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The Anthropocene Ocean: challenges and prospects for ocean sustainability

January 27, 2023 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Free

Speaker: Dr. Jean-Baptiste Jouffray
Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

Humans have become a dominant force of planetary change. This epoch, referred to as the Anthropocene, implies profound alterations to the Earth’s marine and terrestrial ecosystems upon which so many people depend. The prospect of an era of blue growth, in particular, poses unprecedented sustainability and governance challenges to the ocean, as marine ecosystems face cumulative pressures from local human impacts, global climate change, and distal socioeconomic drivers. This new phase in humanity’s use of the ocean, dubbed the “Blue Acceleration”, exhibits a phenomenal rate of change over the last 30 years, with a sharp acceleration characterising the onset of the 21st century, in stark contrast to the slow pace at which new policy is being developed. But this scramble for the seas also poses issues of equity and benefit sharing: if there is a rush for the ocean, then who is winning? And who is being left behind? This seminar will explore what the Anthropocene means for the ocean and discuss how to approach ocean sustainability at the science-policy-practice interface.

Bio

Jean-Baptiste’s research focuses on the interlinked social, economic and ecological challenges that shape the new global ocean context – exploring what the Anthropocene means for the ocean, what it entails for how we study marine social-ecological systems and, essentially, what can be done to improve sustainability. His work involves inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, ranging from indicators for effective coral reef management to the global seafood industry, the role of transnational corporations, and whether there could be entry points for sustainability considerations into financial mechanisms. Jean-Baptiste has a background in natural science with a BSc in Biology of Organisms, Populations and Ecosystems from University Paul-Sabatier (France), an MSc in Ecology from Stockholm University (Sweden), and a PhD in Sustainability Science from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University and Global Economic Dynamics and Biosphere programme at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.