Launching the Grand Challenges of Oceans Conservation
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LAUNCHING THE GRAND CHALLENGES OF OCEANS CONSERVATION working paper About the Cover "It's&A&Sign"&©&Asher&Jay&2015 "It's&a&Sign"&invites&viewers&into&a&comically&imaginative&world&where&climate&reality&is& vividly& brought& to&life&by&dramatically&engaged,&humanoid,& weather&icons.&The& pictographs& that& bring& alive&this& narrative& are& extremely& familiar&to&people& from&all&walks& of&life&because&these&symbols&are¬&only&encountered& on&all&digital&interfaces,&but&even& on&weather&reports& at&the&end&of&televised& news&segments.&This&seeds&effortless& mnemonic& associations&within&all&viewers&between& their&daily&routines& and&the&global& impact&expressed& by&climate&change&in&the&Anthropocene.& By&depicting& natural&hazards,& such&as&earthquakes,& tsunamis,&floods&and&tornadoes,& and&extreme&weather&conditions,& as&emotionally& active&anthropoid& characters,& Jay&reJframes&phenomena& inherently& larger& than&life,&accessible&and&corporeal.& This&work&encourages& people& to&get&to&know&local& weather&and&global&climate&at&least&as&well&as&they&know& their&immediate&neighbors& and&,& the&piece&aims&to&tangibly&tether& our&planet's&climateJscape&to&our& every& day&vocabulary.& About Asher Jay Asher&Jay&is&saving&the&world’s& threatened& wildlife—with&creativity.& Jay&uses& groundbreaking& design,&multimedia&arts,&literature,&and&lectures&to&inspire&global&action& to&combat&illegal&wildlife&trafficking,&advance& environmental& issues,&and&promote& humanitarian& causes.& Her& upcoming& projects& will&tackle& biodiversity& loss&during& the& Anthropocene and&expose&threats&to&the&world's&most&traded&and&endangered& mega& fauna. Jay’s&projects& have&each&become&global&sensations.& Yet&her&ultimate&goal&is&to&motivate& the&one&person& she&believes&holds&the&real&power& to&determine& nature’s& fate.&You. www.asherjay.com VISION Our vision is to harness disruptive fnancial, technological, and behavior change innovations to dramatically increase the efcacy, speed, and sustainability of conservation eforts, and to ensure that we will bring the most transformative ideas to scale. OCEAN CONSERVATION LANDSCAPING FRAMEWORK: 3 Introduction The Challenge of 9.6 Billion We are in the middle of a period of middle class for protein, consumer and habitat destruction are increasing extraordinary change on the planet, a goods, and energy, while simultaneously exponentially while our solutions increase sixth great mass extinction. Unlike the decreasing our environmental footprint. incrementally. previous mass extinction events, this Billions of dollars are spent on Conservation has been at times is the frst extinction in Earth’s history conservation eforts but although we historically technophobic, risk-averse, and that is driven by the actions of a single may be winning individual battles, we are backward looking, but this is starting to species. During this period, the earth losing the war. A result of this exceptional change. Just as we are driving extinction, has been fundamentally changing human transformation of the planet is we have the power to reverse it. We physically, chemically, biologically, and the dramatic increase in our planet’s can apply our unparalleled innovation ecologically. extinction rates. Extinction rates are capacity and harness exponential The twin forces of environmental currently 1,000 times that of background technological advances to engineer degradation and global climatic disruption extinction rates, and these even exceed resilience to global environmental have led to a crisis in nature. The other mass extinction events by at least changes, change demand and incentive chemistry of our oceans and atmosphere an order of magnitude. One in every four structures to alter our behavior, and is changing. The planet’s natural cycles mammals and one in every eight birds improve our ability to monitor and protect are showing unprecedented variability. now face a high risk of extinction in the species around the world. Much as Entire ecological communities are near future. But with only an estimated humanity has caused these problems, we reorganizing or disappearing. Invasive 9% of marine species known to science, have the ability to solve them. species at multiple scales—from the mass extinction in the ocean is likely The time of conservation as a microbial pathogens, to insects, birds, to be even more immense. Moreover, 95% predominantly philanthropic and and mammals—are crossing into new of the 1.8 million named species have academic activity has passed; we have geographical areas. yet to be evaluated for their conservation entered into an urgent new reality status, and almost none of those are in These trends are unlikely to reverse where the conservation of