COP29 event: Coastal ecosystems in focus for climate and biodiversity protection

Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes are supposed to do everything simultaneously: absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provide food, offer animals and plants a habitat, and, in any case, protect the coasts from increasing storms and rising sea levels.

But how must people manage these coastal ecosystems so that they can provide all these services today and in the future? How can and must effective management be designed in times of drastic change to preserve these habitats and their important services and support the achievement of climate and sustainability goals?

These questions will be the focus of a panel of experts at the German pavilion at the 29th World Climate Conference in Baku next Thursday. Organized by the CDRmare research mission, the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and the DLR Project Management Agency, renowned representatives from science and politics will discuss challenges and solutions together with the audience on 21 November at 10 a.m. local time in Baku (7 a.m. German time).

On the panel will be:

• Prof. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner, Member of the WBGU and Co-Chair of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change during the 6th IPCC-Assessment Cycle (2015-2023)
• Prof. Dr. Martin Zimmer, mangrove expert and coordinator of the CDRmare research consortium sea4soCiety
• Prof. Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso, Principal Scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research and Global Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and initiator of the online platform “The Blue Carbon Deck”.
• Dr. Lipika Sharma, a lawyer from India, a member of UN Women and an expert on climate and gender justice
• Dr. Eva Kracht, Director General for International and European Policy in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection

The event will be moderated by Katherine Leitzell, Head of Digital Communications at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an international association of not-for-profit research organizations.

The event will be webcast live. The German COP pavilion’s website has all the information and a link to the live stream. After the event, a recording will be available on YouTube.

Watch the recording of the event: