[Coral-List] Friday "Reef Management Morning" at the ICRS -- discussions where your inputs are needed

[Tegan C. Hoffmann]

Dear All,
This is a topic I have been doing some work on the past few years. Last year
I wrote a report that many be helpful as you think about this topic. Below
is the Executive Summary of the Report. Here is a link to the full Report
http://www.tchoffmann.com/services14.html click on White Paper, Integrating
Science into Coastal Ocean Policy and Management.

Integrating Science into Coastal and Ocean Policy and Management: Barriers
and Solutions 

May 2007 C

A White Paper by T.C. Hoffmann & Associates, LLC 
In Coordination with the Woods Institute for the Environment 
at Stanford University

Executive Summary

Expert knowledge, research, and monitoring data and information are critical
inputs for the design of solutions to major coastal and ocean issues.
International agencies and intergovernmental organizations, as well as
national and state governments in the United States and around the world,
recognize that they have underinvested time and resources toward better
understanding and managing the coastal and ocean's vast resources. Leaders
of these diverse entities generally agree that actions to change governance
structures and improve coastal and ocean management must be science-based.
Informed and effective decisions are those based on the best scientific
principles and knowledge.  Using findings from research and drawing on brief
case studies, this white paper will suggest ways to integrate expert
knowledge, research, and monitoring data more effectively into coastal and
ocean policy and management. This paper will also provide high-level ideas,
insights, and recommendations for institutional leaders and key
policy-makers and managers supporting and collaborating with institutions
producing or promoting the integration of expert knowledge.

The first section, "Integrating Expert Knowledge into Coastal and Ocean
Policy and Management," identifies barriers to the successful integration of
expert knowledge into coastal and ocean policy and management. It also
presents an overview of how institutions share information and prioritize
their resources and efforts, as well as identifies some opportunities and
gaps in this process. The second section, "Restructuring & Repositioning,"
recommends ways that producers and users of knowledge can internally
restructure and externally reposition themselves to more effectively
collaborate with each other and ultimately inform coastal and ocean
policy-makers and managers more effectively. 

There are currently many challenges in bridging the gaps between the
producers and users of information. With these challenges come significant
opportunities to improve the integration of science into policy and
decision-making processes. Many of these opportunities are based on
improving understanding, communication, and collaboration between producers
and users of knowledge.  These collaborations need to happen at multiple
levels between: institutions, scientists and decision-makers, natural
scientists and social scientists, and scientists and the media.
Recommendations in this white paper for improving the integration of science
into coastal and ocean policy and management address cultural attitudes, the
tailoring of data and analysis, temporal coordination, communication around
resource-constraints, and funding mechanisms that encourage collaborative
work.  



Tegan Churcher Hoffmann, Ph.D
Principal
T.C. Hoffmann & Associates, LLC
www.tchoffmann.com
tegan at tchoffmann.com
Phone.Fax.510.655.7800
Cell.510. 847.3167
 

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-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of John McManus
Sent: July 06, 2008 7:54 PM
To: Coral List
Subject: [Coral-List] Friday "Reef Management Morning" at the ICRS --
discussions where your inputs are needed
Importance: High

Dear Colleagues,

 

There have been many calls for open discussions of coral reef issues at next
week's ICRS, and for opportunities to find out what needs to be done to
better protect the world's coral reefs. 

 

'Reef Management Morning" on Friday will provide those opportunities. 

 

Three consecutive events from 10:00 to 12:30 will each heavily emphasize
open and free discussion among all participants. The NOAA Coral Program
session will include presentations on the newly revised Coral Reef
Conservation Program of NOAA, with panelists and an open discussion. The
ITMEMS session will be a facilitated discussion focused on coral reef
management internationally, building on the results of three previous
international symposia on the topic. The session on Science and Science
Information Needs for Coral Reef Management will include presentations from
Caribbean and Indo-Pacific workshops on the topics, held last Fall and this
Spring, followed by a facilitated discussion designed to give participants a
voice in an upcoming publication on prioritizing these needs. 

 

The coral reef community has called for these opportunities, and we hope
that you will avail of them. This is your chance to have a voice in future
efforts to protect coral reefs. Please join us!

 

The sessions are described briefly below.  

