OCEAN GOVERNANCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Project Manager
- Internal Member of GOPA Staff
Arnaud is an internal member of GOPA staff, and acts as senior project manager for the headquarter. Graduated from the Faculté Universitaire des sciences agronomiques de Gembloux in Belgium, he is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working for biodiversity protection, creation and conservation of protected areas as well as rural development, governance, program monitoring and evaluation, research and environmental awareness-education. Mainly in tropical regions, he is a key player for positive changes in the blue and green economy.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Superintendent of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Bárbara is an Events Manager and Communication Expert with a background in journalism. She has more than 15 years of experience with a strong focus in managing EU-funded projects related to the organization of events/workshops/seminars, in physical and digital format, as well organizing conferences as an expert at the highest level worldwide. She was the Project Director (Team Leader) for the first digital edition of the European Research and Innovation Days (EU R&I Days 2020). Moreover, she has organized more than 200 events worldwide (some of them in the ENI region and with DG NEAR), but also events targeting CSOs and NGOs. She is a communication expert and has worked extensively designing and implementing communication strategies for EU-funded projects.
Job Titles:
- Project Officer of the MMT
Fiona Dyrhauge, Project Officer of the MMT, provided an introduction of the toolkit. Developed under the Ocean Governance Project, it comprises four essential components aimed at enhancing the technical capabilities of MPA managers and improving marine mammal management: factsheets, the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT), the Community of Practice, and good practices. Fiona emphasised that this is the only toolkit fully dedicated to marine mammals. The SAT, one of the Toolkit's core components, is available in English, French and Spanish and in both online and offline formats, with the entire online toolkit available in over 25 languages.
Job Titles:
- Marine Mammals Twinning Coordinator
Francis started his career working for the French Ministry of Environment, then the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C. at the Environment Department before becoming a consultant. Based in London since 2012, he founded Blue Pangolin Consulting (www.blue-pangolin.net), a consultancy company working towards the conservation and sustainable use of marine, coastal and terrestrial resources. Francis also has a strong interest in Marine Protected Areas and developed several tools to evaluate their effectiveness. For the last 20 years, Francis has been involved in the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). He acted as strategic advisor to most of the governments who have chaired ICRI (USA, France, Australia, Japan among others). He is currently ICRI's global coordinator on behalf of the governments of Monaco, Australia and Indonesia. He is also a member of the Steering committee of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and a strategic advisor to the French Coral Reef Initiative.
Job Titles:
- Financial Manager
- Project Manager of the Department of Rural Development
Huong, Project Manager of the Department of Rural Development and Environment, has been a GOPA staff member since 2009, working until 04/2019 as Finance and Contract Manager and since 05/2019 as Project Manager.
She is well-acquainted with EU procedures and regulations. She has gained broad international experience in the administration of a large number of complex EC-funded and other donor-funded programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
James is an Irish oceanographer who has been working on projects related to rural development and environment for more than 20 years. Director of GOPA RDE since 2018, he has been working in the company for 22 years, giving him a sound knowledge of EU contractual procedures, and solid managerial and coordination skills. This Ocean Governance project provides him the opportunity to combine two of his passions: Oceans and International Projects.
Job Titles:
- Coastal Resilience Twinning Coordinator, Scoping Study Coordinator
Jean-Jacques, PhD, is an ecologist by training with over 30 years' experience in Europe, South America, Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. For the past 20 years, he has worked particularly on the links between marine and coastal conservation, land use and maritime spatial planning, and disaster risk reduction associated with climate change. He has developed several tools designed to evaluate public policies and development programmes in the environmental field. He coordinates the coastal expert group of IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem Management.
Joni Ramadani, representative of the community group of Derawan Islands MPA, stated, "Based on the reef health monitoring in the Derawan Islands MPA in 2021, generally, the percentage of hard corals' live cover was 32.80 per cent. This number shows the relatively moderate coral reef health condition category, which is 35 to 40.9 per cent". "However, damage to the coral reefs, presumably due to bombings, and to the anchors of the tourist and fishing boats, has been found in some places. Thus, in order to improve the coral reef ecosystem, a suitable rehabilitation method is needed for Derawan Island," he added.
Klaas has lived and worked for WWF in Indonesia since 1998. He has managed several field conservation programs in Eastern Indonesia before becoming the program and conservation director for WWF Indonesia. In this role Klaas has developed and overseen the implementation of several strategic and business plans of WWF Indonesia and helped develop the organization from a project-based organization into the largest conservation organization in Indonesia with an annual turnover of approximately 25 million USD, currently over 400 staff in more than 30 offices throughout Indonesia. Klaas was a key member to the development of the regional initiatives Coral Triangle and Heart of Borneo recognizing the needs to work across borders to have conservation impact at scale while fully benefitting from the global WWF network to link policy makers, business and experts to its strategies.
