Representatives of the world’s governments meeting in Durban this week have been advised by scientists that urgent action is needed to reduce the vulnerability of communities worldwide likely to be worst affected by the impacts of climate change.

In a new scientific paper and book, leading marine researchers Dr Josh Cinner of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University, and Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) propose a novel framework for helping millions of people most at risk to cope with massive changes in their jobs, lives, and environment driven by the warming climate.

Their proposal comes as representatives of 194 nations gather in Durban, South Africa, today for the critical 17th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the signatories to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.

Based on a study of 1500 households in 29 coastal communities fringing the east African coast and islands of the western Indian Ocean, the researchers have developed a method for identifying the communities most vulnerable to climate change and prioritizing actions at local, national and international level to help them.

“In this region, climate change is not some distant possibility far into the future- it already happened when extreme coral bleaching killed 90% of the corals in some places,” says Dr Cinner.

“We looked first at exposure – how likely it was a community would experience an extreme event caused by climate change, such as mass coral bleaching. This can be affected by sea surface temperature, currents, prevailing winds, and other oceanographic conditions,” he explains. “Then we looked at the social components of people’s vulnerability – for example, whether they had alternative sources of food or employment. And finally we looked at their capacity to adapt to the changes inflicted by a shifting climate.

“Together these three factors define how vulnerable a community and individuals are to climate change,” adds Dr McClanahan.

“From there it is possible to identify the most appropriate actions that can be taken in the short, medium and long-term at local, national and global level to reduce that vulnerability, and equip these communities to cope better with what will happen to them.”

In a new paper in the journal Global Environmental Change, the researchers and their colleagues propose a systematic way to assess the vulnerability of coastal communities to loss of coral reefs and fish stocks due to climatic factors.

“We want people to understand that every community is different, that there are no ‘one-size fits all’ solutions when it comes to adapting to climate change,” Dr Cinner says. “Each situation is unique, requiring a flexible approach.”

“Hundreds of millions of people worldwide depend on coral reefs – for livelihoods in fishing and tourism, for food and for coastal protection,” says co-author on the study Dr. Tim Daw of the University of East Anglia and Stockholm Resilience Centre.

“However, not all reefs are equally vulnerable to impacts like bleaching, and not all communities are equally dependent on reefs for their living. Some have greater capacity to adapt to sudden changes than others.”

This heterogeneity creates different types of vulnerabilities in coastal communities, which in turn require specific approaches to reduce communities’ sensitivity to big changes and enhance their ability to cope, the researchers say.

In their book “Adapting to a Changing Environment – Confronting the Consequences of Climate Change” Cinner and McClanahan argue using data from a larger study of the Indian Ocean and Africa that confronting the challenges of climate change in the coming century will require strengthening of a society’s flexibility, assets, capacity to learn, and social organizations, as well as restricting or limiting its resource use.

This has to be done based on the context and vulnerability of the individual community, not in a broad-brush way, they argue.

“We studied communities that depend on coral reefs, because they typify those that are highly susceptible to climate change. However, our general approach applies equally to agricultural, desert, mountain and other communities, who will also be exposed to major changes in temperature and extreme events by the mid-century,” says Dr Cinner.

“We have created a framework which can help identify different types of vulnerability to major climatic impacts and provide policy makers with tangible actions to reduce it,” the researchers say.

“It will take a long time to implement global action to reduce carbon emissions, but action can be taken right away to help reduce the impacts on the world’s most vulnerable. COP17 provides a clear opportunity to make an early start.”

Their paper “Vulnerability of coastal communities to key impacts of climate change on coral reef fisheries” by J.E. Cinner, T.R. McClanahan, N.A.J. Graham, T.M. Daw, J. Maina, S.M. Stead, A. Wamukota, K. Brown and O. Bodin appears in the current issue of Global Environmental Change.

