About this course: Focusing on the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of the world, this course will introduce the concept and practice of ecosystem-based management. LMEs occupy areas of coastal ocean at least 200 000 km² or greater in size. These coastal waters produce 12.6 trillion USD in ecosystem goods and services annually and are vitally important for billions of people around the globe. Because LMEs are bounded by ocean features and are globally linked, management of human activities needs to occur in an integrated fashion across political boundaries and economic sectors (e.g. fishing, shipping, energy, tourism, and mining.) This represents a new type of management approached - shifting from single sector-based to multi-sector assessment and management within the spatial domain of the world's 66 Large Marine Ecosystems. There is global high-level support for this new approach and in this course, we will introduce the concepts and tools for assessing and managing LMEs. Together, leaders and experts in a global movement to recover and sustain the goods and services of LMEs will introduce you to the mechanisms used for assessment (Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis), planning and implementation (Strategic Action Programme). Based on recent activities in implementation and practice of the LME approach in 22 projects around the globe, we will showcase examples of effective management at this scale, and highlight the challenges and issues. By the end of the online course, we hope you will be able to actively use this knowledge to advance sustainable development of the world’s oceans. The course was created with the support and input of: the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), UNESCO-IOC and IW:LEARN.
Who is this class for: The primary audience will be working professionals involved in management of Large Marine Ecosystems in Africa and the rest of the world. Others who would find this course useful are people involved in policy making, environmental regulation and management. Lastly, this course should be taken by anyone wishing to broaden their disciplinary scope in the field of ecosystem-based management.
Created by: University of Cape Town
Taught by: Coleen Moloney, Associate Professor
Marine Research Institute
| Level | Intermediate |
| Commitment | This course has been designed to be taken over six weeks, involving 3-4 hours per week. |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
What is the Large Marine Ecosystem Approach?
Introducing the Large Marine Ecosystem approach, ecosystem based management principles, and the five modules. There are three topics covered in this first week - ecosystem-based management, the concept of Large Marine Ecosystems, and the 5-module approach to assessment and management. As well as my lectures, there are also summaries of some key readings and links to other resources. We've included practice quizzes to help you recap and test your understanding of the key concepts as we move through the lessons. There is one graded quiz at the end of the week, which carries marks - but you may take the quiz more than once. At the end of this week, and all the other weeks, Dr Kenneth Sherman will share his insights about the topics we have covered.
8 videos, 8 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Large Marine Ecosystems: Assessment and Management
- Reading: Meet the course team
- Discussion Prompt: Tell us about yourself and your role
- Video: Welcome to the course
- Reading: How this course works
- Reading: A global collaboration
- Reading: What to expect in Week 1
- Video: What is marine ecosystem-based management?
- Reading: Readings and Key Points
- Practice Quiz: Ecosystem based management
- Video: What are LMEs?
- Ungraded Plugin: The LME approach
- Ungraded Plugin: Turning the Tide: Sustaining Earth's Large Marine Ecosystems
- Reading: Readings and Key Points
- Practice Quiz: Large Marine Ecosystems
- Video: Introducing the five module approach
- Video: A brief introduction to the tools (TDA & SAP)
- Reading: Readings and Key Points
- Practice Quiz: Five Module approach
- Video: Dr Sherman's perspective on week 1
- Reading: Week 1 additional resources
- Video: Week 1 wrap-up
- Discussion Prompt: Exploring LMEs
Graded: Week 1 Graded Quiz
WEEK 2
The Three Natural Science Modules
In this week, we deal with the three natural science modules within the five module approach.
7 videos, 8 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Welcome to week 2
- Reading: What to expect in week 2
- Video: The productivity module
- Reading: Introducing the videos of the Plankton Chronicles Project
- Ungraded Plugin: Plankton Chronicles: Diatoms
- Ungraded Plugin: The Plankton Chronicles - Plankton of the Riviera
- Reading: Readings and key points on the productivity module
- Practice Quiz: Productivity quiz
- Video: The fish and fisheries module
- Reading: Resources on fisheries
- Reading: Readings and key points on the Fish and Fisheries module
- Practice Quiz: Fish and Fisheries quiz
- Video: Pollution and ecosystem health
- Video: Plastic pollution
- Reading: Resources on pollution
- Reading: Readings and key points on the Pollution module
- Practice Quiz: Pollution and Ecosystem Health quiz
- Video: Dr Sherman's perspectives
- Reading: Resources and readings
- Video: Week 2 wrap up
- Discussion Prompt: Fish and Fisheries debates
Graded: Week 2 - LME Natural Science Modules
WEEK 3
The Two Human Dimension Modules
We move onto the two human dimensions of the five module approach.
