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Sharing knowledge & building capacity for healthy oceans & coastal communities

Here’s a word from Blue Solutions, Mission Blue’s newest partner.

The global oceans community has created a wealth of inspiring “blue solutions” which successfully helped to overcome challenges to sustainable development and human wellbeing in the marine and coastal realm. The Blue Solutions Initiative provides a global knowledge sharing and capacity development platform for these success stories. They can inspire others to adapt and replicate these achievements without “reinventing the wheel,” thereby accelerating action to sustaining healthy marine and coastal ecosystems.
These blue solutions can illustrate a range of topics. Some are local, others are regional or even global. Some can provide insights into technical issues, while others feature good managerial practices. Essentially, they are all specific, applied examples of successful processes or approaches that address challenges of sustainable management and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems.…

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Sylvia Earle honored as a UNEP “Champion of the Earth” for Lifetime Leadership

Wednesday night in Washington, DC, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) honored eight environmental stewards as “Champions of the Earth!” As the United Nations’ most prestigious award for the environment, the Champions of the Earth award is celebrating its tenth year of highlighting the outstanding contributions of policy makers, innovators and advocates “to our greatest planetary cause.”
Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle and seven others were honored at a gala event at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum. Awash in hues of blues and greens, the gallery reverberated with haunting tones emitted by Earth Harp.  Elizabeth Broun, Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Kim Sajet, Director of the National Portrait Gallery gave the welcoming remarks.…

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Stakeholders Gather in Panama to Discuss Protections for the Central American Dome

By Lance Morgan, Marine Conservation Institute for Mission Blue
Originally published at National Geographic Ocean Watch
Last week an alliance of conservation organizations took a big step forward towards protecting the Central American Dome. Also referred to as the Costa Rica Dome, this highly productive region of the eastern tropical Pacific is home to abundant marine life including critically endangered leatherback sea turtles and blue whales.
The term Dome refers to an oceanographic feature that results from cold, deep ocean water rising near the surface. The water itself doesn’t dome, but a cold water band shaped like a dome comes up from the bottom. As this nutrient rich water enters depths where sunlight can penetrate it unleashes enormous plankton blooms, fueling the entire ecosystem. …

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What is the True Value of the Ocean?

Today we bring you a new video, called “The True Value of Our Oceans” as part of the “Two Minutes on Oceans with Jim Toomey” ocean video series. The video is a collaboration between The United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA) and Mission Blue Executive Director, Jim Toomey, who is also one of North America’s premier syndicated cartoonists and whose comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon entertains and educates readers  about ocean issues every week.
The video, “Two Minutes on Oceans with Jim Toomey” is part of a series that was launched in June of 2012.  Using animation and humor, the videos provide, in clear and simple language, information about cutting-edge science and policies governing our ocean, the importance of the ocean to human well-being and the challenges facing our environment.…

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Two Minutes on Oceans: Marine Litter

Recently, famed cartoonist Jim Toomey teamed up with the United Nations Environment Program to create a series of six two-minute videos intended to raise awareness of the importance of the world’s ocean and the coastal environment. Today, the second video in the series was released (see below). The video highlights marine litter and discusses the hard facts about trash in our oceans.
From discarded fishing gear to plastics bags to cigarette butts, a growing tide of marine litter is harming our oceans and beaches worldwide. Using animation and humor, the video provides information about the growing problem of marine litter and offers simple actions that everyone can take to help make a difference.  
“As we strive to raise awareness of the importance of protecting our oceans, it is vital that we find different and unique methods of communicating scientific information to the public in a fun and engaging manner,” said the Director of UNEP RONA, Amy Fraenkel.…

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