Their book “Adapting to a Changing Environment – Confronting the Consequences of Climate Change” is published by Oxford University Press, 2011. http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/EnvironmentTechnology/?view=usa&ci=9780199754489

The University of Cambridge and UNEP-WCMC have secured funding to provide full support to a PhD student for 3 years (subject to satisfactory progress) from 1 October 2012 under the Nereus Programme, a co-operation between The Nippon Foundation and The University of British Columbia, Canada. Nereus is a new programme designed to develop scientific capability for predicting future seafood production. The programme builds on international networking of scientists to communicate and bring about change to how we exploit the oceans in order for our children and grandchildren to enjoy seafood and experience a healthy ocean.

The goal to develop future ocean simulations is fundamentally dependent on the availability of reliable, spatially explicit databases of relevant data, which are global in extent and of appropriate spatial and temporal resolution to the policies and management decisions that they inform.

SECTION A

The Nippon Foundation Nereus Fellowship provides funding to enable PhD level research into a) exploring the transferability of methodological developments from the terrestrial to the marine environment and b) investigating how best to bring modelling and expert-based approaches together to improve species distributions. As such, this research proposes to:

1. Develop range maps using a number of algorithms, including adapting one or more from recent terrestrial science; and including expert-derived maps, and exploring the feasibility of using a Bayesian approach to the development of distribution maps using expert input as priors. This work will be highly collaborative with relevant partners.

2. Carry out blind reviews by experts of all of these distribution maps to explore the relative performance and limitations of the different algorithms, and use these reviews to rank algorithms and develop an improved approach;

3. Explore the relative reliability of expert judgment and modelling approaches to data poor problems, at a range of scales.

SECTION B

Consideration will normally be restricted to those who have obtained, or who have a strong prospect of obtaining, a first-class Honours degree (or its equivalent) and evidence of subsequent intellectual development – such as a Masters degree in a relevant field – will be taken into account. The prospective student should have extremely good computational and quantitative skills, preferably with experience in ecological niche modelling at large scales. An understanding of patterns and processes in marine ecology will be seen as advantageous. This will be a highly collaborative project and evidence of collaborative and interpersonal skills will be looked for in the successful applicant.

Candidates must have graduated at a University before October 2012 and be eligible to pay University fees at the ‘Home’ (UK/EU) rate. Applicants from overseas must, therefore, be able to demonstrate that they have the necessary funds to meet the shortfall between ‘Home’ and ‘Overseas’ funding. Prospective applicants from overseas should consult the Cambridge Trusts’ search facility:

http://www.cambridgetrusts.org/index.html

the Gates Cambridge Trust:

http://www.gatesscholar.org/

Suitably qualified candidates wishing to be considered for the Nereus Fellowship must apply to the Board of Graduate Studies, 4 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RZ, for admission to the University as a Graduate Student using the usual GRADSAF form. This is obtainable online, or in hard copy from the Board:

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/prospec/apply/applynow/

The GRADSAF form asks for a 2,000 word research proposal. For this part of the application, please copy and append Section A from this information sheet.

In addition to the application to the Board of Graduate Studies, candidates must submit to the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge: i) a covering letter stating why they are suitable for the project; ii) a CV; iii) a brief statement of research in relation to the Nereus project; and iv) the names of two academic referees who can be contacted by email. Incomplete applications will not be considered and it is important that referees supply a reference by the closing date. Departmental application documents should be sent to Ms. Gae Matthews, Graduate Administrator, Department of Geography, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN or via email to: gae.matthews@geog.cam.ac.uk, no later than 1200 noon UK time on Tuesday, 31st January 2012. Late applications will not be accepted.

It is expected that interviews will take place in Cambridge in February/March 2012. The successful candidate will commence their PhD studies on 1 October 2012.

Marine Affairs Program, Dalhousie University

The Master of Marine Management (MMM) is a one year professional, non-thesis and interdisciplinary graduate program designed for students who want to address solutions for marine management problems with interdisciplinary synthesis and integration through teamwork in research and planning. The student body, approximately 20 per annum, comprises a remarkable diversity of professionals and recent graduates from many backgrounds and disciplines. Faculty members associated with the Marine Affairs Program offer world class expertise from fifteen departments across two university campuses, several federal government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private sector companies, all focused on the ocean, coastal, and maritime sectors. Among our many strengths is the international nature of both our student body and faculty expertise. The Marine Affairs Program is based at Dalhousie University, the premier university in Atlantic Canada as well as Canada’s Ocean University and the home of many internationally renowned researchers and award-winning scholars.

