IMPAC 5
In the beginning of February, I attended IMPAC 5 on behalf of the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society, and I was inspired and motivated, and now want to share some of what I learned. IMPAC 5, or the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress, is, as the name suggests, an international congress with representatives from all over the world gathered to discuss marine protected areas. This year, COP15’s 30 by 30 goal was hot on everyone’s minds, and we were here to make plans, and, as UN Secretary General Peter Thomson said in his keynote speech, “put some teeth into the 30 by 30 target”.
30 by 30 is a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30% of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030. In December of 2022, 30 by 30 was agreed at the COP15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This includes the G7 and European Union, giving the agreement a total of over 100 countries in support of it.
Before diving too deeply into everything IMPAC 5, I would like to very much thank the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society for sending me to the congress on their behalf, as well thank the host nations; xÊ·mÉ™θkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sÉ™lilwÉ™taɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) for accepting the event on their unceded ancestorial traditional territories, at the Vancouver Convention Center.
IMPAC 5 was five and a half full days of speakers and events. It started with opening ceremonies on the evening of February 3rd and ended on the evening of February 8th. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the entire congress, and only joined virtually on Monday, Tuesday and in person on Wednesday. However short my time may have been, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned a lot.
Monday morning started off with a keynote speech by Britt Wray, who spoke about how climate change affects mental health. She said, “recognizing that emotions are often what leads people to act, it is possible that feelings of ecological anxiety and grief, although uncomfortable, are in fact the crucible through which humanity must pass to harness the energy and conviction that are needed for the lifesaving changes now required” and that really resonated with me. I know that personally my choice to eat less meat has come from the worries of sustainability I have, and knowing others feel the same way is some parts sad, but some parts encouraging.
Britt further spoke of eco-anxiety, and her book Generation Dread. Because of the connection I found with this subject, I ordered her book right away. I look forward to reading it.
Next on the agenda was a keynote speech by Dalee Sambo Dorough, who spoke on the Inuit Circumpolar
Council. The ICC is a non-governmental organization that represents Inuit from Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. I had never heard of the ICC before this and was amazed at learning about the Indigenous knowledge this group has. As the ancestorial people of the land they know the Arctic like no other group, and their unity, despite being from what are now separate countries, is impressive. It was great to learn that modern borders haven't affected the traditional peoples.
The final keynote speaker on Monday was Asha de Vos. Asha’s speech was probably my favorite of the event, and again it resonated deeply with me. Asha is a Sri Lankan biologist who founded the Sri Lankan Blue Whale Project. She spoke about her experiences and difficulties being a female scientist from a developing country. From the biases against the Global South, to the fact that the language of science is, apparently, English, people from countries like Sir Lanka are often overlooked and ignored even when they are the experts in their field. Unfortunately, in science and conservation there is a lot of parachuting in by scientists from the Global North. These scientists hear about exciting discoveries by local scientists and rush into an area they aren’t native to, to take over the research, discrediting all the work done by the locals. These discoveries would never have been made without the locals though. As Asha said, “If we truly want to save our oceans, every coastline needs a local hero”.
Hearing Asha talk about how she has had to be “twice as good to be half as accepted” really made me think about my own experiences and how much harder I've had to work to be listened to, despite my age and gender. It really has reminded me that we need to listen to all voices and help pick up voices that may not be heard. We need to work together to save our oceans, and part of that is listening to information from everyone, no matter where they come from.
After the keynote speeches, there were many options for other talks to go to. In each time period there were around five different talks happening, and during these talks it would range from one to five speakers presenting on the general subject. I’m still hoping that the recorded sessions become available to view later, as there were many I was interested in, but wasn’t able to join.
A few of the highlights from the various talks I was able to join on Monday included learning about what to measure when talking about biodiversity decline (habitat formers, conservation concerns, harmful organisms, and food web links), what ESAs (Ecologically Significant Areas) are and how they compare and work in conjunction with MPAs, as well an exciting project here in BC, in Delta.
In Delta, they are re-using dredged sediment for ecological resilience by adding it to the foreshore to help protect Surrey and Delta. The project is building a “Living Dyke” in Boundary Bay. It was great to see such important and interesting work being done so close to home. Later in the day I learned more about the MPA guide, including the different levels of protection MPAs provide, stages of establishment, enabling conditions and social and ecological outcomes.
Tuesday started with a keynote speech from Hinano Teavai-Murphy, an expert in Tahitian cultural history. She grew up on Moorea and Tahiti learning oral traditions from her elders. It was then that I started realising the much broader view of looking and listening to indigenous people around the world. Too often when I hear about the need to listen and respect indigenous people, I only think of those here in Canada, and maybe in the United States. But all over the world there are indigenous people working hard to protect their ancestorial territories, and these people have a wealth of knowledge from hundreds of years of being a part of the land. Hinano spoke of how “The ocean is not a barrier, it connects us. The ocean is our home” and I couldn’t agree more with that statement for all people.
Next up was Peter Thompson who has served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean since 2017. I’ve already briefly spoken of what he talked about, mainly encouraging the group to make the changes we need to hit COP15’s 30 by 30 goal. After him, Her Excellency Aminath Shauna, the Maldives Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology gave her keynote speech. Again, my perspectives were broadened knowing that the issues with climate change and eco-tourism that I’m familiar with here are global issues and affect nations around the world. While H.E. Aminath Shauna spoke of coral and whale sharks, the overall message was one that related to everywhere eco-tourism thrives.
Some of the talks I listened to in the afternoon included a talk about supporting recovery efforts for Southern Resident Killer Whales in BC, which made me download Ocean Wise’s Whale Report App. Personally I love Killer Whales and enjoy any sightings or information about our local populations, so hearing more about recovery efforts was great. I also listened to a symposium of youth engaging youth to support conservation action. This was really inspiring to me, seeing and hearing what people my age were doing and the programs they were involved in. I know it lifted me up to try and work harder in my role with MLSS.
On Wednesday I finally got to attend in person! I arrived bright and early, and it was too early... I got there before the coat check or coffee stations were set up. I may have been a bit excited.
The first of the keynote speakers that day was the Right Honorable Patricia Scotland, who is the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations. She said, “the challenges of the ocean cannot be solved by one country alone, it takes all of us.” and I couldn’t agree more. She went on to speak of the Commonwealth’s Blue Charter, a model of conservation that has worked for them, and encouraged other countries to take note and use their model.
Next up was Judith Sayer, or Cloy-e-iis, a prominent Canadian indigenous leader. She spoke about the indigenous place in the blue economy, and how her people did not have a word for conservation because they did not need one, everything was plentiful. It was an important reminder of how indigenous people knew and respected conservation without needing to be told, it was just a way of life. If we can take the lessons taught by indigenous people on sustainability and apply it to today, the world would be in much better shape.
The final keynote speaker of the event was Titouan Bernicot, founder of Coral Gardeners. Coral Gardeners is a nonprofit organization that, as the name probably implies, grows coral to restore reefs. They take small coral fragments and grow them in nurseries in the ocean, then transplant them onto the reef to restore damaged areas. They're based in Tahiti and their goal is “to revolutionize ocean conservation and create a global movement to save the reef”. Hearing about this project was very fascinating and made me start wondering if a similar project could take place here with glass sponges. This idea was shared by my colleagues at the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society, and after a brief discussion, we agreed that in the future we’ll have a chat with our science advisors to see if a glass sponge project like this could be viable here. I’m definitely extremely excited to try, and hope glass sponge can be safely and sustainably grown in a similar manner. Of course, it will all come down to the science, as glass sponge grows differently than coral, but the idea is a wonderful one that should certainly be investigated.
Another key thing Titouan spoke about was Coral Gardeners efforts to engage a larger audience. They’re trying to tell the story of the reef, and make people care about conservation. In my personal conservation efforts, I've certainly found that showing people what is underwater is the key to getting them to care. As Jacques Cousteau famously said, “people protect what they love” and my experiences certainly correspond with that. Coral Gardeners is trying to “make conservation look more attractive” through modernized video, images, social media presence, and even work on an app. This idea of making conservation more modern is an important one, as too often it is ignored and overlooked. Underwater is an exciting, beautiful place and if we can better showcase that, we can make more people fall in love with it, and therefore protect the oceans.
After the keynote speeches were completed, the rest of the day was spent listening to various talks, visiting booths set up by different organizations and meeting and chatting with others at the event. I made sure to stop at the DFO booth to introduce myself, as MLSS does a lot of work with them, however the man I chatted to was from Ottawa, so it wasn’t the most relevant conversation. I also said hi to the people at the Squamish Nation booth, as again, MLSS often communicates with them. Some of the other cool booths included ones from National Geographic, Parks Canada, Ocean Wise, Canadian Geographic, and a local organization I learned about at the event, Qentol, Yen W̱SÁNEĆ Marine Guardians Program which is an indigenous group fighting to protect Southern Resident Killer Whales and restore the relationship between their people and the whales. The Marine Guardians Program is a new initiative, and it sounds interesting; as I said before, I love Killer Whales and hearing all about them. I hope this group and Ocean Wise had many good chats at the event.
One of the most interesting talks I listened to in the afternoon was a symposium about whole site MPAs. It had six speakers, all from the University of Plymouth, all sharing their various projects in the same area off the southeast coast of England. It was great to hear about how all the projects intertwined in the same area, and how they’re working to have waters around there protected. The whole site approach to MPAs refers to the entire area being completely protected versus the common only certain “important” spots being protected. Their research showed that even the “non-important” areas between the important big habitat spots played a key role in the ecosystem and would never have been monitored if the whole site hadn’t been protected. The whole site approach seems to be very valuable, and it would be nice if we could implement that approach here in Howe sound as well.
The event ended with closing ceremonies that included a moving speech from the Youth Committee, closing remarks from Ministers Joyce Murray and Steven Guilbeault, announcing the next congress location (Senegal), and a beautiful drum dance from the host nations xÊ·mÉ™θkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sÉ™lilwÉ™taɬ (Tsleil-Waututh). I am thrilled to have been able to attend this event, and I really did learn a lot. I have new inspiration and ideas for our local conservation efforts, as well as a greater respect and understanding for global efforts. I am still hoping that all the talks become available for viewing, as I missed may facinating sounding discussions, including keynote addresses from Sylvia Earle and Cristina Mittermeier. I look forward to seeing what changes we can make globally in our 30 by 30 efforts, and of course being a part of these changes myself.
