Uncertain waters: the future of the oceans
Our oceans are our livelihood. For this reason, the protection and sustainable use of the oceans is the focus of this year’s Environmental Award Symposium. The DBU traditionally invites participants to this event on the day before the Environmental Award ceremony to discuss current, socially relevant topics with experts.
Our oceans cover 71 percent of the earth’s surface and are the basis of our life: half of the oxygen we breathe is produced by algae in the seas. The oceans absorb much of the carbon dioxide produced by humans. One billion people live primarily on fish, and the oceans provide over 20 percent of our global protein needs.
The protection and sustainable use of the oceans are the focus of this year’s Environmental Award Symposium. The existing protection mechanisms for our oceans are inadequate, while at the same time pressure on the ecosystem continues to increase due to climate change and anthropogenic uses such as fishing, shipping, tourism or resource extraction.
We want to discuss how we can achieve sustainable management of the oceans in the face of global competition and how good status – the goal of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive – can be achieved. In doing so, we want to address conflicts of use and lack of protective mechanisms as well as sustainable management approaches and positive examples of solutions.
Procedure 13:00 – 15:45
13:00 Welcome snack and get-together
13:30 Start of event
Introduction/Welcome – Alexander Bonde, Secretary General of the German Federal Foundation for the Environment
Keynote lecture: “Planet Ocean – The Dynamics of Life Underwater” – Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, winner of the DBU German Environmental Award,
Discussants
- Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, winner of the DBU German Environmental Award
- Dr. Bernd Brügge, Vice President of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Head of the Oceanography Department
- Dr. Daniel Oesterwind, DBU Alumni / Thünen Institute for Baltic Sea Fisheries
- Heike Vesper, Director WWF Center for Marine Conservation
3:45 p.m. Conclusion with coffee and cake and poster session of the research work of DBU scholarship holders.
The moderator will be Ingolf Baur, physicist and science journalist, 3sat – SWR – Deutsche Welle.
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The summary of the 2019 Environmental Awards Symposium on the Future of the Oceans can be found here.
Photos of the event can be found here in our Flickr image gallery.
