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Navigating Turbulent Times: Adaptive Strategies for Ocean-Climate Solutions


Navigating Turbulent Times: Adaptive Strategies for Ocean-Climate Solutions

Tuesday, September 23rd | 9:00 aM – 12:00 pM
NYC Bar Association - 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036

Work to design, test, evaluate and advance solutions at the ocean-climate nexus is already hard; how much harder is it now due to recent changes in US and international politics?

This event will explore both new headwinds and new opportunities emerging on the international stage, divided into two related panels, with time for Q/A and discussion after each.

The first panel will provide insight into some new opportunities and challenges for ocean-climate solutions in the international arena. The second panel will explore in more detail how practitioners in different sectors of ocean-based climate solutions are adjusting to these new conditions and provide some ideas on what researchers, industry, funders, NGOs, and others can do to adapt.  These interventions will be organized around Ocean Visions’ 4-part agenda to stabilize the climate and restore the ocean: Reduce, Remove, Repair, and Reach. 

Speakers

  • Brad Ack, CEO, Ocean Visions (Moderator)
  • Liz Burdock, Executive Director, Oceantic Network
  • Anna Marsden, Managing Director, Great Barrier Reef Foundation
  • Christopher Neidl, Carbon Removal Lead, High-Level Climate Champions
  • Ben Rubin, Executive Director, Carbon Business Council
  • Korey Silverman-Roati, Senior Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
  • Mark Symes, Director of the Exploring Climate Cooling Program, Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA)
  • Leonardo Valenzuela Pérez, Director of International Partnerships, Ocean Visions
  • Steve Volz, Assistant Administrator, NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information System (currently on administrative leave)

Schedule

  • 9:00 AM: Coffee and mingling

  • 9:30 AM: Welcome and opening comments – Brad Ack

  • 9:40 AM: New opportunities in the changing international legal environment – ICJ, ITLOS and others. This brief will cover some positive recent events, most notably the recent ICJ and ITLOS rulings and what they mean for those of us working on ocean-climate solutions. –  Korey Silverman-Roati

  • 9:47 AM:  Updates from the US war on climate and ocean sciences – Overview talk on the systems we have come to rely on; how this Administration is dismantling those; and steps we could take now to mitigate the impact and build a more resilient system. – Steve Volz

  • 9:56 AM: How is the rest of the world moving forward on climate – UNFCC, emerging state leaders and a look ahead to COP30 and beyond. – Chris Neidl

  • 10:04 AM:  Q&A

  • 10:20 AM: News and Views from the Field – How are the practitioners in key areas of ocean-based climate action adjusting and planning for the coming years?

    • Reduce: Navigating setbacks to offshore wind and other MREL. – Liz Burdock

    • Remove – How is the CDR/mCDR sector adjusting and adapting to the new environment and challenges?  Where in the world is mCDR most active? – Ben Rubin

    • Repair: The UK’s emerging leadership on Climate Interventions Research – origin of the Cooling Program, goals and objectives of the RFP, examples of projects selected and how this fits into a larger global context of climate action. – Mark Symes

    • Repair: Pioneering new conservation approaches on the Great Barrier Reef – from MCB to Coral IVF – no stone left unturned. – Anna Marsden

    • Reach: Leadership from Global South leadership – How have we seen the global south stepping up to ocean climate solutions? Some examples and lessons from GEOS. – Leonardo Valenzuela Pérez

  • 10:45 AM: Open Q&A and comment session

  • 11:15 AM: Closing remarks

  • 11:20 AM – 12:00 PM: Community mingling

Register