EVENTS

Webinar Details:

Resilient Mangroves, Resilient Coastlines, Resilient People

In this talk, Dr. Richard MacKenzie, a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station and U.S. State Department Blue Carbon Climate Change Fellow in the Republic of Palau, will present his research on the vulnerability of Pacific Island nations to climate change and how appropriate adaptation actions can increase the resilience of mangroves and thus the resilience of Pacific Islanders.

Webinar Abstract:

Pacific Island nations are ground zero for climate change. The impacts of sea level rise are already forcing abandonment of low-lying atolls and will continue to have disproportionately large impacts on traditional cultures reliant on oceanic and coastal resources for their health and continued existence. Mangroves are known to be sensitive to impacts from even slowly rising sea level, but appropriate adaptation actions can increase their resilience and thus the resilience of Pacific Islanders. Over the past few years, the US Forest Service, the US Geological Survey, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Micronesian Conservation Trust, Pohnpei and Kosrae state government agencies and communities, and the Palau government have been working together to conduct island wide vulnerability assessments to identify threats and specific adaptation actions to further protect their mangrove forests. Coupling long term monitoring and intensive scientific research and analysis with local community experience and inputs, we have identified mangroves that are more resilient to sea level rise. This information will be shared with the communities and resource managers to support the development of government policy and community initiatives that will better prepare Micronesian communities to be resilient and continue to be able to depend on their ecosystems and the services they provide.

Speaker details:

Dr. Richard MacKenzie is a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. He is currently focused on mangroves and working as the State Department’s Blue Carbon Climate Change Fellow in the Republic of Palau. Blue carbon is the carbon stored in the ocean and oceanic ecosystems. Mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes are the primary blue carbon ecosystems. He is responsible for providing technical assistance to Pacific Island countries on issues related to climate change and blue carbon ecosystems, specifically, helping countries assess blue carbon stocks in mangroves and seagrasses and quantify their areal extent, develop emission factors, and incorporate data into national communications or to use in voluntary carbon markets.

Prior to moving to Palau, Dr. MacKenzie conducted research in Micronesian mangrove ecosystems for the last 20 years with the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. His research focuses on assessing mangrove vulnerability to sea level rise, identifying important drivers of carbon burial in mangroves as well as mangrove response to sea level rise, and assessing fish, plant, and carbon dynamics. He has also been the Asia Pacific lead scientist on USAID’s Sustainable Wetland Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP) since 2012, a global research program that helps countries collect data to inform management strategies and for national communications.