a zookeeper dropped a frozen clam into the pool, waiting patiently as the family of four swam over. this was no ordinary family, but a group of north american river otters, made up of a mother and her three babies. the father is not involved in the rearing of these youths, and may be sent to breed with the denizens of other zoos if he and the mother do not get along well when their children are grown.

“i was always passionate about animals, and once i started working with otters that transferred over, it took on a life of its own” said david hamilton, general curator at seneca park zoo and species survival plan coordinator. “i became the otter guy”.

overcoming historical challenges

as we watched the otters playing in their pool, we were discussing the importance of transferring these otters between zoos to breed in larger otter conservation efforts. north american river otters are an indicator species, meaning that if their population declines in their natural ranges, it signifies broader issues in that ecosystem. thus, the local extinction of the species in western new york for nearly 60 years was a major influence in provoking programs to examine waterways in the area and to begin their clean-up.

hamilton, who organizes the placement of otters in different facilities and closely monitors the otter populations in monroe county through the zoo, explains the historical origins of this issue. “it started off that there weren’t any checks on trapping,” he said. “that was bad news in the early 1800s and 1900s, with the fur trade.”

however, exploitation by the fashion industry was not the only plague that industrialization brought to river otter populations in the region. companies like kodak, which is headquartered in rochester, new york, have generated immense toxic waste which, according to studies by houghton college, have continued to poison local waters and food webs. furthermore, urban sprawl has continued to cause deforestation, shrinking the range available to otters. thus, it is no surprise that their populations almost completely disappeared, either dying out or migrating to the adirondacks and catskills.

“otters don’t follow that kind of migration pattern,” hamilton said. “and they’re one of the main predators of those non-game fish. so when they leave like that, it’s like the wolves of yellowstone – the fish populations blow up, and the ecosystems can’t take it.”

a comeback story unlike any otter

beginning in the 1990s, the new york state department of environmental conservation launched a project working with zoos like seneca park to return otters back to western new york. as a matter of fact, similar methods were being used across the country as otters were reintroduced to clean waterways.

most regions did not have as local a source of otters as western new york did, so many conservation efforts had to bring individuals from farther areas with particularly large and dense populations, such as louisiana. these were employed gradually so that their fitness could be surveyed in new and unfamiliar regions, safely transferred to farther regions like new england and the west coast. however, such movements presented a major problem. 

to solve the issue of population loss, programs needed more research about the causes of otters’ disappearances.  “we looked up the information about river otters and saw that there was a huge data gap,” said megan isadore, co-founder and director of the nonprofit organization the river otter ecology project.

the river otter ecology project was formed in marin county, california, around 2012, in the midst of these government-funded transfer programs. isadore, an enthusiastic and self-taught watershed ecologist, realized that although these programs were based in sound theory, there was very little accurate monitoring going on in california. however, she knew firsthand that anyone could easily become infatuated enough with otters to help without a scientific background, and so developed a solution.

“community science is really exciting to people because anyone can be a scientist,” she said of her organization’s “otter spotter” program. “we help people to understand that science is not just for eggheads sitting at their computers; it’s for all of us out there noticing what’s going on.”

over the last 13 years, using mapping technology and surveying, the project has gathered a remarkable amount of data from people who have reported sightings of otters in the marin county through their otter spotter program.

seeing that populations were truly on the rise, this monitoring began to spread further around the san francisco area, where the new data could inform policy and regulation that has continued to protect the species and clean the waterways.

now, the river otter ecology project is working with several grassroots nonprofits across the country to develop similar maps of otter populations, highlighting the areas that still need further attention – an undertaking made possible by the efforts of local communities collaborating with researchers out of the love for the otters.

the seneca park zoo has borrowed these methods, using similar technology and community reporting to check on the health and population of the otters of western new york. today, this research is focused on whether or not the otters still need intervention; and the outcomes, so far, are very promising.

