Pardee Center Hosts Marine Management Area Science Scientific Workshop

Marine management experts will gather at the Pardee Center this week for the Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) Scientific Workshop. The Workshop is co-organized by the Boston University Marine Program and Conservation International and will run through the week of 7 December 2009, Monday to 11 December 2009, Friday.

The purpose of the workshop is to conduct a comparative analysis of the ecological effectiveness of coastal marine management regimes in developing nations. Other efforts are dealing with cultural effects, economic effects, and the synthesis of ecology, sociology, and economics. The goal of MMAS is an integrated understanding of how coastal society in the tropics- which may encompass more than half the world population- can preserve biodiversity while (and in order to) enhance human well-being. The workshop participants will include Conservation International staff and international members of the MMAS ecological analysis team. The Workshop is bringing together, for the first time, all of the data from Brazil, Belize, Panama, Ecuador (Galapagos), Fiji, and Kiribati (Phoenix Islands, Northern and Southern Line Islands).

In conjunction with the workshop, the Pardee Center, in collaboration with the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology and Boston University Marine Program, will hold a lunch seminar on ‘Coastal Conservation and Development’ on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, featuring Prof. Les Kaufman, Dr. Stuart Sandin and Dr. Stuart Banks.