5 videos, 5 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Video: Introducing this week
- Reading: What to expect in week 3
- Video: Socioeconomics module
- Ungraded Plugin: Economic evaluation in a large marine ecosystem
- Reading: Key points on the socioeconomics module
- Practice Quiz: Socioeconomics module quiz
- Video: Governance module
- Reading: Readings and key points
- Practice Quiz: Governance module quiz
- Video: Dr Sherman's Perspectives
- Reading: Further reading and resources
- Video: Week three wrap up
- Discussion Prompt: Ecosystem valuation debates
- Reading: Additional readings on the Five Modules
Graded: Week 3 Graded Quiz
Graded: Week 3 Honors Quiz
WEEK 4
Tools and Actions: the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and the Strategic Action Programme
This is the heart of the course - delving into the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and Strategic Action Programme (SAP).
6 videos, 4 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Video: Introduction to tools and actions
- Reading: What to expect in week 4
- Video: Transboundary diagnostic analsysis
- Video: Strategic Action Programme
- Ungraded Plugin: Applying the TDA-SAP process
- Ungraded Plugin: Bay of Bengal LME - The TDA-SAP process
- Ungraded Plugin: Black Sea LME - The TDA-SAP process
- Reading: Reading and key points
- Practice Quiz: TDA-SAP approach quiz
- Video: Other tools
- Reading: Readings and key points
- Practice Quiz: Tools quiz
- Video: Dr Sherman's perspectives
- Reading: Resources and further reading
- Video: Week 4 wrap up
- Discussion Prompt: Sustainable Development Goals
Graded: Week 4 - LME Human Dimension Modules and TDA
WEEK 5
Implementing transboundary marine Ecosystem-based management (EBM)
Moving into the application of the approaches and the tools we have been discussing - with a description of how LME projects are implemented.
6 videos, 4 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Video: Introducing week 5
- Reading: What to expect in week 5
- Video: The Global Environment Facility
- Ungraded Plugin: GEF
- Video: The LME network of partners
- Reading: The LME network of partners
- Practice Quiz: GEF and the LME Network of Partners quiz
- Video: The GEF project process
- Reading: Reading and key points
- Practice Quiz: GEF project process quiz
- Video: Dr Sherman's perspectives
- Reading: Additional resources
- Video: Week five wrap up
- Discussion Prompt: Partnerships for LME projects
Graded: Week 5 Graded Quiz
Graded: Week 5 - Significant activities reported on in LME projects
WEEK 6
Taking it home: Examples of best practice
We have included a number of case studies of LMEs, inviting marine ecosystem managers and scientists from across our network to describe their work in implementing EBM.
9 videos, 10 readings
- Video: Introducing week six
- Reading: What to expect in week 6
- Video: Benguela Current LME
- Reading: Benguela Current LME - reading and resources
- Video: The Yellow Sea LME Project
- Video: The Yellow Sea LME - Implementing the SAP
- Video: The Yellow Sea LME - Governance
- Reading: The Yellow Sea LME - reading and resources
- Video: The Guinea Current LME Project
- Video: The Guinea Current LME Commission
- Reading: The Guinea Current LME Project readings
- Reading: The Canary Current LME
- Ungraded Plugin: Canary Current LME case study
- Reading: The Gulf of Mexico LME
- Ungraded Plugin: Gulf of Mexico LME case study
- Reading: Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems (CLME+) Project
- Ungraded Plugin: Case study - Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf LMEs (CLME+) Project - audio only
- Reading: The Bay of Bengal LME
- Reading: The Humboldt Current LME
- Video: Dr Sherman's Perspectives
- Video: Talking to Dr Sherman about LMEs making a difference
- Ungraded Plugin: Building partnerships
- Reading: Additional resources
- Discussion Prompt: LME projects
Graded: Week 6 - Contrasting SAPs for two LMEs
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University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is the oldest university in South Africa and is one of the leading research universities on the African continent. UCT has over 25 000 students, of whom 30% are postgraduate students. We offer degrees in six faculties: Commerce, Engineering & the Built Environment, Health Sciences, Humanities, Law, and Science. We pride ourself on our diverse student body, which reflects the many cultures and backgrounds of the region. We welcome international students and are currently home to thousands of international students from over 100 countries. UCT has a tradition of academic excellence that is respected world-wide and is privileged to have more than 30 A-rated researchers on our staff, all of whom are recognised as world leaders in their field. Our aim is to ensure that our research contributes to the public good through sharing knowledge for the benefit of society. Past students include five Nobel Laureates – Max Theiler, Alan Cormack, Sir Aaron Klug, Ralph Bunche and, most recently, J M Coetzee.
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