included four of our overseas partners (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70275-9 ); and a new paper in Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science draws on transdisciplinary perspectives to highlight the importance of nexus thinking for improved mangrove management in Malaysia. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771419311990 ) |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Citation in FAO report "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA)" (citing Popova et al., 2019) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The research publication Popova et al., 2019 has been highlighted in the FAO report The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) with respect to the importance of the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction to teh coastal coastal communities especially in the least developed countries. Areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) cover 40 percent of the surface of the planet, or 62 percent of the total ocean surface area. Their living resources have long been utilized, whereas, in recent years, their non-living marine resources have become increasingly utilized. The ABNJ do not belong to any single State; instead, under UNCLOS, they are managed through a suite of agreements and global and regional bodies, each with its own mandate and priorities. All nations with a "real interest" in the ABNJ share responsibility for the proper management and conservation of ABNJ resources and biodiversity. Despite the vast geographical extension of the ABNJ, the current understanding of their role, influence and importance to coastal waters is limited. There is increasing evidence that ABNJ and coastal waters are closely connected, and that activities in ABNJ can influence coastal zones (Popova et al., 2019). |
| URL | http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca9229en |
| Description | Citation in agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | United Nations member states are negotiating a new International Legally Binding Instrument on the conservation and sustainable management of marine biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). These waters do not exist in isolation: marine ecosystems are interconnected by ocean currents and the movement of migratory species. What happens in ABNJ can therefore cause impacts in territorial waters. Many Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) depend heavily on marine resources, but the benefits from conservation and management measures in ABNJ will not be evenly distributed. By highlighting which regions of ABNJ are most connected to coastal LDCs and other developing coastal states via ocean currents, the project helped the parties ensure that area-based management regimes in ABNJ protect these countries' interests and rights. We have run a side event at the UNCLOS negotiations in March 2019, based on the project publication (Popova et al., 2019) and the policy briefs (as listed in research fish with the key word ABNJ) The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. |
| URL | https://www.un.org/bbnj/sites/www.un.org.bbnj/files/draft_text_a.conf_.232.2019.6_advanced_unedited_... |
| Description | Comoros: Connectivity between Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the coastal zones (Country Profile) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | UN member states negotiating a legally binding instrument governing ABNJ must include provisions to ensure that all future management regimes are informed by their potential impacts on territorial waters - particularly in Least Developed Countries. Vigorous and seasonally reversing circulation of the WIO make East African coastal countries highly vulnerable to negative impacts of the fishing and extraction activities in the ABNJ The coastline of the Comoros is well connected to ABNJ indicating enhanced socio-economic vulnerability to the activities in the ABNJ. The project provided a detailed policy brief describing vulnerability of the coastal zone of Comoros to the activities in ABNJ and advocated explicit inclusion of the downstream connectivity to the treaty. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. The advice aims to ensure that: The criteria for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other area-based management tools in ABNJ must include the potential socioeconomic benefits for vulnerable coastal communities, as well as the ecological or biological significance of the area in question. Governments must ensure that management systems in ABNJ are adaptive and dynamic, and share the technology, data capacity and investment needed to rapidly respond to shifts in species distribution or ocean circulation caused by climate change. Uncertainty around future climate change and impacts on connectivity necessitate a precautionary approach to ABNJ governance. |
| URL | https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/policy-briefs |
| Description | Kenya: Connectivity between Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the coastal zones (Country Profile) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | UN member states negotiating a legally binding instrument governing ABNJ must include provisions to ensure that all future management regimes are informed by their potential impacts on territorial waters - particularly in Least Developed Countries. Vigorous and seasonally reversing circulation of the WIO make East African coastal countries highly vulnerable to negative impacts of the fishing and extraction activities in the ABNJ The coastline of Kenya is one of most ABNJ-connected coastlines in the world indicating enhanced socio-economic vulnerability to the activities in the ABNJ. The project provided a detailed policy brief describing vulnerability of the coastal zone of Kenya to the activities in ABNJ and advocated explicit inclusion of the downstream connectivity to the treaty. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. The advice aims to ensure that: The criteria for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other area-based management tools in ABNJ must include the potential socioeconomic benefits for vulnerable coastal communities, as well as the ecological or biological significance of the area in question. Governments must ensure that management systems in ABNJ are adaptive and dynamic, and share the technology, data capacity and investment needed to rapidly respond to shifts in species distribution or ocean circulation caused by climate change. Uncertainty around future climate change and impacts on connectivity necessitate a precautionary approach to ABNJ governance. |
| URL | https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/policy-briefs |
| Description | Madagascar: Connectivity between Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the coastal zones (Country Profile) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | UN member states negotiating a legally binding instrument governing ABNJ must include provisions to ensure that all future management regimes are informed by their potential impacts on territorial waters - particularly in Least Developed Countries. Vigorous and seasonally reversing circulation of the WIO make East African coastal countries highly vulnerable to negative impacts of the fishing and extraction activities in the ABNJ The coastline of Madagascar is one of most ABNJ-connected coastlines in the world indicating enhanced socio-economic vulnerability to the activities in the ABNJ. The project provided a detailed policy brief describing vulnerability of the coastal zone of Madagascar to the activities in ABNJ and advocated explicit inclusion of the downstream connectivity to the treaty. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. The advice aims to ensure that: The criteria for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other area-based management tools in ABNJ must include the potential socioeconomic benefits for vulnerable coastal communities, as well as the ecological or biological significance of the area in question. Governments must ensure that management systems in ABNJ are adaptive and dynamic, and share the technology, data capacity and investment needed to rapidly respond to shifts in species distribution or ocean circulation caused by climate change. Uncertainty around future climate change and impacts on connectivity necessitate a precautionary approach to ABNJ governance. |
| URL | https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/policy-briefs |
| Description | Massive Online Open Course "Ocean Science In Action: Addressing Marine Ecosystems and Food Security" |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | In 2020, the SOLSTICE-WIO project launched its first MOOC - Ocean Science in Action: Addressing Marine Ecosystems and Food Security that introduces learners to innovative marine technologies and their applications used to tackle the challenges of the sustainable management of marine ecosystems. This four-week course features over 30 video lectures, including footage of fieldwork, numerical ocean model animations, and visualisations of the Remote Sensing data and unique footage of local coastal communities and fisheries. It covers wider issues such as impact of climate change, SDGs, Oceans Decade 2030. The MOOC was created as a course for continuous professional development to people working within marine-related industries, such as fisheries, and government and management of marine resources in the Western Indian Ocean. The MOOC has attracted more than 2000 participants from 110 countries. Material presented in MOOC includes scientific results from many national and international projects (in addition to SOLSTICE which presented the bulk of the material), including GULLS, SIRENA, UKESM, ACCORD. |
| URL | https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ocean-science-in-action-addressing-marine-ecosystems-and-food-se... |
| Description | Mozambique: Connectivity between Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the coastal zones (Country Profile) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | UN member states are negotiating a legally binding instrument governing ABNJ must include provisions to ensure that all future management regimes are informed by their potential impacts on territorial waters - particularly in Least Developed Countries. Vigorous and seasonally reversing circulation of the WIO make East African coastal countries highly vulnerable to negative impacts of the fishing and extraction activities in the ABNJ The coastline of Mozambique is one of most ABNJ-connected coastlines in the world indicating enhanced socio-economic vulnerability to the activities in the ABNJ. The project provided a detailed policy brief describing vulnerability of the coastal zone of Mozambique to the activities in ABNJ and advocated explicit inclusion of the downstream connectivity to the treaty. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. The advice aims to ensure that: The criteria for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other area-based management tools in ABNJ must include the potential socioeconomic benefits for vulnerable coastal communities, as well as the ecological or biological significance of the area in question. Governments must ensure that management systems in ABNJ are adaptive and dynamic, and share the technology, data capacity and investment needed to rapidly respond to shifts in species distribution or ocean circulation caused by climate change. Uncertainty around future climate change and impacts on connectivity necessitate a precautionary approach to ABNJ governance. |
| URL | https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/policy-briefs |
| Description | Side event at the United Nations Law of The Sea negotiations: So far yet so close: Why the High Seas matter to vulnerable coastal communities |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The project has provided a review of evince for the connectivity between the ABNJ and vulnerable coastal communities around the world (Popova et al., 2019) and produced a number of policy briefs aiming at negotiators of the UNCLOS ABNJ treaty. Using this material, we run a side event during the ABNJ negotiations at UN in New York in March 2019 entitled "So far yet so close: Why the High Seas matter to vulnerable coastal communities". Around 60 negotiators and participants were present. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. |
| URL | https://www.un.org/bbnj/sites/www.un.org.bbnj/files/draft_text_a.conf_.232.2019.6_advanced_unedited_... |
| Description | So far, yet so close: ecological connectivity between ABNJ and territorial waters |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://pubs.iied.org/17500IIED/ |
| Description | Somalia: Connectivity between Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the coastal zones (Country Profile) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | UN member states negotiating a legally binding instrument governing ABNJ must include provisions to ensure that all future management regimes are informed by their potential impacts on territorial waters - particularly in Least Developed Countries. Vigorous and seasonally reversing circulation of the WIO make East African coastal countries highly vulnerable to negative impacts of the fishing and extraction activities in the ABNJ The coastline of Somalia is one of most ABNJ-connected coastlines in the world indicating enhanced socio-economic vulnerability to the activities in the ABNJ. The project provided a detailed policy brief describing vulnerability of the coastal zone of Somalia to the activities in ABNJ and advocated explicit inclusion of the downstream connectivity to the treaty. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. The advice aims to ensure that: The criteria for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other area-based management tools in ABNJ must include the potential socioeconomic benefits for vulnerable coastal communities, as well as the ecological or biological significance of the area in question. Governments must ensure that management systems in ABNJ are adaptive and dynamic, and share the technology, data capacity and investment needed to rapidly respond to shifts in species distribution or ocean circulation caused by climate change. Uncertainty around future climate change and impacts on connectivity necessitate a precautionary approach to ABNJ governance. |
| URL | https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/policy-briefs |
| Description | Tanzania: Connectivity between Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the coastal zones (Country Profile) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | UN member states negotiating a legally binding instrument governing ABNJ must include provisions to ensure that all future management regimes are informed by their potential impacts on territorial waters - particularly in Least Developed Countries. Vigorous and seasonally reversing circulation of the WIO make East African coastal countries highly vulnerable to negative impacts of the fishing and extraction activities in the ABNJ The coastline of Tanzania is one of most ABNJ-connected coastlines in the world indicating enhanced socio-economic vulnerability to the activities in the ABNJ. The project provided a detailed policy brief describing vulnerability of the coastal zone of Tanzania to the activities in ABNJ and advocated explicit inclusion of the downstream connectivity to the treaty. The approach brought concrete results: the latest draft of the negotiating text was updated to recognise that the treaty must protect the many millions of people who depend on the high seas. The advice aims to ensure that: The criteria for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and other area-based management tools in ABNJ must include the potential socioeconomic benefits for vulnerable coastal communities, as well as the ecological or biological significance of the area in question. Governments must ensure that management systems in ABNJ are adaptive and dynamic, and share the technology, data capacity and investment needed to rapidly respond to shifts in species distribution or ocean circulation caused by climate change. Uncertainty around future climate change and impacts on connectivity necessitate a precautionary approach to ABNJ governance. |
| URL | https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/policy-briefs |
| Description | Webinar and launch of two policy briefs in Malaysia: Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and Integrated Greening of Grey Infrastructure (IGGI) |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| URL | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d3ieNf-M_gCvuyU81n6gpi7-79ak9ebI/view |
| Description | ACCORD extension 2020-2021 |
| Amount | £1,393,549 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/T012420/1 ACCORD |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | Coastal Resilience to flooding Impact through relocatable Storm surge forecasting Capability for developing nations (C-RISC) |
| Amount | £101,338 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/R009406/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2017 |
| End | 04/2019 |
| Description | Fundamental Research Grant Scheme - Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia |
| Amount | RM113,200 (MYR) |
| Funding ID | FRGS/1/2020/WAB05/UMT/03/2 |
| Organisation | Ministry of Higher Education (Malaysia) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 11/2023 |
| Description | GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub |
| Amount | £17,534,969 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/S009019/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2019 |
| End | 05/2024 |
| Description | NC-ODA ACCORD uplift (GCRF under-spend) |
| Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 08/2019 |
| Description | Sources, impacts and solutions for plastics in South East Asia coastal environments |
| Amount | £53,772 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/V009591/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 11/2023 |
| Description | The likely occurrence of natural seafloor hydrates offshore Bangladesh - a scoping study. |
| Amount | £232,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Government of Bangladesh |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Start | 07/2019 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Title | Ecosystem service assessment |
| Description | Questionnaires designed and implemented to fishers, aquaculture farmers and marine tourism operators in Da Nang Bay, Vietnam. These questionnaires |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The questionnaires characterised the three main marine sectors/ecosystem services from the marine environment in Da Nang city. These findings will be used to design ACCORD2 subsequent research and will be disseminated to academic and government partners DASI/DONRE to inform policy and move towards sustainable management. They have provided clear evidence on the need to research livelihood resilience to stressors (e.g. climate change, pollution) and policy on sustainable aquaculture (among others). |
| Title | Fieldwork planning for Vietnam |
| Description | Following an MOU agreement in 2019, substantial efforts have been undertaken to develop links with our Vietnamese partners. A delegation from the Vietnamese administration visited PML for a one-week training opportunity in marine science applications, methods and lectures. Planning activities for fieldwork are underway; provisionally scheduled for summer/autumn 2020. A provisional date of March 2020 was postponed due to delays in a Research Licence application process. Fieldwork will involve physical, chemical and biological characterisation of the Da Nang Bay area, in addition to training opportunities for Vietnamese partners (Department of Natural Resources, City or Da Nang). |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | N/A at this stage |
