World Ocean Radio - Ecosystems
In this episode of World Ocean Radio, part 2 of a two-part series on environmental law, host Peter Neill provides a series of examples of systems we have in place to protect nature and its resources. These protections extend from international treaties to intergovernmental agencies and NGOs working to enact and secure maritime policies, governance and legal rights; and from law centers to the United Nations working to set standards for marine protections and indigenous peoples rights, and for the conservation of Nature, ecosystems, and natural resources.
This week on World Ocean Radio we celebrate marine protected areas and discuss their importance to biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and the mitigation of climate change and other destructive forces at work on the planet.
In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill examines a variety of ecosystem services scenarios that look beyond current models and may help to formulate a new value equation for the future benefit of humankind and for healthy, functioning ecosystems.
This week we continue the Earth Optimism Series, a 24-episode project in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's Ocean Portal, to address ocean solutions and innovative projects in the context of the Earth Optimism Summit, April 2017. In this episode, host Peter Neill talks about the revival of a once plummeting population of a spawning fish species on a river in Maine, made possible in part by conservationist action. He argues that victories for change and renewal are achievable when we engage as citizens at the local level.
In the 20th century, U.S. waterways had become dumping grounds for industrial, urban, and agricultural waste. Today many of these waterways are getting cleaner. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we highlight Tampa Bay, Florida, whose revival of seagrass and cleaner waters serve as an example of engagement, cooperation, determination, and leadership. What can be learned from this success as a means to meet environmental challenges and solve today’s problems?
There are many whale-related hot button topics being discussed today: hunting (particularly by the Japanese), seismic testing, inexplicable strandings, the ingestion of plastic pollution, and the growing controversy over the morality of their captivity and exploitation. In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill discusses the practice of keeping cetaceans for their entertainment value and explores new and proposed bills and legislation in both Canada and the United States which will help to protect cetaceans in captivity, further strengthen existing Acts to prohibit their import and export, to phase out Orcas from entertainment parks, and to modify the criminal code to prevent the taking of cetaceans such as whales, dolphins and porpoise from the wild or to breed those in captivity.
Oysters have had a history of ebb and flow, plenty and scarcity, and in New York Harbor there was a time when the waters were so polluted that oyster populations diminished and interest in consumption vanished. Enter the Harbor School, an innovative high school on Governor’s Island on the East River in New York City. They have launched a project to revive the defunct oyster populations through an ambitious goal of restoring no less than one billion oysters to the harbor. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will discuss the school’s history and their restorative ecosystem service activities and their effort to reconnect the harbor to the 30 million people living within its vast urban watershed.
Mangroves serve an extraordinary range of beneficial uses from their place in the food chain to natural protection for coastal areas to their contribution to human health and well-being. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will discuss organizations and charters which affirm conservation tactics and sustainable management practices to secure natural habitat, and will remind us that despite conservation efforts and the development of new mangrove forests, this valuable, bio-diverse ecosystem which is oftentimes ignored, under extreme pressure, continued devastation and loss deserves our concern and protection.
La mangrove offre un éventail d'utilités bénéfique, de par sa position dans la chaîne alimentaire, à la protection de la nature dans les régions côtières due à sa contribution à la santé et au bien-être des êtres humains. Dans cet épisode de la radio océan du monde nous discutons des organismes et des chartes pratiquant une tactique de conservation, et des stratégies de gestion durables pour fixer l'habitat naturel. Et nous rappelons les auditeurs qu'en dépit des efforts de conservation et du développement de nouvelles forêts de palétuviers, cet écosystème riche et bio-divers est souvent ignoré, maltraité, sous pression extrême, et nécessite notre attention et notre protection.
Os mangueirais proporcionam um extraordinário leque de benefícios, desde o seu papel na cadeia alimentar até à protecção natural das zonas costeiras e ao seu contributo para a saúde e bem-estar humanos. Neste episódio da World Ocean Radio referimos organizações e tratados que remetem para tácticas de conservação e práticas de gestão sustentável, destinadas a proteger os habitats naturais. Seremos recordados de que, apesar dos esforços de conservação e do desenvolvimento de novos mangueirais, este valiosíssimo ecossistema de biodiversidade, tantas vezes desprezado, se mantém sob extrema pressão, contínua devastação e perda, e merece a nossa preocupação e protecção.
Los manglares sirven para una amplia gama de aplicaciones beneficiosas, desde su lugar en la cadena alimentaria hasta la protección natural de las zonas costeras y su contribución a la salud y bienestar humanos. En este episodio de World Ocean Radio hablamos sobre las organizaciones y las cartas que llevan a cabo táctica de conservación y estrategias de manejo sostenibles para resguardar el hábitat natural. Y recordamos a los oyentes que a pesar de los esfuerzos en la conservación y el desarrollo de nuevos bosques de manglares, este ecosistema valioso y bio-diverso, está muchas veces ignorado, abusado, bajo extrema presión, y necesita nuestra preocupación y protección.