“i’m monitoring to see whether these populations are sustainable now,” hamilton said. 

as they do, they will continue to help otter populations grow by nurturing their families at zoos across   the nation.

a few miles downstream of the united states’ largest semiconductor fabrication plant project in history, researchers are using paper waste to power a device to detect pfas in wastewater.

the shovels have already hit the ground on the semiconductor facility, marking the start of a nearly 20-year-long construction project for micron technologies’ megafab facility in clay, new york. the four semiconductor “fab” facilities will be responsible for outputting more than 30 million gallons of wastewater everyday to be treated by oak orchard wastewater treatment plant. 

“pfas” are a group of long-lasting chemicals used in many industrial processes and are vital to etching and coating the intricacies of micron’s small, integrated circuits. pfas can cause harm to reproductive health, adolescent development, and cancer. there are over 15,000 different types of pfas, some of which are what experts call “short-chain” or “long-chain” forms. recent legislation has focused more attention on the long-chain types rather than the more common short-chain ones. 

researchers at the leem lab in upstate new york are working to develop improved detection methods for “harder-to-detect” forms of pfas. the detection device uses lignin, a waste product from paper manufacturing processes, which the researchers say has the potential to be used by micron technologies.

amanda willet’s research sits at the center of a high-stakes equation: predicting how fast sea levels will rise — and how coastal cities can defend themselves. an overestimate could waste billions. an underestimate could leave cities facing devastation on the scale of hurricane katrina.

willet, a graduate student at penn state, attended the 2025 comer climate conference in the fall to present her upcoming research completed with professors sridhar anandakrishnan and veteran glaciologist richard alley, titled “seismic stories from earth’s frozen frontiers: thwaites glacier, antarctica.” alley teaches at penn state and is the emcee for the annual comer conference held in southwestern wisconsin.

what lies beneath the surface?

one reason sea level rise models remain uncertain, willet said, is that scientists don’t yet know what lies beneath glaciers. her team, in partnership with the british antarctic survey, is studying thwaites — a glacier larger than pennsylvania — because if it melts entirely, it could add 3 meters to global sea levels. that’s 9 feet, 10 inches of sea level rise, enough to inundate vast coastal areas and many islands. thwaites is part of the west antarctic ice sheet, which a dartmouth study (combining data from 16 ice sheet models) concluded may disappear by 2300. 

“depending on what the bottoms of these glaciers look like in big places like antarctica depends on how much sea level rise we actually get,” willet said. “if we want to understand sea level rise, we need to know what the bottoms of glaciers look like.”

alley said that model predictions for antarctica vary so widely that “nobody can reliably say what will happen.” the single biggest uncertainty, he added, is how glaciers move across the materials beneath them. once glaciers slide beyond a bedrock foundation, tongues in the water melt much faster. 

the thwaites glacier is the ice shelf of the much larger west antarctic ice sheet (wais). thwaites is considered the “doomsday glacier” because if it collapsed completely it could raise sea levels by 10 feet. according to the international thwaites glacier collaboration (itgc),the massive glacier will face accelerated retreat in the 21st and 22nd centuries, with much of the glacier gone by the 23rd century. full collapse may take hundreds to a few thousand years according to recent models. 

to study that hidden world two miles below the surface, willet and her team use highly sensitive seismometers to listen to tiny earthquakes that can indicate cracks or breaks in the ice.

“they listen to the earthquakes and can tell where they are, how big the spot is that breaks, and how much energy it releases,” alley said. “those little spots are really important — they inform how glaciers move, and how the ice sheets behave. that’s what will let us build better models for what antarctica will do.”

willet said thwaites’ bed is far more complex than most models suggest, with both hard and soft patches beneath the ice. that mixed environment is difficult to simulate — and potentially dangerous.

