Abstract
The ocean’s capacity to sustain life and support human wellbeing is increasingly threatened by intensifying climate change that exacerbates other non-climatic human stressors such as overfishing, pollution, and invasive species. Solutions to achieve ‘desirable’ ocean futures that support climate mitigation and adaptation, sustainable food production, and biodiversity conservation are urgently needed. Here, we examine the pathways through which portfolios of solution options could contribute to solving the challenges at the nexus of climate, food and biodiversity. We first examine the compounded risks from climate change-caused impacts and multiple non-climatic stressors on marine ecosystems and their dependent human communities. We then explore how selected solution options can help address these compounded risks and contribute to climate, food and biodiversity goals, as well as their key uncertainties and potential trade-offs. We highlight how scenarios and models with participatory approaches can be used to facilitate the co-development of climate-resilient pathways for ocean futures that bring together knowledge and perspectives from stakeholders, right-holders and knowledge holders. Overall, this presentation provides insights into the key considerations in developing climate-resilient nature futures for the ocean.
Biography
Dr. William Cheung is a Professor and Director of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, the University of British Columbia. He is also a Canada Research Chair in Ocean Sustainability and Global Change. He studies the nexus of food-climate-biodiversity in the ocean. He is an international leader in developing and using scenarios and models to explore solution options and pathways to desirable and sustainable ocean futures. His work addresses policy-relevant research questions and cuts across multiple disciplines, from oceanography to ecology, economics and social sciences. His research ranges from local to global scales.
He is the Principal Investigator of the Changing Ocean Research Unit at UBC. He serves as Director for a 6-year SSHRC Partnership “Solving the Sustainability Challenges at the Food-Climate-Biodiversity Nexus”. William is actively involved in international and regional initiatives that bridge science and policy. For example, he served as Coordinating Lead Author for the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). He serves as Associate Editor for Global Change Biology and Ecological Society of America’s Frontier in Ecology and the Environment.
William obtained his BSc and M.Phil. from the University of Hong Kong. He completed his PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies at UBC. From 2009 to 2011, he was Lecturer in Marine Ecosystem Services in the University of East Anglia.