| Title | Fieldwork undertaken in Cambodia |
| Description | Following an MOU agreement in 2019, the first fieldwork project in the Cambodian Archipelago was undertaken in July 2019. Over a two week period, the benthic environment was mapped using side-scan sonar. Benthic observations were made during surveys. At multiple stations across the archipelago, samples were collected for benthic and pelagic characterisations (including water column chemistry and structure, benthic estimation type). These observations have been combined to provide a view of the ecosystem, presented as a series of reports, drafts of which have been provided to stakeholders (Marine Conservation Cambodia, Cambodian Ministry of Environment). These initial observations form benchmark data against which subsequent visits may be compared. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | N/A at this stage |
| Title | Qualitative assessment of resilience to Covid-19 |
| Description | Qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews and focus groups, were used to explore economic and social resilience of fishers and aquaculture farmers to Covid-19 and other shock events |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The data is currently under analysis but it will provide evidence of areas to research to provide solutions and enhance resilience of small-scale marine sectors to shocks and stresses like Covid-19. Findings will also likely evidence the communities that were more resilient to Covid-19 vs those that weren't, and why this difference. |
| Title | ACCORD FVCOM model output |
| Description | A hydrodynamic model of FVCOM in the Da Nang Bay, Vietnam has been further updated using a more recent open boundary of temperature and salinity from ACCORD NEMO model outputs. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | 1) The nesting or downscaling method used in this model is also being implemented in other project to simulate nitrogen pollution around a small island in Maldives 2) The model results in Da Nang Bay potentially will be used in other project to simulate particle/plastic trajectory and to investigate dynamics of ocean fronts in the similar area. |
| Title | ACCORD NEMO-ERSEM Configuration files |
| Description | Repository containing a set of scripts for producing the BGC setup for a NEMO-ERSEM simulation in the region. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Ensured reproducibility with the model simulation. |
| URL | https://github.com/dalepartridge/ACCORD_SEAsia_BGCsetup |
| Title | ACCORD NEMO-ERSEM model output |
| Description | Model output, 1/12deg resolution covering 1980-2060. 5-daily 3D fields: T, U, V, BGC |
| Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Model analysis is underway on the output. Subregions have been provided for high resolution coastal modelling work around Da Nang bay. |
| Title | Broadscale Landscape Mapping Provides Insight into the Commonwealth of Dominica and Surrounding Islands Offshore Environment |
| Description | A lack of data hinders effective marine management strategies for developing island states. This is a particularly acute problem for the Commonwealth of Dominica. Here we use publicly available remote sensing and model data to map their relatively unstudied waters. Two study areas were selected; a smaller area focussing on the nearshore marine environment, and a larger area to capture broader spatial patterns and context. Three broadscale landscape maps were created, using geophysical and oceanographic data to classify the marine environment based on its abiotic characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on each area, followed by K-means clustering. The larger area PCA revealed three eigenvalues > 1, and one eigenvalue of 0.980. Therefore, two maps were created for this area, to assess the significance of including the fourth principal component (PC). We demonstrate that including too many PCs could lead to an increase in the confusion index of final output maps. Overall, the marine landscape maps were used to assess the spatial characteristics of the benthic environment and to identify priority areas for future high-resolution study. Through defining and analysing existing conditions and highlighting important natural areas in the Dominican waters, these study results can be incorporated into the Marine Spatial Planning process |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Dataset was basis for peer-reviewed publication by Wardell & Huvenne |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/6543617 |
| Title | Ecosystem service assessment |
| Description | Questionnaires designed and implemented to fishers (n=140), aquaculture farmers (n=40) and marine tourism operators (n=10) in Da Nang Bay, Vietnam. Questions cover characterisation of sector, impacts on water quality and demographics. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The questionnaires characterised the three main marine sectors/ecosystem services from the marine environment in Da Nang city. These findings will be used to design ACCORD2 subsequent research and will be disseminated to academic and government partners DASI/DONRE to inform policy and move towards sustainable management. They have provided clear evidence on the need to research livelihood resilience to stressors (e.g. climate change, pollution) and policy on sustainable aquaculture (among others). |
| Title | Hydrodynamic and ecosystem coupled models in Vietnam Seas |
| Description | A set of coupled circulation and ecosystem simulations in Vietnam Seas was produced using FVCOM-FABM-ERSEM models with spatial resolution up to 50-100 meters along the coast. The model reasonably reproduced monthly seasonal circulation and biochemical cycles in the central and northern Vietnam seas, particularly around Danang Bay area. A brief report about the model implementation and results have been produced and contributed to the final report of the ACCORD project. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The model results have been used to simulate a particle tracking model of micro-plastic in other research project. The model output was also used to design a new international research proposal that investigate anthropogenic pressures in sensitive coastal environment. |
| Title | Hydrodynamic model of FVCOM in coastal waters of Vietnam |
| Description | A FVCOM hydrodynamic model of the coastal waters of Vietnam has been run and updated using tidal forcing, surface atmospheric forcing from ERA5, and open boundary from NEMO model outputs. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The hydrodynamic outputs from this model are needed to simulate water quality around Da Nang bay. The model is also being used to design new proposals in the region to investigate the impacts of plastic pollution in the coastal area. |
| Title | Marine survey data and habitat maps for Kaoh Ach Seh Island, Cambodia |
| Description | The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) undertook a fieldwork deployment to Kaoh Ach Seh Island in July, 2019. The deliverables from NOC were: • Maps of the seabed surrounding Koh Ach Seh Island and the two islands (Koh Angkrong and Koh Po) nearest the MCC base; • Maps of the fringing reef outside the MCC base on Koh Ach Seh Island; • Map of the local seagrass beds within range of Koh Ach Seh Island; and • geo-referenced position of anti-trawl structures placed locally by MCC. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | An extensive area of sidescan sonar data was collected in challenging conditions (a shallow and irregular seabed with daily heavy seas). The sidescan was able to differentiate between coral mounds and two additional acoustic ground-types. The third 'silty sand with seagrass' class appeared to be heavily influenced by survey artefacts and was judged to be a poor representation of seagrass coverage. A total of 66 ROV ground truthing stations allowed the identification of the broad-scale habitats as well as the epifaunal and emergent infaunal species that characterised the area. The supervised and unsupervised classifications of both the acoustic data and optical (drone) imagery were able broadly to identify the main zones and features present across the survey site. Further work is required to optimise these models by: (i) reprocessing the ground-truthing in the laboratory rather than relying on field observations; (ii) splitting the available grounding into calibration and validation datasets; (iii) examine the potential of ensemble models; (iv) access additional observations held by MCC; and (v) assess the performance of the models using a validation data set. The trials with the aerial drone were very promising. The mosaic and DEM look credible but require additional ground-truthing. As the fringing reef is all located in shallow waters, the use of drone technology appears to be the most appropriate method for mapping these features. |
| Title | NEMO-ERSEM Relocatable Model System |
| Description | This is a proceadure for rapidly delopying the NEMO-ERSEM model system, in any sea region in the world. It has been publically released for the example of the Caribbean Seas. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This systems allows a wide range of marine information to be generate supporting regional stakeholder, with a particular focus on ODA countries in this application. |
| URL | https://github.com/NOC-MSM/Caribbean/releases |
| Title | Qualitative assessment of resilience to Covid-19 |
| Description | Qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews n= ~10) and focus groups (n=2), were used to explore economic and social resilience of fishers and aquaculture farmers to Covid-19 and other shock events |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | he data is currently under analysis but it will provide evidence of areas to research to provide solutions and enhance resilience of small-scale marine sectors to shocks and stresses like Covid-19. Findings will also likely evidence the communities that were more resilient to Covid-19 vs those that weren't, and why this difference. |