Please visit our website for more information on our course offerings and the Marine Affairs Program. Applications are due 31 January 2011: http://marineaffairsprogram.dal.ca/

The Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans is calling for applications for the 2012 POGO-SCOR Visiting Fellowship scheme. The deadline for applications is 15 January 2012. Please note the earlier deadline compared to previous years; this is to allow more time for the fellowships to take place. However, the earlier announcement means that the 2012 fellowships are still subject to confirmation by the Annual POGO Meeting in January 2012.

The scheme is designed to promote training and capacity building leading towards a global observation scheme for the oceans, and is aimed at scientists, technicians, graduate students (PhD) and post-doctoral fellows involved in oceanographic work at centres in developing countries and countries with economies in transition (e.g. Commonwealth of Independent States, Eastern Europe).

Priority is given to applicants in early stages of career development. The fellowship offers the opportunity to visit other oceanographic centres for a short period (1 to 3 months) for training on any aspect of oceanographic observations, analyses, and interpretation. It provides financial support to cover the return airfare from the fellow’s home country to the host institution, and a contribution towards accommodation and subsistence for the period of the visit.

Please see attached flyer and application guidelines for more information, or go to: http://ocean-partners.org/training-and-education/pogo-scor-fellowship.

By Dr. Melckzedeck K. Osore, KCDP/KMFRI

On Friday 11^th November, 2011 a new initiative known as the Kenya Coastal Development Project (KCDP) was launched at a colorful ceremony held at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa, Kenya. KCDP was formally launched by the Minister for Fisheries Development – Honorable Amason Jeffah Kingi and attended by dignitaries from the entire coast of Kenya including Assistant Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, senior Government officials from various Ministries, and senior representatives of partner institutions that will collaborate with KMFRI in implementing KCDP.

These partners include Fisheries Department, Kenya Wildlife Services, Coast Development Authority, Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Kenya Forestry Services, National Environment Management Authority, Department of Physical Planning, Non Governmental Organizations, and Community Based Organizations among others.

Fisheries and other sectors in the coast of Kenya will benefit from US$ 40 million boost received from the World Bank and the Global Environment Fund through KCDP. The Project aims to transform livelihoods of people living in the Kenya coast zone by improving their standards of living and creating wealth through sustainable utilization of coastal and marine resources.

For further information about KCDP, download http://www.wiomsa.net/images/stories/KCDP_web.pdf

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the global conservation organization, seeks a Program Officer (PO) to plan, manage, communicate and implement program priorities and activities in the Coastal East Africa Program (CEA) of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique:

• · Works directly with project personnel, grantees, donors, consultants, and others to facilitate coordination, communication, and regular reporting. Involved with outreach to donors from corporate, non-profit, and governmental sectors.
• · Researches and develops fundraising proposals and plans for funding from private foundations and/or government aid agencies.
• · Contributes to the development of regional or programmatic planning.
• · Works with project personnel, grantees, consultants, and others to facilitate coordination, communication, and regular reporting.
• · Reviews the performance outcomes and status of all activities and evaluates and reports these results, as well as recommendations for corrective action.

A Bachelor’s degree is required. A graduate degree in a related field is preferred, such as natural resources management, environmental science, international development, or conservation policy. Position requires a minimum of five years of experience in program management, biodiversity conservation, or natural resources management as well as an understanding of international conservation issues. Two years work experience in Africa is required. Ability to work effectively as a team member with a wide range of individuals. Willingness to travel up to 25% of time to the region is required. Fluency in Portuguese and/or Swahili is desirable. Must be eligible to work in the U.S. No visa sponsorship or international relocation will be provided.

AA/EOE Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. To submit cover letter and resume please visit http://www.worldwildlife.org/careers job # 12070