“if we have both, that’s the worst-case scenario,” willet said. “it’s drawing down ice from inland and breaking off at the front — doing everything we wouldn’t want it to be doing. the data show the most likely scenario is this mixed environment. we want to get that information to modelers so they can make more informed decisions.”

all hands on deck

elizabeth case, a ph.d. researcher at columbia university who also studies thwaites glacier, said the glacier may already be undergoing irreversible retreat. the bed beneath it — whether granite, sand, or clay — determines how easily it can slide or flow into the ocean. 

“what happens at the bed affects crystal structure throughout the ice, influencing how fast thwaites may disappear,” case said. “this has serious implications for sea level rise, and the impacts will be felt around the world — directly along coastlines, and indirectly as displacement and migration follow rising seas.”

willet said that improving the accuracy of those projections is essential. most glaciologists, she believes, see current sea level predictions as overly optimistic. alley agreed, emphasizing the urgency and value of the work.

“the costs of getting it wrong are flabbergastingly high,” alley said. “supporting amanda’s research is saving you money. the cost is trivial compared to the value of what comes out.”

though she calls herself an environmentalist — even a “tree hugger” — willet said her motivation goes beyond nature.

“i want to protect this planet that we live on,” she said. “but more importantly, i want to protect people. sea level rise doesn’t matter if there are no humans on the coast — but there are. we’re the ones who will struggle to live with that reality.”

seagulls overhead, the faint smell of sulfur on the coast, and waves crashing against the cliffs — the uk’s relationship with its shoreline forms a fundamental part of national culture and identity. 

for an island nation with over 10,000 miles of coastline and nearly 40% of its population living within a few miles of the sea, this connection runs deeper than fish-and-chip shops or oceanfront arcades. it is the heartbeat of hundreds of communities.

yet as the climate crisis intensifies, with violent storms and rising sea levels, the cliffs and sea defenses that protect these towns crumble, accelerating the erosion that threatens their future. 

erosion explained 

experts say climate change actively causes an increase in the severity of coastal erosion, but how does this actually happen? 

according to nasa, atmospheric co2 levels have reached an unprecedented level — a staggering 50% increase since the pre-industrial era. these values intensify the natural greenhouse gas effect, leading to higher global temperatures. this in turn raises sea levels and fuels more powerful storms, allowing waves to reach further up the coast and strike cliffs more frequently, accelerating erosion. 

ken buchan is the project delivery manager for stronger shores, an innovative project tasked with mitigating coastal change. he highlighted that shoreline erosion ”makes coastal communities vulnerable” for a reason which may be overlooked in comparison to traditional physical processes. 

“when sea level rises, there’s coastal squeeze where beaches and so on become smaller,” he said, referring to an issue which buchan emphasized depreciates the power of beaches as the first line of defence for many seaside towns across the uk.

building on this, matthew agarwala, ph.d., a professor in sustainable finance at the university of sussex, discussed how the combination of higher seas, storm surges, and strong winds can allow waves to overcome existing man-made sea defenses on the uk’s shores and therefore damage the cliffs supporting these regions. 

for these british towns, long fortified by the fishing industry and tourism, these damages are more than physical: they are a burden on both their financial and cultural stability. for instance, onehome data predicts that by 2100, nearly £600 million [approximately $810 million] worth of assets and over 2,000 properties could be lost in the uk due to coastal battering. experts like agarwala say these losses can take different forms, such as damage to roads or water treatment facilities, posing “big risks” to an island nation.

transcript: that includes stuff like transport infrastructure, like roads, railways, bridges along the coast but it’s also utilities, water treatment facilities, power lines, gas infrastructure — a lot of that’s on the coast as well. and of course it’s tourism assets as well: the beaches, the holiday parks, the hotels, the places we all like to and hang out in the nice weather. so these really are big risks, not just for physical infrastructure but also to some degree the social and cultural identity of an island economy like the united kingdom.

matthew agarwala, ph.d., professor in sustainable finance at the university of sussex

communities in danger 

as some coastal towns respond to rising sea levels by beginning the process of decommissioning (forcing residents to move out as the town dissolves), it is evident that erosion is not a uniform process, with particular areas more at risk than others. a spokesperson for the environment agency, a governmental body tasked with protecting the environment in england, stated that certain geological rock types play a role in this vulnerability. 