| Title | Satellite derived bathymetry for Kep Province Cambodia |
| Description | Satellite derived bathymetry for Kep Province Cambodia derived from Sentinel 2 imagery. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Provided to the research group in Cambodia that monitor Irrawaddy Dolphin. |
| Title | Seabed acoustic and ground-truthing data for the Pilau Bidong coral reef |
| Description | 90 videos of the coral reef at Pilau Bidong. Collected by a Remotely Operated Vehicle video and used to ground-truth acrostic data in the area. Datasets acquired with multibeam bathymetry and backscatter (5.5 days) Datasets acquired with sidescan sonar imagery (5 days) To be combined, using geostatistical tools, into marine habitat maps of the area. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Without this information, it is not possible to produce marine habitat maps of the area. The same information was used to trouble-shoot existing survey practices at UMT. The observations will enable (i) the collection of high-quality acoustic and ground-truthing data in the future; (ii) acoustic and ground-truthing interpretation and analysis by UMT; (iii) object-based image analysis using RSOBIA by UMT; and (iv) geospatial modelling techniques for coral reef mapping. |
| Description | Bangladesh seafloor hydrates |
| Organisation | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | NOC is working with the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BMoFA) on the topic of seafloor gas hydrates research. As a result, BMoFA commissioned NOC to conduct a 12 month desktop study (starting July 2019) to assess the potential for seafloor methane gas hydrates in the Bangladesh deep water EEZ areas of the Bay of Bengal. This involves analysis of seismic data already collected by Bangladesh as part of their previous UNCLOS submission. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They have provided seismic data and other relevant seafloor scientific datasets already collected, and access to software licenses for industry seismic data processing. |
| Impact | The activity is ongoing, and the results will be published subject to agreement with BMoFA. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Collaboration with University of Da Nang |
| Organisation | University of Da Nang |
| Country | Viet Nam |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Sea and Society Group in PML established a contract with Dr Thi kinh Kieu, The University of Danang's University of Science and Education, creating a partnership for the delivery of quantitative research activities co-designed to establish socio-economic status of fishers and aquaculture farmers operating in Da Nang. Additionally, further qualitative research was designed and delivered to explore the impacts of natural climate and weather phenomena, as well as Covid-19 pandemic, on the socio-economic status of fishers and aquaculture farmers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partner in Da Nang coordinated the fieldwork data collection activities, providing capacity building opportunities for colleagues and student volunteers. Di Kinh also contributed to outputs, including a report led by Dr Olivia Rendon at PML. |
| Impact | Socio-economic report produced for the Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Collaboration with University of Malaya to address failures in mangrove management in Selangor |
| Organisation | University of Malaysia |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project formally launched in May 2020. The PML team reduced from 2 people to 1 person in July 2020 following the departure from the project of the former UK PI, Caroline Hattam. From September 2020 The UK lead passed to Prof Melanie Austin, University of Plymouth, with whom PML has a close working relationship. Andrew Edwards-Jones assumed lead PML responsibility, effectively acting as the core UK link with the University of Malaya partners. He has supported the project management process and activities, provided input and feedback on various objective activities i.e. a PESTLE analysis undertaken by a University of Plymouth Masters student, the preparation of the project newsletter, the mid term funders report, a UK PACT Expression of Interest submission. Andrew has been leading one project activity, involving a policy mapping exercise around mangroves in Malaysia. He is also leading on the delivery of an ACCORD Uplift sub-project with the same partners, exploring potential mangrove replanting sites in the Klang Islands, with responsibility for monitoring progress and reporting to the cross UK-institutional ACCORD Management Group. Andrew has continued to provide supervisory input to a Malaysian Masters student project, including feedback on thesis chapters and a journal paper (a required element of the MSc final submission). Some outputs from the ODA NetComFish project have been completed and disseminated during this project, to which Andrew has provided direct writing input to manuscript revisions prior to acceptance to the journal, Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, in July 2020, and leading on the final draft of a policy brief which was disseminated to project partners and to the general public in 2020. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The UM partners provide the co-PI for this project. The team is leading on the delivery of several project activities, including partner and stakeholder engagement and developing a case for business engagement with mangroves in Selangor. The whole project team has responded to the restrictions imposed by Covid 19 pandemic by agreeing to deliver a series of knowledge exchange seminars around pathways from science to policy. An additional researcher has been recruited with experience of working with policy-makers in Malaysia. Two seminars have been presented to date - the first in late 2020 in both in-person and virtual format, the second in Feb 2021 to a small virtual audience. The UM team have submitted a mid term funders report, and drafted a UK PACT EOI (unsuccessful). The team coordinates project meetings, and hosted a project partner meeting in December 2020 (several agencies, including the Federal and State Department of Forestry, had provided written support for the project at application). |
| Impact | Project Partner Meeting Dec 2020 Knowledge Exchange seminar delivered autumn 2020. Knowledge Exchange seminar delivered Feb 2021. PESTLE analysis completed Oct 2020 (as part of a University of Plymouth MSc thesis). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Digital Launch of the Malaysian Nature Tours |
| Organisation | Malaysian High Commission |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, in cooperation with Asia Dive Expo (ADEX), organised the Digital Launch of the Malaysian Nature Tours on 10 December 2020, in conjunction with the 2021 Super Year for Biodiversity and Climate Change (CoP15 & CoP26). The Malaysian PI for the NexAMS project, Dr Amy Then, was invited along with a number of other scientists to form an expert panel for discussion, and to deliver a presentation on nature-based solutions in Malaysia. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, in cooperation with Asia Dive Expo (ADEX), organised the Digital Launch of the Malaysian Nature Tours on 10 December 2020, in conjunction with the 2021 Super Year for Biodiversity and Climate Change (CoP15 & CoP26). The Malaysian PI for the NexAMS project, Dr Amy Then, was invited along with a number of other scientists to form an expert panel for discussion, and to deliver a presentation on nature-based solutions in Malaysia. |
| Impact | Dissemination of NexAMS (and earlier NetComFish) project aims within presentation by Amy Then of the state of nature-based solutions in Malaysia. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Fisheries in Sundarbans |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have shared our ACCORD model outputs with researchers (led by Dr David Bailey) at Glasgow University and the University of Shajalal in Bangladesh (Dr Swapan Sarker). The model outputs help the Bangladesh Forest and Fisheries Agency understand the vulnerability of juvenile fish to climate change and in particular saline intrusions |
| Collaborator Contribution | They have used our data to inform fisheries patrol routes and will further use them in policy guidance |
| Impact | We have written a new proposal for further GCRF funding and will continue to produce guidance notes that help the Bangladesh Forestry and Fisheries agency |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Integrated hazard modelling with BMKG Indonesia |
| Organisation | Government of Indonesia |
| Department | Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | BMKG launched the Indonesia Coastal Inundation Forecasting System (Ina-CIFS) on April 8, 2019 at BMKG Headquarter Auditorium in the Opening Ceremony of 10th Meeting of The JCOMM. Ina-CIFS is a coastal flood early warning monitoring system that protects tens of thousands of people in Jakarta and Semarang. Ina-CIFS which currently implemented in Jakarta and Semarang, considering that the two areas have a major impact due to the Coastal Flood. This is the result of 6 years of hard work in the development of the Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project (CIFDP-I), with assistance from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and UK scientists from NOC |
| Collaborator Contribution | Tidal analysis software and training. Advice on implementation of new coastal modeling systems. Further development of automated tide gauge QC software |
