Just a reminder! On Thursday evening July 11th, the UH Sea Grant Hanauma Bay Education Program continues its public outreach series at the City and County of Honolulu’s Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. Thursday July 11, Exploring Social-Ecological Interactions in Hawaiian Coral Reefs: Implications for Managing Towards Sustainability Dr. Jack Kittinger, Social Science Fellow, Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University Human populations worldwide are highly reliant on the ocean and its resources for sustenance, livelihoods, and cultural continuity. Human activities in ocean environments have, however, resulted in significant impacts to ocean health and diminishing returns to society from these ecosystems. Despite broad recognition of the human role in ocean degradation, the vast majority of research focuses on the biophysical rather than the human dimensions of coral reef ecosystems, limiting our understanding of social relationships with these environments and potential solutions for managing toward sustainability. In this talk, Dr. Kittinger will provide an overview of social-ecological relationships, with a focus on coral reefs in the Hawaiian Islands. First, Jack will report findings from historical research on coral reef fisheries, starting first at the species level and then aggregating upwards to comprehensive reconstructions of human-environmental relationships, highlighting the implications of historical research for current management challenges. Next, he will shift to research on contemporary social-ecological relationships, focusing on data-poor, tropical fisheries in indigenous Hawaiian communities. He will share novel methods and findings from participatory fishery assessments and recent efforts to quantitatively link fisheries ecology, ecosystem services, and community well being at the local level. Finally, he will discuss his research on marine resource governance and policy, including research assessing the challenges and opportunities for social data in fisheries assessments and planning, social and ecological benefits of community-based and co-management governance approaches, and translating concepts from social-ecological systems research into actionable strategies that managers can implement. He will conclude with his own personal views on how integrated social-ecological research can help manage coral reefs toward more sustainable outcomes, and roles researchers can play to ‘move beyond the science’ in working toward solutions. As always, these events begin at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday evening in the theater at the Hanauma Bay Education Center. Events are free and open to the public, with no charge for parking after 5:30 p.m. We hope to see you on Thursday evening! These programs are supported and funded by the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation. For more information on UH Sea Grant Hanauma Bay Education Program events and activities, navigate to the “Calendar of Events” located at hanaumabayeducation.org.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 02:18:09 +0000
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