Speakers

Nic Bax

Marine Input to Headline Indicators of the CBD Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework 

Nic Bax developed and led the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub for the University of Tasmania, from 2007-2020 and represents CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship at national and international marine biodiversity dialogues and regularly represents the Australian Government at meetings of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). He developed and co-chairs the IOC-UNESCO Global Ocean Observing System, Biology and Ecosystems Panel, works with the Secretariat to the CBD on marine monitoring, indicators, and place-based management. He represents Australia on the IOC Capacity Development Working Group. He is a member of the National Marine Science Committee and works at the highest levels of the Department of Agriculture Water and Environment.

David Obura

Some Reflections on Marine Indicators and their Readiness in the Global Biodiversity Framework

David Obura is a Founding Director of CORDIO East Africa, a knowledge organization supporting the sustainability of coral reef and marine systems in the Western Indian Ocean. CORDIO takes research to management and policy, builds capacity, and works with stakeholders, managers, and policymakers. David’s primary research is on coral reef resilience, particularly to climate change, and the biogeography of the Indian Ocean. David has also played regional and global roles in the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), is a member of the GOOS Biology and Ecosystem Panel and of the GEO BON MBON Steering Committee and Chairs the IUCN Coral Specialist Group.

David works at the boundary between science and action with a focus on developing country contexts where conservation and development need to come together. He works from the local scale, with communities and protected area organizations where ecological degradation impacts people directly, through to national, regional, and global scales, where decisions are made affecting sustainability up to planetary scales. As a result of the Covid pandemic, 2020 and 2021 have emerged as the two years when the global community is suddenly aware of the planetary-scale vulnerability, and at the same time, global conventions are making significant decisions on the next ten years for biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development.

Moderator

Isabel Sousa Pinto

Prof Isabel Sousa Pinto has a PhD in Marine Biology (phycology) from the UCSB, USA. She is a Professor at the University of Porto and Head of the Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation group at Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR). She is also member of its Board of Directors. Her main research has been on marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and how is impacted by climate change, invasive species and other anthropogenic drivers. She has a particular focus on the seaweed flora as well as on algal ecophysiology, cultivation and promotion of its sustainable use and was member of the POGO working group “Planning the implementation of a global long-term observing and data sharing strategy for macroalgal communities”. She is also working on the science-policy – society interfaces and on promoting ocean literacy. She is serving in different European and International steering Committees as Euromarine, European Ocean Observation System (EOOS) and AtlantOS to develop the biodiversity component of the Ocean Observations and its integration with the other observation components and with the European Marine Board in to identify gaps in biological observations and produce recommendations to fill them. At global level she is the co-chair of MBON – Marine Biodiversity Observation Network from GEO BON.

She was part of the Portuguese delegation to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2006-2011) and has been since working with IPBES – the Intergovernamental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, was the Portuguese Representative in this platform until 2018, when was elected to its Multidisciplinary Expert Panel, a panel that supervises the scientific work of the Platform, becoming later also co-chair of its Knowledge and Data task force. Besides more than 180 scientific publications, she was a Coordinating Lead Author for the Regional Assessemnt of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Europe and Central Asia of IPBES.

We will continue with the Networking Fridays during the next months. More information about future sessions as well as presentations and videos from previous sessions can be found here. Please do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.  Twitter Hashtag: #netfridays. Expect some very exciting mornings, afternoons or evenings, depending on where you are…

If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.