| Impact | Workshop reports, final implementation reports |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Mapping research with University of Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and specifically with INOS (Institute of Oceanography and Environment) |
| Organisation | University of Malaysia, Terengganu |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Activity to date: Initial processing of existing UMT multibeam and sidescan sonar data. Production of data management guidance documents Survey trouble-shooting visit (2 weeks in April 2018) to improve: (i) the collection of high-quality acoustic and ground-truthing data; (ii) acoustic and ground-truthing interpretation and analysis; (iii) object-based image analysis using RSOBIA; and (iv) geospatial modelling techniques. Drafting of the 'Recommended Operating Guidelines (ROG) for marine habitat mapping of Malaysian protected sites' and the NOC/UMT MOU. Survey work included: Datasets acquired with multibeam bathymetry and backscatter (5.5 days) Datasets acquired with sidescan sonar imagery (5 days) Datasets acquired with ROV imagery (3.5 days) - 84 dives Datasets acquired with Diving profiles (2 days) - 6 dives - support rule-based habitat mapping (producing maps when no GT is present. • Troubleshooting acoustic data collection in realtime Training delivered included: RSOBIA, Acquisition, processing and theory on multibeam and sidescan sonar systems, Geospatial modelling techniques, Data management theory Other outcomes: Standard Operating Procedure for Ground-truth and video analysis |
| Collaborator Contribution | Full engagement with the survey work and training (approx. 15 staff). Boats made available. MOU with UMT and NOC. MSc Student supervision FRGS joint proposal on coral trait mapping (lead: UMT; partner: NOC) |
| Impact | Activity to date: 1. Scoping visit (1 week in Jan 2018) to establish needs, vessel and equipment availability, staffing, permits and University clearance (i.e. MOU). 2. Initial processing of existing UMT multibeam and sidescan sonar data. 3. Production of data management guidance documents 4. Survey trouble-shooting visit (2 weeks in April 2018) to improve: (i) the collection of high-quality acoustic and ground-truthing data; (ii) acoustic and ground-truthing interpretation and analysis; (iii) object-based image analysis using RSOBIA; and (iv) geospatial modelling techniques. 5. Drafting of the 'Recommended Operating Guidelines (ROG) for marine habitat mapping of Malaysian protected sites' and the NOC/UMT MOU. Activity 4 - survey work included: • Datasets acquired with multibeam bathymetry and backscatter (5.5 days) • Datasets acquired with sidescan sonar imagery (5 days) • Datasets acquired with ROV imagery (3.5 days) - 84 dives • Datasets acquired with Diving profiles (2 days) - 6 dives - support rule-based habitat mapping (producing maps when no GT is present. • Troubleshooting acoustic data collection in realtime Training delivered included: • RSOBIA, • acquisition, processing and theory on multibeam and sidescan sonar systems, • geospatial modelling techniques, • management theory Other outcomes: • MOU with UMT and NOC. • MSc Student supervision • Standard Operating Procedure for Ground-truth and video analysis • FRGS joint proposal on coral trait mapping (lead: UMT; partner: NOC) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Marine habitat mapping on Koh Ach Seh Island, Cambodia |
| Organisation | Government of Cambodia |
| Department | Department of the Environment |
| Country | Cambodia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The overall aim of the ACCORD project is to deliver high quality science that supports: (i) the sustainable growth of blue economies in partner countries; and (ii) the long-term resilience of these blue economies, within partner countries, to natural hazards stemming from climate change. During a scoping trip to Cambodia, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) identified Marine Conservation Cambodia (MCC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to delivery marine conservation on behalf of the Cambodian Ministry of the Environment in Kep province. Marine Conservation Cambodia operate from Koh Ach Seh Island (Kep province). Their primary interests include: (i) the deployment of concrete seabed structures that act as both artificial reef units and anti-trawl devices (to dissuade illegal fishing within protected areas); (ii) sea mammal monitoring; (iii) seahorse conservation projects; and (iv) other marine conservation efforts such as marine litter removal. Besides being responsible for the management and protection of Koh Ach Seh, Marine Conservation Cambodia is also responsible for 13 other island reefs in the area and roughly 30 km2 of seagrass beds within Kep Province. MCC were deemed a suitable in-country partner for involvement with the ACCORD project and also provided a base of operations for the ACCORD fieldwork. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Partners contributed staff to support the fieldwork. |
| Impact | An extensive area of sidescan sonar data was collected in challenging conditions (a shallow and irregular seabed with daily heavy seas). The sidescan was able to differentiate between coral mounds and two additional acoustic ground-types. The third 'silty sand with seagrass' class appeared to be heavily influenced by survey artefacts and was judged to be a poor representation of seagrass coverage. A total of 66 ROV ground truthing stations allowed the identification of the broad-scale habitats as well as the epifaunal and emergent infaunal species that characterised the area. The supervised and unsupervised classifications of both the acoustic data and optical (drone) imagery were able broadly to identify the main zones and features present across the survey site. Further work is required to optimise these models by: (i) reprocessing the ground-truthing in the laboratory rather than relying on field observations; (ii) splitting the available grounding into calibration and validation datasets; (iii) examine the potential of ensemble models; (iv) access additional observations held by MCC; and (v) assess the performance of the models using a validation data set. The trials with the aerial drone were very promising. The mosaic and DEM look credible but require additional ground-truthing (potentially provided by PML's shallow benthic survey). As the fringing reef is all located in shallow waters, the use of drone technology appears to be the most appropriate method for mapping these features. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Marine habitat mapping on Koh Ach Seh Island, Cambodia |
| Organisation | Marine Conservation Cambodia |
| Country | Cambodia |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The overall aim of the ACCORD project is to deliver high quality science that supports: (i) the sustainable growth of blue economies in partner countries; and (ii) the long-term resilience of these blue economies, within partner countries, to natural hazards stemming from climate change. During a scoping trip to Cambodia, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) identified Marine Conservation Cambodia (MCC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to delivery marine conservation on behalf of the Cambodian Ministry of the Environment in Kep province. Marine Conservation Cambodia operate from Koh Ach Seh Island (Kep province). Their primary interests include: (i) the deployment of concrete seabed structures that act as both artificial reef units and anti-trawl devices (to dissuade illegal fishing within protected areas); (ii) sea mammal monitoring; (iii) seahorse conservation projects; and (iv) other marine conservation efforts such as marine litter removal. Besides being responsible for the management and protection of Koh Ach Seh, Marine Conservation Cambodia is also responsible for 13 other island reefs in the area and roughly 30 km2 of seagrass beds within Kep Province. MCC were deemed a suitable in-country partner for involvement with the ACCORD project and also provided a base of operations for the ACCORD fieldwork. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Partners contributed staff to support the fieldwork. |
| Impact | An extensive area of sidescan sonar data was collected in challenging conditions (a shallow and irregular seabed with daily heavy seas). The sidescan was able to differentiate between coral mounds and two additional acoustic ground-types. The third 'silty sand with seagrass' class appeared to be heavily influenced by survey artefacts and was judged to be a poor representation of seagrass coverage. A total of 66 ROV ground truthing stations allowed the identification of the broad-scale habitats as well as the epifaunal and emergent infaunal species that characterised the area. The supervised and unsupervised classifications of both the acoustic data and optical (drone) imagery were able broadly to identify the main zones and features present across the survey site. Further work is required to optimise these models by: (i) reprocessing the ground-truthing in the laboratory rather than relying on field observations; (ii) splitting the available grounding into calibration and validation datasets; (iii) examine the potential of ensemble models; (iv) access additional observations held by MCC; and (v) assess the performance of the models using a validation data set. The trials with the aerial drone were very promising. The mosaic and DEM look credible but require additional ground-truthing (potentially provided by PML's shallow benthic survey). As the fringing reef is all located in shallow waters, the use of drone technology appears to be the most appropriate method for mapping these features. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | NetComFish |
| Organisation | University of Malaya |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The PML team has supported the preparation of workshops with stakeholders and coastal communities in Malaysia, the design of two MSc student projects and the supervision of these two students. They have also: - delivered training and capacity building activities with the UM team - led the analysis of workshop and focus group outputs - contributed to the design of the mangrove festival, development of the NetComFish video and policy brief - led the development of the first project paper submitted for publication and the successful submission of the proposal for follow-on funds from the Newton Fund Impact Scheme - secured additional funding from the ACCORD project (with input from the UM team) for a project exploring potential mangrove replanting sites in the Klang Islands |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University of Malaya team has been responsible for the design, organisation and facilitation of stakeholder and community workshops and focus groups as well as the mangrove festival. They host the two MSc students and are responsible for their day to day supervision. The UM team has also: - been responsible for communicating with local policy-makers and relevant research networks about the project and have engaged with the Malaysia media to promote the project's activities. - participated in training and capacity building activities, the analysis of workshop and focus group outputs - contributed to the development of the NetComFish video and policy brief. - contributed to the development of the first project paper submitted for publication and the proposal submitted to the Newton Fund Impact Scheme (especially in terms of ensuring support from key stakeholders). - been responsible for the development and delivery of a school education programme focusing on mangroves and they have actively promoted the project at academic events held in the SE Asia region. - secured funding from a local developer through their CSR programme to develop a book on the flora and fauna of the Klang Islands. |
| Impact | This is a multi-disciplinary team involving natural science (biology and ecosystem services sciences) and social science, planning and governance. Outputs include five stakeholder workshops and focus groups in coastal communities in the Klang Islands, Malaysia, a newsletter article, as series of scoping interviews with stakeholders and community members, engagement with the Penang Inshore Fishermen's Welfare Association (PIFWA) and interest by a local development company in supporting the project via its CSR fund. In addition the project has produced: - a policy brief encouraging more effective management of mangroves and recommendations for how this can be achieved - education materials aimed at primary school children - a project video about the importance of mangroves aimed at the public - a project website, detailing the activities undertaken by the project One of the key outcomes of the projects is increased stakeholder interest and participation in the project, evidenced by the support given to the successful proposal submitted to the Newton Fund Impact Scheme for follow-on funds. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Water quality for shrimp farming in Bangladesh |
| Organisation | East West University |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have co-written a proposal to combine our model outputs for the Bay of Bengal with a novel observational strategy to monitor the water quality of fish/shrimp ponds. During 2020 the NOC will make available some water variable sensors and will provide training in their use. The long term aim is a new partnership to make cheaper sensors for mass use |
| Collaborator Contribution | East West university (Dr Mohammad Hakim) has co-written a future proposal to expand the collaboration. During the 2020 trials phase, he will act as local project lead and will liaise with the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fisheries Foundation (BSFF). Dr Hakim will use his research team to provide the data-transfer/telemetry needed to collect the water quality data during the trials phase |
| Impact | Co-written proposal for future funding. Demonstration phase to go ahead in May or June 2020 |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Title | A NEMO regional model of the Bay of Bengal and East Arabian Sea (BoBEAS) |
| Description | Model Summary: This configuration has been specifically set up for the NEMO community ocean model, using a variant of v3.6. The model grid has a 2.2 km horizontal resolution and 75 hybrid sigma-z-partial-step vertical levels. The domain covers 3.5°N to 26.58°N, 65°E to 101.9°E. The configuration was set up to use ERA5 forcing, FES2014 tides, open ocean boundary conditions from the Met Office global 1/12° ocean data product, available through the COPERNICUS Marine Environment monitoring Service (https://marine.copernicus.eu). Model Setup Process: The objective here is to document the process for setting up the configuration, rather than automating the process. This is because some data, e.g. the bathymetry is not publicly available. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | too early to say |
| Title | AMM7-surge: A 7km resolution Atlantic Margin Model surge configuration using NEMOv3.6 |
| Description | AMM7_surge A 7km resolution Atlantic Margin Model 2D surge configuration. The configuration is based on v3.6 of the NEMO modelling framework. The configuration recipe has be written for the ARCHER HPC INTEL environment. The recipe describes how to configure and run a tides-only example. Repository File Hierarchy DOCS: A recipe on how to build and run AMM7_surge model. EXP_tideonly: An experiment directory for a (FES2014) tide only demonstration simulation. INPUTS: Store for external forcing files (e.g. tides, meteorology) and domain configuration file. Also store for boundary condition setup namelist file. ARCH : Store for architecture build files. MY_SRC: Store for FORTRAN modification to NEMO checkout from NEMO repository. Setting up AMM7 surge model To run the AMM7 surge model follow the recipe in docs/AMM7_SURGE_build_and_run.rst. This recipe forms a template of how to obtain, compile and run the code. To run a full surge model meteorological forcing is required. For simplicity this demonstration simulation is configured to run without meteorological forcing (otherwise requiring sea level pressure and 10m winds). Tidal boundary conditions are also required - these can be generated following the docs/generate_tidal_boundaries.rst recipe, or downloaded. Finally a domain configuration file is required - this can be generated following NEMO guidelines or downloaded. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/4022310 |
| Title | AMM7-surge: A 7km resolution Atlantic Margin Model surge configuration using NEMOv3.6 |
| Description | AMM7_surge A 7km resolution Atlantic Margin Model 2D surge configuration. The configuration is based on v3.6 of the NEMO modelling framework. The configuration recipe has be written for the ARCHER HPC INTEL environment. The recipe describes how to configure and run a tides-only example. Repository File Hierarchy DOCS: A recipe on how to build and run AMM7_surge model. EXP_tideonly: An experiment directory for a (FES2014) tide only demonstration simulation. INPUTS: Store for external forcing files (e.g. tides, meteorology) and domain configuration file. Also store for boundary condition setup namelist file. ARCH : Store for architecture build files. MY_SRC: Store for FORTRAN modification to NEMO checkout from NEMO repository. Setting up AMM7 surge model To run the AMM7 surge model follow the recipe in docs/AMM7_SURGE_build_and_run.rst. This recipe forms a template of how to obtain, compile and run the code. To run a full surge model meteorological forcing is required. For simplicity this demonstration simulation is configured to run without meteorological forcing (otherwise requiring sea level pressure and 10m winds). Tidal boundary conditions are also required - these can be generated following the docs/generate_tidal_boundaries.rst recipe, or downloaded. Finally a domain configuration file is required - this can be generated following NEMO guidelines or downloaded. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/4022309 |
| Title | AMM7-surge: A 7km resolution Atlantic Margin Model surge configuration using NEMOv3.6 |
| Description | A 7km resolution Atlantic Margin Model 2D surge configuration. The configuration is based on v3.6 of the NEMO modelling framework. The configuration recipe has be written for the ARCHER HPC INTEL environment. The recipe describes how to configure and run a tides-only example. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | too early |
| Title | New GIS Toolbox for multibeam and sidescan data manipulation analysis |
| Description | New easy tools for data manipulation, interpretation and analysis. Sits inside the ArcGIS software suite, namely ArcMap. About 15 separate tools for mosaic processing and final map production. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | Still to be fully tested by external researchers - but planned for March 2020. |
| Description | Attended PEMSEA ESA meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Attended annual congress of PEMSEA to buidl collaboativie links the SE Asia, most notably in cambodia and in vietnam |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Co-design of the Kenyan case study with the stakeholders |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We carried out a formal workshop with Kenyan stakeholders in July 2017 to co-design Kenyan Case Study. The workshop was carried out at the Kenyan Fisheries Research Institute and involved KMFRI and CORDIO. Kenya Case Study has been selected: Emerging fishery of the North Kenya Bank, an opportunity for coastal populations The North Kenya Bank fishery is expected to spur economic growth for local communities. If well managed, it could help achieve national development goals, including poverty alleviation and wealth creation. Sustainability requires informed management interventions, but there is only scant information on the ecological status and drivers of the fishery. Using modelling, remote sensing, field observations and socio-economic studies, SOLSTICE will explore processes related to productivity and resilience of the ecosystems supporting the fishery, identify the main drivers of variability and change, and advise the fishery and government on how to optimise use of this important resource. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Co-design of the Tanzanian case study with stakeholders |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In July 2017 we carried out a formal workshop to select and co-design Tanzanian case study. The workshop involved Institute of Marine Science (Zanzibar), Tanzanian Fisheries research Institute, Western Indian Ocean Association of Marine Science. The following Case Study has been selected for Tanzania: Pemba Channel small pelagic fishery under climate threat The small pelagic fishery is important for local communities in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania as a source of food security, nutrition and livelihood support. This diverse group includes mackerel, sardines and anchovies - found in schools over the continental shelf, in bays and deep lagoons with nutrient rich waters. They are more abundant during the southeast monsoon, when stronger winds drive upwelling that brings nutrient rich water to the surface. Despite its importance for coastal economies, there is a lack of data and information about the fishery, which hampers effective management. Using robotics, modelling, remote sensing, field observations and socio-economic studies, SOLSTICE will identify key environmental and anthropogenic drivers of the main species and address climatic pressures on this fishery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Engagement with Cambodian ministry of the Environment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | PML scientists with expertise in Remote Sensing, Modelling and Biogeochemical Observations, visited Cambodia December 2018. Meetings were held with the Cambodian Ministry of the Environment deputy director general, and the Ministry's GIS Team to discuss the ACCORD project, and the development of the collaboration. A second series of meetings were held with the Marine Conservation Cambodia (MCC) NGO to discuss the ACCORD project, and the development of the collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Fifth NetComFish worksop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The final NetComFIsh workshop was convened to showcase NetComFish research findings regarding collaborative mangrove management in Klang Islands to local stakeholders; collect feedback and comments on the draft policy brief and identify routes for disemination; and discuss opportunities for collaborative management of the Klang Islands mangroves including all relevant bodies. 16 stakeholders from local and state government and NGOs. Extremely useful feedback was offered on the policy brief as well as on the process for ensuring the policy brief reaches the correct stakeholders. There was considerable enthusiasm to take this work forward and many participants subsequently wrote letters of support for our applications for follow-on funding for this work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | First NetComFish workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | We organised a workshop with stakeholders who have an in interest in the mangroves and/or their associated fishery in the Klang Islands. The purpose was to understand the inter-relationship between the different uses and pressures on the mangroves and to identify additional stakeholders with whom the project should interact. The workshop has been used to shape later activities in the project and to engage with a wider set of stakeholders including industry and businesses as well as local coastal communities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://netcomfish.wixsite.com/netcomfish |
| Description | Fourth NetComFIsh workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was convened to present the key findings from earlier workshops, focus groups and interviews and by other key experts to illustrate the importance of mangroves; the impact of mangrove loss, and how mangroves are included in people's visions for the future. It also aimed to identify barriers to engagement in mangrove related activity and management and gather feedback on potential policy/management options identified by the NetComFish team. The workshop was attended by 24 participants from local and state government, NGOs, fishers committees and community representatives. The workshop led to the creation of a draft policy brief and increased interest in the NetComFish project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Habitat mapping in the deep ocean: using the latest technologies to chart the Earth's last frontier |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture in the 'Marie Tharp' lecture series of the Geomar institute, Kiel, Germany. The lecture series is specifically aimed to provide a stage for leading female researchers, and includes a panel discussion with female Early Career Researchers afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Information-sharing meeting with JARING |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This was an information-sharing dialogue between the NexAMS project team and representatives of the environmental NGO, Jaringan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING). The mutual interests of both teams were identified and discussed, particularly in relation to the project activity involving cultural ecosystem service surveys of local people's engagements with mangroves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://nexams2020.wixsite.com/nexams2020/key-activities |
| Description | Information-sharing meeting with Maritime Institute of Malaysia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an information-sharing dialogue between the NexAMS project team and 3 representatives of MIMA. This highlighted MIMA's role in policy engagement in Malaysia, and considered mutual areas of interests. The discussion led to a follow-up meeting in 2021 in which MIMA was consulted on policy mapping and analysis priorities for the NexAMS project. These engagements cemented a relationship between MIMA (already a project partner) and NexAMS and led to formalization of a partnership by end 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.mima.gov.my/news/partnership-with-the-university-of-malaya-2020-2021 |
| Description | James Strong and Tim Le Bas visited our collaborators in Malaysia (Dr Khaira Ismail) to set up the fieldwork for the MG contribution to the ACCORD programme (17-23 Jan) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | James Strong and Tim Le Bas visited our collaborators in Malaysia (Dr Khaira Ismail) to set up the fieldwork for the MG contribution to the ACCORD programme (17-23 Jan) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Knowledge Exchange Webinar (hosted by NexAMS ODA project) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of the NexAMS series of Knowledge Exchange activities, delivered via webinar due to Covid restrictions, and to increase reach, a seminar was presented by Prof Mark Huxham, Professor of Teaching & Research in Environmental Biology, Edinburgh Napier University. The title was 'It Takes a Village: Starting a Blue Carbon Project from Scratch', in which Mark gave an overview of the status and importance of blue carbon habitats, particularly mangroves, then talked about the successful carbon credit scheme at Mikoko Pamoja, Kenya. Mark provided tips for developing community-based carbon projects, based on the perceived reasons for success of the Kenya project. 41 people attended, including 10 from the NexAMS team, but also reps from Sarawak Forestry Department, IUKRI, NGO's and other academic institutions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Knowledge Exchange Webinar hosted by NexAMS ODA project team |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of the NexAMS project Knowledge exchange series, a webinar was delivered on 16th December, 2020, by Pn Siti Nurbaiyah to provide insights into academic research reaching policy decision-makers, particularly government agencies. 61 people registered and 41 participated, most academics including some high profile researchers at the University of Malaya. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Kosmo! newspaper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following our mangrove festival in July 2019, the event was featured in the Kosmo!, a Malay language daily newspaper, on the 14th August in an article entitled "Tanggungjawab memelihara 'hutan di antara laut dan darat" (The responsibility of maintaining the 'forest between sea and land'). It was featured at this URL: http://https:www.kosmo.com.my/k2/infiniti/tanggungjawab-memelihara-hutan-di-antara-laut-dan-darat-1.954034, but Kosmo! was closed in October 2019 and the URL is no longer active. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Malaysian fieldwork |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Within the framework of the ACCORD programme, Tim Le Bas and James Strong then carried out 3 weeks of fieldwork in March 2018, together with our Malaysian partners. They discovered a new and previously unknown deep reef offshore the island of Pulau Bidong in about 25m of water. The discovery was made during an acoustic multibeam survey of the area and then verified by sidescan sonar imagery. The team sent down the NOC mini-ROV to look at the new reef and confirmed it had major interest for habitat mapping. The University Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), our partners, then sent a diving team to closely view and identify species of hard and soft corals. