Mapping Ocean Wealth

This document describes a major new initiative to develop detailed and spatially explicit accounting of the value of marine ecosystem services at different scales. This information will inform key decision-makers in sectors ranging from international development to insurance and extractive industries to engineering. The Nature Conservancy's vision is to change perception and utilization of marine and coastal ecosystems. Working with stakeholders, it will catalyse a transformation in ocean management toward a paradigm based on explicit understanding of how and where "ocean wealth" is built, stored and generated

Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia

Draws on detailed information to analyze current threats to coral reefs across Southeast Asia and provides an economic valuation of what will be lost if destructive fishing, over-fishing, and marine based and inland pollution coastal development continue

Atlas of Ocean Wealth

The Atlas of Ocean Wealth is the largest collection to date of information about the economic, social and cultural values of coastal and marine habitats from all over the world. It is a synthesis of innovative science, led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with many partners around the world. Through these efforts, they've gathered vast new datasets from both traditional and less likely sources.The work includes more than 35 novel and critically important maps that show how nature's value to people varies widely from place to place. They also illustrate nature's potential. These maps show that one can accurately quantify the value of marine resources. Further, by enumerating such values, one can encourage their protection or enhancement for the benefit of people all around the world. In summary, it clearly articulates not just that we need nature, but how much we need it, and where

The New Blue Economy: the Future of Sustainability

The world’s ocean is the world’s life support. Many human activities have defined a negative relationship with the ocean. Simply put: we dump too much bad stuff in, and we take too much good stuff out. The traditional ocean economy—those ocean-based and ocean-related activities from which humans derive economic benefit— did not acknowledge or honor the ocean’s natural services, nor its finite capacity to take human abuse without undermining those services on which we depend. The “new blue economy” is the term of art for identifying those activities that improve the human relationship with the ocean and for aligning our systems of accounting and metrics to both define and enhance our ocean-positive economy. It also allows for us to account for “eco-system services” (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural) provided by the ocean to plants and animals (including humans). What will it take to define the new blue economy with metrics and definitions that are universally understood? First, the natural services of the ocean must be acknowledged and accounted for. Second, we must define what human activities comprise the “new blue economy,” and integrate those definitions into our standard accounting practices globally. Third, we must act to support and enhance those ocean-positive activities so that we achieve a more sustainable relationship with the ocean so that it can continue to provide the goods and services that sustain us. These steps are under way around the world and can serve as the foundation of a broader effort to truly achieve a positive human relationship with the ocean in ways that success (and enhanced economic, environmental, and human health) can be accounted for, measured, and sustained

Attaining Aichi Target 11: How Well Are Marine Ecosystem Services Covered by Protected Areas?

The spatial coverage of marine and coastal protected areas worldwide has shown a rapid increase in recent years. Over 32% of the world's coral reefs and over 36% of the world's mangrove forests now fall within protected areas. However, simple measures of extent are insufficient for assessing progress toward achieving global targets. Notably, the CBD Aichi Target 11 calls for 'at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services' to be protected. There is, therefore, an urgent need to assess how well protected areas cover these areas of importance for ecosystem services

Impacts of trait anxiety on attention and feature binding in visual working memory

In their Attentional Control Theory (ACT), Eysenck et al. (2007) suggested that anxiety impacts top-down and bottom-up attentional processes. Elsewhere, Hitch et al. (2020) have posited that both top-down and bottom-up attention are key components of visual working memory. Although there is some existing evidence that trait anxiety disrupts visual working memory (e.g., Moreno et al., 2015; Spalding et al., 2021), investigations of the relationships amongst anxiety, attention, and working memory remain limited. Further research is needed to determine the degree to which experiences of anxiety are related to attention, and how these experiences could affect working memory. The aim of this research was to determine attentional factors that influence feature binding in visual working memory, and how these may interact with self-reported trait anxiety. Studies 1 and 2 respectively assessed the role of cognitive strategies (prioritisation) and suffix presentation (interference) in memory performance. In each case, there were no significant effects of anxiety observed. Accounting for potential individual differences in working memory capacity, which may be affected by anxiety, Studies 3 and 4 assessed whether cognitive load (low vs high), memory type (shape vs binding), or memory set size (three vs four items) affected performance and interacted with anxiety. Results supported previous research (Spalding et al., 2021), whereby moderate-to-high levels of self-reported trait somatic anxiety were associated with reduced binding memory. Moreover, trait cognitive anxiety was associated with improved individual feature memory. Findings suggest that higher levels of anxiety may be associated with enhanced visual perception, but also reduced working memory capacity. This supports the assumption in ACT that anxiety diminishes cognitive performance by occupying executive resources and facilitating perceptual processing. Future research should aim to develop on the novel findings of this work to better determine the specific experiences of anxiety that may impact cognitive performance.In their Attentional Control Theory (ACT), Eysenck et al. (2007) suggested that anxiety impacts top-down and bottom-up attentional processes. Elsewhere, Hitch et al. (2020) have posited that both top-down and bottom-up attention are key components of visual working memory. Although there is some existing evidence that trait anxiety disrupts visual working memory (e.g., Moreno et al., 2015; Spalding et al., 2021), investigations of the relationships amongst anxiety, attention, and working memory remain limited. Further research is needed to determine the degree to which experiences of anxiety are related to attention, and how these experiences could affect working memory. The aim of this research was to determine attentional factors that influence feature binding in visual working memory, and how these may interact with self-reported trait anxiety. Studies 1 and 2 respectively assessed the role of cognitive strategies (prioritisation) and suffix presentation (interference) in memory performance. In each case, there were no significant effects of anxiety observed. Accounting for potential individual differences in working memory capacity, which may be affected by anxiety, Studies 3 and 4 assessed whether cognitive load (low vs high), memory type (shape vs binding), or memory set size (three vs four items) affected performance and interacted with anxiety. Results supported previous research (Spalding et al., 2021), whereby moderate-to-high levels of self-reported trait somatic anxiety were associated with reduced binding memory. Moreover, trait cognitive anxiety was associated with improved individual feature memory. Findings suggest that higher levels of anxiety may be associated with enhanced visual perception, but also reduced working memory capacity. This supports the assumption in ACT that anxiety diminishes cognitive performance by occupying executive resources and facilitating perceptual processing. Future research should aim to develop on the novel findings of this work to better determine the specific experiences of anxiety that may impact cognitive performance

Reefs at Risk Revisited

Updates estimated threats to coral reefs from human activities, such as overfishing and coastal development, as well as global climate change by type of threat and region. Outlines social and economic implications and approaches to sustainable management

Forests and Carbon: A Synthesis of Science, Management, and Policy for Carbon Sequestration in Forests

The goal of this volume is to provide guidance for land managers and policymakers seeking to understand the complex science and policy of forest carbon as it relates to tangible problems of forest management and the more abstract problems of addressing drivers of deforestation and negotiating policy frameworks for reducing CO2 emissions from forests. It is the culmination of three graduate seminars at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies focused on carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems and their role in addressing climate change

Mangrove Restoration Potential: A global map highlighting a critical opportunity

Rapid losses of mangroves over the past 50 years have had negative consequences on the environment, the climate, and humanity, through diminished benefits such as carbon storage, coastal protection and fish production. Restoration of mangrove forests is possible, and has already been undertaken in many settings, but such efforts have been piecemeal, and many have failed. The current work describes the findings from an entirely new effort to locate and map, on a global scale, the places where mangroves can be restored, and to calculate the potential benefits from such restoration. The work has generated the Mangrove Restoration Potential Map, which provides a critical tool for encouraging restoration and enabling robust, data-driven policy changes and investments.This work forms part of a project supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundesta