Marine Forests of the Portuguese Coast Event at 2022 UN Ocean Conference

We are pleased to announce that CIIMAR will be hosting the “Marine Forests of the Portuguese Coast” side event, within the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, on the 30 June, at 12h, at the River Stage.

Were: River Stage on the One Sustainable Ocean | Ocean Science & Business2Sea UNOC 2022.

When: 30 June, at 12h

Marine forests are among the most diverse and productive habitats on earth. They support different economic activities such as fisheries, food and biotechnological products and provide numerous ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and protection from coastal erosion. However, these iconic ecosystems have declined worldwide, and the Portuguese coast is no exception.

Currently, CIIMAR has several National and European projects focusing on the state and trends of the marine forests, how to best manage them and developing methods for reforestation. Some of them will be presented: FutureMARES – Climate Change and Future Marine Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (H2020), BlueForests – Fostering blue growth by bringing together ecologic and economic dynamics to rebuild Portuguese marine forests, and Blueforesting – Climate Resilient Marine Forests for a Sustainable Future (EEA grants). To ensure the input of policymakers and other stakeholders to the work we are doing and increase the uptake of the key results by decision-makers, we will engage with key stakeholders and present the work to be developed in these and other projects and gather their views on the expected results. This way, we can adapt our outputs as much as possible to ensure their applicability in real coastal management scenarios. We also hope to gather the stakeholders’ perspectives on our marine forests’ importance, state and trends and the needed knowledge to guarantee their management. This information will feed into the projects, ensuring the usefulness and applicability of the results.

Speakers:

sabel Sousa Pinto, Ciimar and University of Porto

Miguel Henriques, Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas

Francisco Arenas, Ciimar

Richard Bellerby, Niva, Norway

Know more about the event here.