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68 | STRENGTHENING OCEANOGRAPHY

Moderated by Minna Epps, Head of IUCN's Marine and Polar Programme,
the panel discussion brought together three ocean experts to discuss the
possibility of creating a Blue List of threatened species.

THE MEDITERRANEAN
TOWARDS LABORATORY
TRANSDISCIPLINARITY Patricia Ricard FIGHTING ECOSYSTEM
President of the Oceanographic
Françoise Gaill Institute Paul Ricard COLLAPSE
Scientific Adviser at the CNRS, Stewart Maginnis
Vice-President of the Ocean & “Only a "sustainable science" will Deputy Director General of IUCN
Climate Platform allow us to develop the blue eco-
nomy. This means reconsidering “The good news is that conserva-
“As scientists, we need to create the way we think about climate, tion works! Without the level of
new ways of preserving the ocean, ocean biodiversity, health, and conservation that we have put in
such as focusing on ecosystem human dignity in a circular ap- place over the last twenty years,
types or transdisciplinarity, as envi- proach. If we can achieve this in thanks to scientific research, the
saged by the Ocean and Climate the Mediterranean, with 23 coun- level of species extinction would
Platform. What's more, science tries on its shores, we will achieve it have been four times higher than
is vital, not only to discover new everywhere, because the Mediter- it is today. The IUCN Red List, which
species or find out more about ranean is the focus of the changes is based on 60 years of data on
ecosystem functions but also to that await us on a more global species, can guide our conserva-
spark a vision for how we use the scale.” tion actions. We recognise the ab-
ocean, which is what the Ocean solute importance of containing
Innovators Platform in Monaco is the risk of species extinction but,
all about.” more than anything else, of eco-
system collapse. And we're paying
attention to the emerging concept
of ecosystem types.”