Blogs from the Center for the Blue Economy 2018 Summer Fellows
My last post ended with a cliffhanger, but after a brief hiatus, I am back to reveal the economic model and future plan for OneReef in Indonesia. After returning to Bali from the field I spent a majority of my time completing an activity report titled “Enhancing enforcement and building capacity in Dampier Strait, Raja Ampat, West Papua”. The completed report was shared with the team at OneReef, Rare Indonesia, and will be used for funding opportunities in the future. Read More
It’s been a great summer. School has restarted and we’ve began new marine projects out in Monterey. But, back in Galway, our team came across a lot of findings and interesting data, lacuna for research, and a plethora of memories along the way. This article will be a little summary of what myself and our team found in our synthesis report, and what is next on the docket. First, take a look at a parting shot of Galway’s River Corrib on a typical Irish Summer day, (it wasn’t really cloudy most of the summer, but only the last two weeks of my stay there), the river runs out into the Galway Bay, and further, into the great Atlantic Ocean.
The Claddagh, the ring of houses around the River Corrib, and into the alway Bay.
Just coming from my side of the story, this opportunity helped me learn much, and I feel that there will be a lot more to come in the sector of deep-sea research in the future. Hopefully, I’m a part of it! It all begins with one step, and one action. These cascades into larger decisions which inevitably play a role in shaping the life each one of us live. This was but one of those steps. Join me on the next one.
All these paths we choose, no matter which direction we go, leads us to formative experiences. Sometimes they seem impossible, or barely real, but oh, dear reader, they are possible. I know that the next class of OCRM students here may read this, or may not, but mine, and my colleagues summer blogs can help to prepare for a productive summer. But for now, stay with me and read a little more about the reflection of what the Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit, and yours truly, accomplished this summer.
It has been a few weeks since I returned to Monterey from a long summer spent in the mangrove forest of Rincon del Mar, Colombia. I took a risk by choosing to work on a rural first-of-its-kind conservation project for South America over a well vetted ‘big box’ agency or office job, and although it didn’t turn out how I had envisioned, I don’t regret my decision at all, especially after a few weeks of reflection. I set high expectations for myself and I wish I could say that I left Rincon with a pristine plastic-free mangrove and a thriving fishing community, but that is not the case. Instead, I received a strong dose of adversity and a taste of what it might actually take to protect our ocean and coastal resources worldwide, especially in all the areas so far away from the spotlight. In hindsight, this may have just been the most valuable experience possible – a “forward failure” some might say. It is with the utmost gratitude that I thank the Center for the Blue Economy and its donors for making this enriching opportunity possible, this summer was truly unforgettable and something that will forever inform my future work. Read More
People connect with national marine sanctuaries in many different ways. For example, a surfer may view a sanctuary as a recreational escape; a fisherman, their livelihood; a vacationing family, part of a tradition; a local, a place for relaxation. To explore this idea further, I set out to hear from those who engage with national marine sanctuaries. My internship with NOAA specifically took me to the five national marine sanctuaries along the West Coast in Washington and California.
At each sanctuary I spoke with fishermen, sanctuary staff, visitors, indigenous people, sanctuary volunteers, and locals to better understand how they feel and identify with the place. Afterwards, I produced an acrylic painting for each sanctuary to summarize and celebrate the species, activities, and emotions mentioned during the conversations. I decided to paint my findings, because art can showcase the ocean’s beauty, as well as capture complex stories, relationships and emotions that are otherwise difficult to express. Here are some overviews of the five sanctuaries I visited. I am still completing some of the paintings. Read More
Being resource constrained is the reality for nearly all organizations, regardless of industry, mission, or size. Non-profit organizations, however, face the additional challenges of being mission-driven, not cash-flow generating with big plans and small budgets. In working with a small, San Francisco-based non-profit this summer designing a strategy to scale their organization’s reach on a global scale, I learned a lot about the questions to ask and had the following thoughts:
Photo by Fahrul Azmi
Over the past few months, I have had an opportunity to work on projects mostly focused around enabling businesses to be more sustainable in their marine cargo supply chains. While this work was extremely interesting, the overwhelming majority of it had more to do with learning the languages of supply chain procurement, business logistics, and collaborations. Here is a brief summary of what I have learned:
Photo by Josh Spires
Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash
Everyone who has spent time in or around a port city has seen one: a massive container ship, loaded high with containers bound for various markets near and far. Despite their visibility in port areas, most consumers (and regulators and environmentalists) demonstrate a lack of understanding of just how vital this industry is to our economy, environment, and goals to build a more just and sustainable world for all.
Today, the international shipping industry is responsible for the transport of around 90% of world trade, about 2.5% of global GHG emissions, and is the underpinning of our globalized economy. As companies companies continue to globalize and goods continue to need to be moved between various production centers and consumers, the growth of the container shipping industry is only expected to keep pace. Studies suggest that depending on future economic and energy developments, shipping emissions are set to increase between 50% and 250% by 2050. (EU Commission)
Photo by Freddie Collins on Unsplash
These findings have been determined by regulators and shippers (those who own the cargo) to be incompatible with both their public and private-sector commitments during COP21 in Paris in 2015, and thus the spotlight has been shown squarely on this previously out-of-sight, out-of-mind industry to make sure to clean up their act. In 2015, the EU Commission and Parliament implemented their Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification program (EU MRV), requiring ship owners and operators to annually monitor, report and verify CO2 emissions for vessels larger than 5,000 gross tonnage (GT) calling at any EU and EFTA (Norway and Iceland) port beginning on January 1, 2018. Similarly, the IMO announced in 2018 that they would also be requiring the reporting of fuel consumption data for any vessels over 5,000 GT making international voyages beginning on January 1, 2019.
There are two pieces of good news here:
Photo by Mikkel Jonck Schmidt on Unsplash
First, it must be said that although regulation has been slow to catch-up to mandate a change in industry behavior, there is already a massive push for sustainability that is coming from within the marine cargo value-chain itself. Shippers – those companies like Nike, H&M, Ikea, Walmart, etc. who own the cargo and contract with carriers like Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, etc. who own the vessels – have become increasingly sophisticated when it comes to understanding their emissions from operations as a result of both public and shareholder pressures. Further, these companies are now finding themselves in need of better understanding their emissions from transportation in order to continue to build a more complete picture of their GHG footprint and many are now even integrating sustainability metrics as key decision factors in procurement decisions. These business leaders engage with each other through the Clean Cargo Working Group, a collaborative initiative supported by BSR that was the first ever body to develop a standardized reporting framework from marine cargo shipping built around enabling sustainability-focused business decision.
Second, advances in both energy and network technologies have opened the door for massive efficiency gains, poised to revolutionize the landscape of container shipping before 2050. Alternative fuels such as HVO, LNG, Hydrogen, and yes – even electrification – are already popping up in the fleet composition of global carriers. Further, IoT-sensor-based monitoring, block-chain-enabled port management, and AI-assisted vessel operation and terminal logistics projects are already operational in Hamburg, Los Angeles, Rotterdam and the new IBM-Maersk joint venture TradeLens. According to the IMO, these existing operational and technological advances have the ability to reduce sector emissions by over 75% if fully implemented, and are a crucial step towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of this industry.