Marine & Coastal Ecosystem Services: Understanding, valuing & realising the value, in China and elsewhere

报告题目：Marine & Coastal Ecosystem Services: Understanding, valuing & realising the value, in China and elsewhere

报告人：Prof. Laurence John MCCOOK（James Cook University）

报告人简介：Prof. Laurence McCook works in science-based management and conservation of marine ecosystems. Laurence has a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University, in Canada, and around 35 years’ experience, especially working on coral reefs in Australia, Indonesia and the “Coral Triangle”, the Pacific and Caribbean, as well as temperate ecosystems. He is an adjunct Professorial Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, and Visiting Professor at Hasanuddin University, in Makassar, Indonesia. Prof. McCook has recently led the publication of a major review of marine ecosystem services in China and is in China as invited speaker for a conference in Beijing. His other previous roles include Director of Oceans Conservation for WWF Hong Kong,  Senior Advisor to the Marine Program of Conservation International in Indonesia, more than 12 years at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and 12 years as a coral reef ecologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Laurence is particularly interested in using natural capital and ecosystem service accounting to correct the mistaken perception that human development comes at the cost of nature conservation. Laurence is also convinced that that global conservation efforts must integrate and collaborate more strongly with Chinese work, such as the policy of ‘eco-civilization’.

报告摘要：China is a world-leader in understanding the value of terrestrial ecosystems to the human economy, and to apply this value in policy for protecting nature and the economy. In 2019, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology hosted a workshop to better understand the value of China’s marine ecosystems for the economy, led by Prof. McCook, Prof Huang Hui and others. The results of that workshop are now accepted for publication in the international journal PNAS Nexus. Importantly, national policy in China is now looking for ways to improve environmental and economic sustainability in the ocean.

  This talk will summarise the existing knowledge and governance, and outline a pathway for marine environmental accounting in China, as well as the development of supporting policy and governance frameworks for that accounting. We propose a system of standardised, nationally integrated, marine environmental accounts, policy and governance, implemented at Provincial and county levels, and adapted from existing terrestrial practices. This could generate a major improvement in sustainability of China’s marine ecosystems.

   A key challenge in both land and sea accounting is to “realise the value” of investing ecosystem services – that is to find ways to make the value not just “theoretical” but also to actually generate real income that can be used to invest in protection of ecosystems.

   China’s national policy has required this realisation. This talk will finish with discussing innovative ways that scientists can help government to realise the value, and avoid financial and environmental risks.

时间：2025年4月29日上午10:00

地点：2号楼1201会议室

邀请人：黄晖 研究员