Fri, November 4, 2016 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH LABORATORY (AERL). Speaker: William Cheung, Associate Professor, IOF; and Director (Science), NF-Nereus Project
In Paris last December, the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels - the Paris Agreement. However, effort required to achieve the Paris Agreement global warming target is substantial. Demonstrating the benefits of moving towards the Paris Agreement’s target may encourage countries to commit more ambitious plans for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and promote voluntary actions from private sectors. Climate change is affecting marine biodiversity and ecosystem services such as food provision, posing substantial risk to the wellbeing of coastal communities. In this presentation, using maximum catch potential and species turnover as climate-risk indicators for fisheries, I show that meeting the Paris Agreement will have large benefits for fisheries. The biggest climate risk-reduction will be in the Indo-Pacific and Arctic regions when the Paris Agreement is achieved. If our society successfully embarks the pathway to achieve the Paris Agreement target, climate-risks on fisheries in the next few decades are likely to be minimized through adaptation; the latter includes effective fisheries management and habitat protection. The co-benefits between climate-risk reduction and achieving other fisheries objectives are large which highlight the importance of mainstreaming climate change issues in fisheries management.
Dr. William Cheung is an Associate Professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, UBC and the Director (Science) of the Nippon Foundation-UBC Nereus Program. His main research areas include understanding the responses and vulnerabilities of marine ecosystems and fisheries to global change, and examining trade-offs in managing and conserving living marine resources. His works cut across multiple disciplines, from oceanography to ecology, economics and social sciences, and range from local to global scales.
Location: AERL 120
IOF Seminars: Invited speakers present the latest research in a wide range of disciplines related to freshwater systems, the oceans and fisheries. These seminars draw a diverse audience, leading to thought-provoking discussions and a sharing of new ideas and perspectives.