Klaas has supervised the development of WWF Indonesia's marine program to become one of the largest marine teams in the WWF network. He has led numerous successful fundraising efforts that linked on-the-ground conservation efforts with foreign donor agendas. In his most recent functions as senior advisor to WWF Indonesia, he has continued in a strategic fundraising and partnership development role as well as coaching and mentoring senior staff in WWF Indonesia to become effective and confident leaders in their respective fields
Kristine Bucchianeri, Co-Coordinator of PIMPAC, shared insights into the organisation's history and mission. PIMPAC, a capacity-building network founded in 2005, emerged in response to the shared challenges faced by marine resource managers across the Pacific while establishing MPAs. Initially, the group was an informal connection of managers but has significantly grown since its inception and is now co-coordinated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Micronesia Conservation Trust; both committed to conserving the rich marine ecosystems of the Pacific. Bucchianeri expressed her enthusiasm to bring the MMT toolkit to the PIMPAC community: "While we have been working in Marine Protected Areas for over 20 years here at PIMPAC, we have not really looked much at Marine Mammals, so this is a great tool that we're really excited to share with our community."
Job Titles:
- President of the West Africa MPA
Mamadou Sidibé, president of the West Africa MPA network (RAMPAO) and director of Senegal's department of community-managed MPAs (DAMCP), was presented with the IMPAC baton - a wooden paddle crafted by the First Nation hosts of the Vancouver congress - as Senegal was announced as host of the next IMPAC, IMPAC6. As director of RAMPAO, Colonel Sidibé is a partner in our networks twinning project, and in his role as director of Senegal's community-managed MPAs is a partner in our resilience twinning partnership, whose self-assessment tool has been rolled out in the community-managed MPAs in Senegal. (Watch him deliver his speech back at the team hotel on our YouTube channel)
Kelen Luciana Leite of Brazil's Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), and a partner in our Resilience twinning, was presented with a Marine Conservation Institute Blue Park Award for exceptional marine wildlife conservation at the Tupinambás Ecological Station and Alcatrazes Archipelago Wildlife Refuge, which she heads.
Monaco Ocean Week was founded in 2016 by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and organised by the Prince of Albert Foundation, the Monaco government, and other partners. The event takes place annually in Monaco and has grown to become an international forum on ocean conservation and sustainability. The event brings together a diverse range of stakeholders, including scientists, policymakers, NGOs, businesses and the general public, to engage in dialogue and develop solutions to pressing challenges facing the ocean today.
Rochelle Constance, Co-Chair of the Pacific Region Important Marine Mammal Areas and Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, highlighted the critical role of marine mammals in the Pacific. This vast region boasts diverse habitats and is home to 34 reported marine mammal species, including spinner dolphins, humpback whales, dugongs, rough-toothed dolphins, and bottlenose dolphins. Unfortunately, limited focused research exists due to logistical challenges, leaving many aspects of marine mammal conservation uncertain. Constance discussed the various threats facing marine mammals in the Pacific, such as fisheries interactions (bycatch and entanglement), tourism, direct takes, and climate change. As an example for an initiative addressing these challenges, she introduced the Global IUCN SSC-WCPA Initiative, where the Marine Mammal Task Force identifies key areas for protection. This shift in focus, from safeguarding individual species to preserving entire areas, underscores the interconnectedness of marine mammal conservation with broader ocean health. Constance also underscored the importance of data collection, suggesting that even tour operators, ferry crews, and fishing teams could contribute valuable information, highlighting the power of collective data efforts.
Job Titles:
- Communication and Outreach Expert
Sarah joined the team as an intern during her Master's degree in Law and Economics of the Sea at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Sarah is a junior communication expert and has gained experience at the foreign, security and development policy press office of the German government and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. She is also passionate about marine conservation and acts as a European Youth Ambassador for the NGO Surfrider Foundation Europe.
Tom Dallison, MPA expert and co-developer of the SAT, complemented this introduction with a more in-depth guide of the practical use of the SAT and SAT-LITE (a more concise version of the SAT). These two tools empower MPA managers to comprehensively assess the inclusion of marine mammals within their management plans. Tom underscored that these tools are specifically designed for marine mammals, featuring guided multiple-choice questions that produce a valuable dashboard of results that identify gaps in the management plan, enabling managers to make informed decisions and enhance conservation efforts. Importantly, these tools can be applied at all stages of MPA development and an unlimited number of times, supporting a continuous improvement in marine mammal conservation.
Veda has spent more than 20 years working on conservation of marine biodiversity in Indonesia. Starting as a university marine scientist, he later joined WWF in order to use his knowledge in the field. He has extensive work experience in close cooperation with local communities in Southeast Asia - educating them on the importance of MPAs for their livelihoods, facilitating cross-learning on critical marine habitats and threatened species conservation methods, and involving them in conservation activities. Such community driven approaches have led to sustainable project results, with locals continuing conservation activities far after the completion of official conservation projects. Due to the aforementioned experience, he is a proficient dialogue facilitator between governments and local communities.