our natural the ocean. What we do know is that, based anytime soon. The planet’s population is ecosystems and resources is fundamental on trends of 5,829 populations of 1,234 expected to rise to 9.6 billion by 2050, to human, economic, and national security. mammal, bird, reptile and fsh species, and with it, a need for a 70% increase in We have unique opportunities to build marine populations have shown a decline new companies, new markets and new food production, coupled with a 1.9-fold of 49% between 1970 and 2012. innovations, and to bring in new solvers increase in irrigation, a 2.4-fold increase and new disciplines into conservation. in nitrogen deposition, a 2.7-fold increase Conservation is not succeeding quickly in phosphorous deposition, and a 2.7- enough or efectively enough to meet This vision for conservation will generate fold increase in pesticide use, if there is these challenges. In a world with an new opportunities and create radically not a signifcant improvement in plant ever-increasing population and billions of diferent ways of conserving our productivity. The biggest challenges consumers emerging out of poverty, our environment. And as life began in the sea, will not only be population growth, but natural resources are under increasing so will we. We will begin this new vision also meeting the desires of an emerging pressure. The problems of extinction with our oceans. 4 Introduction Smart Gear 2.0 WWF, in partnership with industry prize. Nor were there avenues to bring through maker faires, hackathons, and leaders, governments, scientists, and even more promising ideas that required challenges? What are the costs and fshers, launched the International additional technical or engineering benefts of doing so? Smart Gear Competition in 2004 to expertise to fruition. 3. Incubate, accelerate, and scale. As reduce bycatch by improving fsheries Now, after more than a decade, there it is insufcient for ideas to languish gear. The focus in the competition is an opportunity to build on the Smart as prototypes or pilots, we explore was on gear modifcations for “fshing Gear model. This analysis looks at acceleration pathways for new smarter”: modifcations that increase expansion through three lenses: companies and innovations coming the chances of escape for non-target out of a new set of challenges 1. Expand the scope of the problem. species, or reduce the overall numbers and other design processes. This How can we expand the focus of the of non-target species caught. The may include developing potential competition invited submissions of innovation program from reducing partnerships with existing incubation practical, cost-efective solutions, and bycatch to addressing other grand and acceleration programs, creating ofered cash prizes totaling $65,000. challenges in marine conservation? a dedicated conservation accelerator, Despite its modest funding, the 2. Expand the scope of the program. licensing intellectual property and competition has been a success. Smart WWF has recognized that there were then taking the technology to market Gear was designed to inspire creative many workable ideas that were not directly, supporting innovators around thinkers through open innovation for yet ready for the Smart Gear prize, engineering, product development, ideas that have practical applications but that could have had an even design, and business; and creating for fshing smarter. In particular, it was greater impact if given the chance a new global fund to take the most highly efective at sourcing great ideas to develop. How can we source new promising ideas to scale. from those closest to the problem— ideas, refne and iterate product In this analysis, we will review how we people engaged in the fshing industry. design and engineering, and move may build on the inspiration gained It was less efective at attracting them along a product development from Smart Gear, to transform the innovators outside of the industry. pathway? What partnerships could we ocean conservation space by creating a Designed to fnd new solutions, it also create with universities, industry, and pipeline of new innovations, bringing in did not have a formalized pathway engineering and design frms? How new solvers and new solutions, and by to scale or commercialization for the could we harness open innovation taking those solutions to scale. The frst innovations/innovators that won the to improve design and performance step is the Big Think. Smart Gear was designed to inspire creative thinkers through open innovation for ideas that have practical applications for fishing smarter 5 Introduction The Big Think The Big Think is a problem-solving and acceleration, and explore which that we can start solving these critical catalyst, connecting existing dots approaches would work best in conservation