In the first week of July the European Coral Reef Symposium (ECRS) took place in Naples. In line with OCEAN CITIZEN’s ongoing efforts to network and create synergies with other similar EU-funded projects and experts, several of our partners attended the symposium. This year’s symposium, which brought together 741 participants from 55 countries, focused on bridging knowledge gaps between tropical, temperate and cold water coral reefs.
The ECRS is an important event that brings together a diverse group of coral reef scientists, researchers, conservationists, policy makers and reef managers. The symposium serves as a platform to present the latest research findings and to exchange knowledge that is crucial for shaping international and national policies for the conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs.
OCEAN CITIZEN’s active role
Several OCEAN CITIZEN partners took part in this important event. Not only did they participate, but they also played an active role by presenting their work in different fields related to coral reefs.
Lorenzo Bramanti of LECOB-CNRS spoke about the fascinating sounds of marine animal forests, providing an insight into the acoustic environment of these vital ecosystems and linking those sounds with the biodiversity. Marta Ribes from ICM-CSIC presented the role of benthic suspension feeders as holobionts in benthic-pelagic coupling and biogeochemical cycles, highlighting the significant progress made in the last twenty years. Nuria Viladrich from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) explained the resilience of coral reefs, focusing on the ability to recover due to the larval survivorship and continue to reproduce after partial mass mortality following heat waves. Martina de la Torre from CoNISMa spoke about the diverse communities associated with sponges in Tenerife, highlighting their ecological importance and interactions.
Keynote speaker: Sergio Rossi
One of the highlights of the symposium was the keynote address by Prof. Dr. Sergio Rossi, OCEAN CITIZEN’s coordinator. Rossi’s presentation, entitled ‘Marine Animal Forest in the Anthropocene’, discussed the concept of marine animal forests and their role in ocean regeneration. It was also a great opportunity to present the latest updates on OCEAN CITIZEN and introduce the first comic of our project, a storytelling initiative to raise awareness of the threats facing our oceans and the hope that lies in our collective action.
Insights and takeaways
This ECRS 2024 has clearly demonstrated that we are all committed to working towards adaptation and understanding of global change affecting the planet’s reefs. Even if we showed realistic numbers about the synergistic impacts in different habitats, the scientists agree that it is time to continue applying solutions at the local level. Now more than ever, we need a bottom-up participative policy in which we apply all the already existing tools for adaptation.
OCEAN CITIZEN is committed to applying these insights and fostering synergies to advance coral reef conservation and regeneration. The symposium has strengthened our commitment to continue working towards sustainable solutions and promoting a participatory approach to marine conservation.
You can watch the rest of the plenary speakers’ speeches here.