 

 

NOAA Coral Program Forum: Translating Science into Management
Friday, July 11, 2008 , 10:00 - 11:00, Floridian Ballroom D
               The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) is a leader in the effort to
preserve reef ecosystems.  In late 2007, the CRCP solicited an external
review to assess the program's effectiveness in achieving its mandates and
to provide recommendations for improving its impact and performance.  In
this forum, senior NOAA officials and members of the science, management and
nongovernmental organization communities will hold a panel discussion
focused on one of the largest challenges facing effective reef conservation:
how to better integrate natural and social science with effective coral reef
management.  Improving the link between coral reef science and management is
major element of the external review's recommendations and the CRCP's plans
for the future, and is an issue that transcends the work of any one
organization. This forum is an opportunity for the CRCP's current and
potential future scientific and management partners, grantees, and
stakeholders to interact with NOAA leadership on the direction of coral reef
conservation in the United States.
 
ITMEMS - the translation of science into practical actions and strategies
for management






Facilitator:  Kristian Teleki and ICRAN






Friday, July 11, 1100-1145  Floridian Ballroom D
               This will be an open, facilitated discussion among those
present. All are invited.   
               The goal of the International Tropical Marine Ecosystems
Management Symposium (ITMEMS -  <http://www.itmems.org/> www.itmems.org) is
to develop the capacities of coastal and marine managers to implement
programs and projects that support the conservation and sustainable use of
coral reefs and related ecosystems at the local, national, regional and
global levels.  Integral to this is good coral reef science and the
translation of this science into practical actions and strategies for
management.  ICRS is an important opportunity to capture the current coral
reef and tropical marine ecosystem thinking and science, and feed this into
the next ITMEMS.  Likewise ITMEMS is an opportunity for managers to make
recommendations for input from the scientific community and identify needs
that should be filled by science. ICRS delegates are encouraged to consider
how their work could contribute to effective coral reef management and how
this can be achieved over short time scales for urgent issues (i.e. not
constrained by normal  publication timelines) and, over longer time scales,
to build time series to understand change and management of coral reefs and
human pressures that affect them.
 
 
"Science and Science Information Needs for Coral Reef Management"
Facilitator: John McManus. Panelists: Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri (Caribbean
Region) and Sheila Vergara (Indo-Pacific Region)
Friday, July 11, 11:45-12:30 Floridian Ballroon D
               Given the rapid decline of the world's coral reefs, it is
vital that decision-makers, stakeholders, and coral reef managers have ready
access to the best relevant scientific information available, and that
scientists work to provide the answers to questions critical to reef
management. As the world's premier gathering of coral reef scientists, the
ICRS is an ideal forum for identifying how scientific investigations and
information systems can be best focused to facilitate better coral reef
management.   This session will present the results of two international
pre-symposium workshops on these topics, held in the Caribbean and
Indo-Pacific respectively. Following a brief presentation of the workshop
findings, a facilitated discussion will provide opportunities for session
participants to contribute to the identification of priority needs. The
results will be made widely available via the Internet to reef scientists,
funding agencies, and the public."

 

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Additionally, don't forget to look at the "Ancillary Events" webpage. Open
workshops on Saturday and Sunday following the ICRS proper include:
 

Technology Tools for Ecosystem-Based Management of Coral Reefs
This free workshop will provide an overview of technology tools that can be
used for EBM in coral reef ecosystems and includes demonstrations and
information on additional resources and tools.
Saturday July 12, 2008 8:30-11:30AM
Organizer: Sarah Carr Email <mailto:sarah_carr at natureserve.org>  

Advanced Coral Tissue Slide Reading Workshop
Histological techniques in the study of hard and soft corals can provide
insights into coral taxonomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, and
reproduction. This 2-full day session, Saturday and Sunday, July 12th & 13th
(after the 11th ICRS) at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center
in Dania Beach, Florida. Registration includes transportation from
conference hotels to workshop, notebook containing overviews and case
reports, and breakfast, lunch & snacks. To register, contact Organizers Dr.
Esther Peters <mailto:esther.peters at verizon.net>  and Dr. Alison Moulding
<mailto:moulding at nova.edu> . Cost $100. 

Other events and invitational meetings and workshops are listed on that
webpage.
 
 

See you next week!

 

John

 

John W. McManus, PhD

Director, National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE)

Professor, Marine Biology and Fisheries

Coral Reef Ecology and Management Lab (CREM Lab)

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)

University of Miami, 4700 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, 33149

jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu      http://ncore.rsmas.miami.edu

 Phone: 305-421-4814   Fax: 305-421-4910

 

  "If I cannot build it, I do not understand it."

              --Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate

 

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