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Marine Regions Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Dr.Popova was invited to provide evidence for marine connectivity of the Western Indian Ocean and its relevance for the proposed Deep Sea Mining at the Marine Regions Forum in October 2019. The Marine Regions Forum supports the transition towards integrated ocean governance by developing and implementing a new format for solution-oriented learning and exchange among different marine regions at the interface of science and marine policy. The Marine Regions Forum is a unique dialogue platform that: engages a broad range of stakeholders groups from non-governmental organisations and industry (such as fisheries, environment, tourism, shipping, energy and oil), to scientists and decision-makers; focuses explicitly at the regional level and aims to strengthen regional ocean governance; facilitates the joint development of new scalable solutions to current ocean sustainability challenges; is a knowledge-driven conference developed by independent research institutes and think-tanks together with a broad network of experts and in dialogue with decision-makers and civil society; and provides a space outside of formal governance arrangements where stakeholders engage in discussion as individual experts and where different types of knowledge can be brought together on an equal footing. A dedicated team composed of ocean governance experts based at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), and TMG - Think Tank for Sustainability is developing and hosting the Marine Regions Forum together with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the European Commission and renowned international experts, many of which are part of the Advisory Board and Steering Group of the Marine Regions Forum. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.prog-ocean.org/marine-regions-forum/ |
| Description | MoU with University of Malaysia, Terrenganu |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A Memorandum of Understanding was developed between UMT and NOC in late 2018 to facilitate further work within the framework of ACCORD |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Oriental Daily newspaper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following our mangrove festival in July 2019, the event was features in the Oriental Daily, an Chinese language daily newspaper in Malaysia under the title: Guardian that guard coastal area on the 21st September. The article helped to raise awareness about the importance of mangroves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.orientaldaily.com.my/news/education/2019/09/21/307216 |
| Description | PEMSEA East Asian Seas Congress 2018: Exhibition stand showcasing science and research conducted by PML in collaboration with East Asian partners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Plymouth Marine Laboratory is a Partner of PEMSEA and had an exhibition stand throughout the PEMSEA East Asian Seas Congress, where the research activities of PML in the Southeast Asia region were highlighted in particular the GCRF Blue Communities programme, ACCORD project and other activities . The exhibition stand was managed by several members of staff from PML including the GCRF Blue Communities programme (Prof. Austen, Dr. Loveday, Dr. Cheung) as well as ACCORD (Prof. Allen) and other staff from PML (Dr. Evers-King). Nearly 1000 delegates attended the Congress and visitors to the stand included school groups, undergraduate students, representatives from NGOs, intergovernmental organizations and the Ministers from the East Asia region. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation at 2nd International Workshop on Waves Storm Surges and Coastal Hazards |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This talk, at a high profile international gathering for operational model practitioners, reached out to that global community with results from our programme |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Project External Partner Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Malaysia Case Study NexAMS 1st project partner meeting. This engagement was intended to update the partners that had formally supported the project proposal submission of the launch of the project earlier in the year, and progress to date. It also served to clarify the project's objectives to have these further validated. Multi-sector attendees included representatives from: 1. Coastal Forest Preservation, Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia 2. Forest Plantation and Innovation, Selangor Forestry Department 3. National Water Research Institute of Malaysia 4. MyMangrove 5. Malaysian Inshore Fishermen Association for Education and Welfare (JARING) 6. CPD Holistics Sdn. Bhd. 7. Centre for Coastal and Marine Environment, Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA) The opportunity was taken to present the findings of a PESTLE Analysis (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental) by a University of Plymouth Masters student, who's thesis had been aligned to NexAMS's priority issues, namely the management of mangroves of Malaysia. The discussion was very worthwhile, although it was recognised that different representatives of the forest departments may be required for more effective engagement in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Pulau Indah Mangrove Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | To raise awareness about mangroves in the Klang Islands, share findings from the NetComFish project and support World Mangrove Day, a mangrove festival was held on Pulau Indah, Klang Islands, Malaysia. Approximately 400 people attended the day where they took part in mangrove related activities including drawing, photography, poetry and cooking competitions; discussions about mangroves and fisheries; cooking with mangrove products demonstrations; and mangrove awareness raising activities. This event was officiated by the Department of Forestry who subsequently have supported a successful proposal for follow-on funding for this project. Other participants at this festival also supported our proposal. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://netcomfish.wixsite.com/netcomfish |
| Description | Researcher visit to NOC from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Azizi Bin Ali and Mr Roslan Latif came to the NOC to work shadow Dr Tim Le Bas and Dr James Strong for knowledge exchange and training. They came for three weeks in November and December 2019. Mainly looking at sidescan processing, GIS and data analysis but also including hardware engineering of gliders and AUVs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Second NetComFish workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A second workshop with stakeholders relevant to the Klang Islands mangroves and associate fishery was conducted to examine stakeholders' and coastal community members' aspirations for the future of the mangroves. The outcomes will be used to fine-tune future stakeholder engagement and direct the remainder of the project activities. One outcome is that one of the development companies involved with the removal of the mangroves on one of the Klang Islands has invited the project team to work with them to see how mangroves can be integrated within their future development activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Society and the Sea Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Three presentations given on the preliminary findings of NetComFish, focusing on the Klang Islands, Malaysia and covering (1) the links between mangroves and fisheries; (2) links between mangrove ecosystem services and well-being, and (3) on visions for the future of mangroves by communities and stakeholders. Discussion had on empowerment and engagement of communities in mangrove restoration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | The Regional Ocean Governance Workshop for the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Region |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Nairobi Convention (UNDP) is executing the project on 'Strategic Action Programme Policy Harmonization and Institutional Reforms' (SAPPHIRE), and has organized a Regional Ocean Governance workshop for the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region during 04-05 September 2019 in Seychelles. E.Popova and M.Roberts were invited to present evidence towards strong connectivity between ABNJ and coastal zones. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The Star News |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following our mangrove festival in July 2019 and a presentation and interview with NetComFish UM co-I Amy Then, a write-up appeared in The Star News, an English language daily newspaper in Malaysia under the title "Finding right avenue to save mangroves". The article helped to raise awareness of the importance of mangroves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/09/25/finding-right-avenue-to-save-mangroves |
| Description | Third NetComFish workshop: Research training |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | As part of the NetComFish project, training was offered to two Blue Communities partners from the University of Malaya, together with another researcher and two postgraduate students from the University of Malaya during a visit to PML in July 2018 (all members of the NetComFish team). Training covered effective questionnaire development, qualitative data analysis using Nvivo and an introduction to multicriteria analysis. The skills developed will be used in future NetComFish and Blue Communities activities as well as in other research projets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Training workshop in Malaysia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | James Strong provided expertise in the design, analysis and interpretation of ground truthing data to the habitat mapping team of the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu during a 3-day workshop (2-4 Sept 2018) as part of the ACCORD programme |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |