Changing Oceans
Marcelina Halina Łękawska
Resilience and Adaptation of Coastal Ecosystems to Climate Change
- WELCOME -
Welcome to my website outlining the project that I am carrying out under the R&A International Scholarship. Here you can read about the aims of my project, the locations where I am working, the organisations that I am parterning with, as well as check out detailed updates on my activities and reflections along the journey on the blog. This project is taking place between August 2023 and August 2024, and I will be regularly updating the website with new content as the project develops, so look out for updates as the year progresses!
Coastal ecosystems are at the forefront of climate change. They represent significant carbon stores, the protection of which is important for limiting the impact of greenhouse gasses, they provide storm protection for coastal communities, and produce numerous additional ecosystem services on which we rely such as fishing, tourism and shipping. However, due to anthropogenic activities coastal ecosystems are increasingly challenged by issues such as sea level warming, ocean acidification, overfishing and coastal development.
With generous funding from the R&A Foundation I will spend 12 months exploring various approaches to understanding the role of coastal ecosystems in climate change adaptation and mitigation, learning methodologies for ecosystem protection, management and active restoration. Through this project I hope to highlight amazing marine conservation initiatives taking place around the world, as well as to gain the knowledge and skills to pursue a career making a meaningful contribution to marine protection.
Project Themes
1.
Blue Carbon
I will explore the role of coastal ecosystems in carbon sequestration and the importance of this for climate change mitigation.
Across my project I will be taking sediment samples from various marine ecosystems to understand how much carbon they store, how this is influenced by changes to the environment, and how active habitat restoration efforts can increase carbon sequestration capacities.
Understanding how much carbon is stored in coastal ecosystems is important as oftentimes they store more carbon than terrestrial forests, yet are often overlooked in this important contribution to climate regulation. By collecting evidence about their importance in carbon sequestration additional evidence and finances for the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems can be generated.
3.
Sustainable Development
Marine environments face a large pressure from human activities including for example fishing and shipping. However, these are not activities that we can live without as we rely on marine resources for our survival.
Throughout my project I will learn from various organisations developing strategies and policies for the sustainable use of marine space, learning about how we can alter fishing practices to limit the growing challenge of overfishing.
2.
Climate Change Adaptation
Although climate change mitigation is the most action to avoid unprecedented changes to our environmental and human systems climate change is happening, most prominently in the oceans, where irreversible temperature increases are underway and threatening the majority of world coral reefs ecosystems.
Even if we meet all international climate change targets on time, ocean temperatures will continue to increase. In light of this challenge I will explore methods for encouraging faster climate change adaptation in coral reefs, learning various methods for encouraging coral reef re-growth and resistance to thermal stress.
4.
Coastal Communities
I will visit and work with various coastal community organisations from across the world, learning about the similarities and differences in the challenges they face being at the forefront of climate change impacts, as well as the various approaches they take to addressing them.
Through working with community organisations I will focus my project on realistic solutions that can be undertaken by conservation groups with small budgets, learning about the importance of fundraising and collaboration for success.
ROUTE MAP
Check out the blog for details about my project development at each location!
If you have any questions about the project, please do not hesitate to contact me!