in the southwest of england, cliffs are more prone to hydraulic action, where the sheer force of water wears away the rock, due to a mix of hard and soft stone types dominating the region. by contrast, the east coast, with its glacial deposits, sandstone, and clay boulders, experiences a faster erosion climate characterized by rock and sand grinding along the coastline. this is demonstrated by east yorkshire’s holderness coast, one of europe’s fastest-eroding coastlines.

agarwala expanded on this, discussing an interesting correlation he found amongst these vulnerable groups. ”some of the communities that are most at risk from climate change are also the communities that are voting for conservatives or are shifting to reform [uk],” he said in reference to the political parties which are less supportive of environmentalism in their policy-making. 

“there are places that are viable today and that have been viable for centuries in the past, that will not be viable even 20 years into the future,” agarwala said.

zooming in 

in northern england, on the north sea’s boundary, lies the small village of staithes, where maritime industry and seaside tourism form the engine of local life. 

“for a long, long time, fishing was the main job for the people in the village, along with some mining. these days it’s tourism,” said sallie hernandez, a local resident who has lived in the area for 16 years. “a lot of people refer to staithes as their happy place and visit more than once, twice a year.”

despite the area’s economic success and picturesque nature, coastal deterioration has battered the region for decades, with the community pub, the cod and lobster, washing away on multiple occasions. most notably, on the northwest of the village resides a small hamlet known as cowbar cottages, accessible by a singular entry route named cowbar lane.

over many years, this access road has eroded and been rebuilt multiple times under the burden of perpetual wave action from the sea below. resident and local authority concerns are now escalating, following a rockfall event in october 2024 that has placed the route at immediate risk of collapse. 

“walking through today, big chunks are missing,” hernandez said, on one of her daily walks through cowbar. ”all along by cowbar cottages is all fenced off. i recently saw some drone footage of the cliff and it was terrifying to see what was going on underneath.”

a council report published by north yorkshire, redcar, and cleveland borough council — the government bodies responsible for overseeing staithes — have since attributed reasons for the rockfall.  most strikingly, the document acknowledges erosion processes exacerbated by sea level rise, increased storm frequency due to climate change, and foreshore lowering — a process in which wave energy removes protective layers of sediment at the base of a cliff — as integral factors. 

council efforts are advancing to manage the issue and involve a three-phased road realignment, whereby the lane is gradually moved southwards away from the cliff edge over 50 years.

“keeping access is vital. there are cottages down there that are only accessible via that road and the lifeboat station, so all these things would need to move if access cannot be maintained,” hernandez said. 

elsewhere in the village, the council has worked tirelessly, installing sea defenses in the form of rock armor and breakwater piers to protect the harbor from the destructive nature of the north sea. despite this, local anxiety prevails, particularly following the loss of a child’s’s life at seaton garth, staithes, due to a rockfall in the summer of 2018. 

transcript: at the end of the day, the cliffs are soft, water’s harsh, and it’s just going to keep going until it wins. the piers at staithes, i think, were given a 50-year lifespan, at which point that will need to be revisited. but 25 years from now, i think the coastline will look completely different again.

sallie hernandez, a local staithes resident who has lived in the area for 16 years

stemming the tide 

for regions like staithes, mitigation frameworks named shoreline management plans are the leading unit tasked with stemming the tide of coastal erosion. using factors such as population, technical feasibility, and climate change, these models assign a planned course of action to every section of the english coast. 

however, these schemes often focus on hard-engineered solutions, such as sea walls, which sustainability experts like agarwala argue come with significant drawbacks.

enter stronger shores, a £200 million [$269 million] research project focused on innovative ways of improving coastal resilience. having started in 2023 and currently funding 25 different schemes across the northeast oceanfront of the uk, the program is rooted in a philosophy of trial and error.

“at this stage it’s quite experimental, it’s quite research orientated,” said ken buchan, the delivery manager of the project. “if things don’t work, that’s okay. because we are learning from that.”

the focal point of stronger shores targets soft-engineered solutions to climate change, exploring how oyster restorations, kelp forests, or seagrass meadows can improve the robustness of maritime communities.

buchan discussed how one student at newcastle university is actively using artificial kelp structures in laboratory wave tanks to understand biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and wave reduction benefits.

transcript: the hard engineering things include the sea walls and the groynes, rock armor, offshore breakwaters, etc. but these are really quite expensive, they’re difficult to maintain, and the problem with a lot of these hard sea defenses is that you create a solution here that just shifts the problem there. 

matthew agarwala, ph.d., a professor in sustainable finance at the university of sussex

“with the [kelp] fronds being up on the surface of the water as the wave energy comes through, that energy gets dissipated by the top of the plant. it’s like it puts the brakes on as the waves come over,” buchan said, referencing how kelp systems can mitigate erosive forces. 

with the project set to finalize in 2027, one main ambition drives buchan and his team: the creation of a toolkit combining all the research, methods, benefits, and challenges from stronger shores. it will guide coastal engineers nationwide, helping to protect the uk’s enduring bond with its marine identity. 

given the uncertain future, buchan is left asking, “can we [as a nation] be doing things differently from what we’ve currently been doing to try and improve resilience and protect coastal communities?”

a study published aug. 4 in nature ecology & evolution outlines a recent breakthrough in sea star wasting disease (sswd) research: scientists have identified a causative agent.

sswd emerged unexpectedly in 2013 and quickly spread along the pacific coast. it destroys the tissue within sea stars, deforming their arms and causing them to break off. since 2013, it has killed billions of sea stars, including more than 90% of sunflower sea stars.

especially on the coast of california, sunflower sea star populations have been decimated, causing trophic cascades in kelp forest ecosystems. die-offs have led to a boom in sea urchins, which have then depleted kelp, their primary food source.

“there’s a lot of regions along the california coast where the kelp forests are severely declined and that has huge impacts,” a doctoral student in the school of aquatic and fisheries sciences, grace crandall, said.

kelp acts as a carbon sink, making it crucial for combating global warming, crandall explained.

a 2014 study suggested a virus as the causative agent of sswd, leading initial research in that direction. instead, the causation was found to be a bacterium known as vibrio pectenicida.

researchers used a method known as koch’s postulate to identify the cause of sswd. they began by performing a series of experiments to identify whether the disease was transmissible. they then boiled a sample of coelomic fluid, which is comparable to the human bloodstream, of the diseased sea star to determine whether the cause was alive. the boiled sample was no longer infectious, suggesting that the disease is caused by a living source, rather than environmental conditions.

researchers used a subtractive technique to isolate the causative agent; they removed everything from the diseased sample that was also highly present in the healthy sample.

“there’s this one type of bacteria that was hugely abundant in these sick stars that was not present in the healthy stars,” jason hodin, a senior research scientist at friday harbor labs (fhl), said.

this finding was a match for vibrio pectenicida fhcf-3, the same genus of bacteria that causes cholera (vibrio cholerae) in humans.

in early 2024, there was an outbreak of sswd at the friday harbor laboratories (fhl), a uw marine research station. scientists were able to isolate the full sequence of the bacterium from that sample for the first time

“the title of the paper talks about a strain called fhcf-3, and the fh in that is friday harbor,” hodin said.

the bacterium found in sea stars afflicted with sswd was a match to a scallop larval culture in france, indicating that it may have jumped species. identifying what drove the outbreak in sea stars is a next step for the research, according to hodin.

researchers are also looking to breed sea stars with more resistance to the disease. ochre stars, for instance, are already showing signs of recovery, indicating that they’ve developed some resistance to sswd. by breeding the most resistant stars, scientists could utilize artificial selection for recovery efforts. additionally, researchers could inject sea stars with a low dose of sswd, which would function similarly to a vaccine. however, scientists are uncertain whether sea stars’ immune systems work in a way that would be amenable to this.

a treatment for the disease has already been developed by the oregon coast aquarium. the process involves altering environmental conditions so that sea stars have the strength to fight off the disease themselves.

“[sea stars] are actually very robust and adaptable organisms, but they have this specific sensitivity to this disease,” hodin said.

to treat sswd, scientists put the sea stars in cooler water, adjust the ph, clean their wounds using iodine, and add probiotics to the water to support the sea stars’ microbiomes.

that afflicted sea stars heal in colder water is one piece of evidence of a correlation between sswd and warmer water temperatures.

“in 2014, there was a massive marine heat wave that coincided with the outbreak of this disease,” hodin said.

exploring this correlation is another next step for researchers.

if you stumble upon a diseased sea star while tidepooling, crandall suggests documenting it with an app like inaturalist.

“a way that people can help is if they see a sea star that looks like it’s sort of melting or has white spots or its arms are twisted up, to not touch it,” crandall said.

if you do touch the diseased sea star, wash your hands before touching anything else to prevent transmission, crandall recommends.

i grew up in fulton, new york, and have seen firsthand the impacts on our local lake. lake neatahwanta is a 715-acre lake. the lake has faced pollution, water quality, and algae-bloom issues for decades.

i hope that by watching this video, viewers can better understand the driving factors of the eutrophication (or the presence of excessive nutrients) of the body of water, what has been done to try to revitalize it, as well as current hopes and plans to help get the waters quality, and toxic blue-green algae blooms under control.

through my video, i wanted to speak about organizations in the dc-maryland-virginia area that continue to help with clean and usable water. drew robinson, communications director of the choose clean water coalition speaks to the importance of communicating the importance of water quality to the average person. george washington university student mahira ahmed narrates the video.

i hope viewers of this video discover not only that there are people out there helping, but how they can do more in their daily lives to support clean water themselves.

while out on the river, the workers perform river quality monitoring, measuring acidity and clarity. maeda, water quality specialist at the aws for the past 20 years, leads this effort and said the water quality of the river has improved, which can be attributed to mussel deployment and reduced sewage runoff. 

“the anacostia river may look better than you think,” maeda said.

testing water quality along the anacostia river

the pair set off from the aws boat dock at the eastern power boat club. from there, they spend two to three hours on the river, hitting 10 different water quality testing stations. their route goes from the south capitol street bridge, at the intersection of the potomac river, up through the bladensburg bridge, near the border of the district and southern maryland.

maeda said he checks the river’s clarity by dipping a clean water bottle into the river to gather a sample. he also checks the river through a water quality testing machine. with this machine, maeda checks for the water’s acidity and temperature. he also looks at the dissolved oxygen in the water, the e. coli levels, and the conductivity.

these measurements help him determine the river’s health for human consumption, aquatic life, recreation, and other uses.

for the past eight years, maeda has brought along volunteer spottswood, a 78-year-old from north bethesda, md. she uses a secchi disk, a black-and-white patterned plate, to check the water’s clarity by lowering it into the water and measuring the depth at which it disappears. 

according to spottswood, the section of the anacostia river closer to the potomac is clearer compared to upper parts of the river. this is because the tidal section in maryland has more fecal bacteria from wildlife compared to areas near the potomac river, per the 2021 aws report card. 

“we’d love to see the bottom,” she said. “we never will.” 

spottswood got involved with the aws after taking their maryland master naturalist course. when the instructor said maeda needed a volunteer, she said she jumped at the opportunity. 

“i love being on the river,” spottswood said. “it’s just so beautiful.”

aws also relies on volunteers to help deploy mussels into the anacostia river. jorge bogantes montero, 43, restoration program manager at the aws, is in charge of this effort and said these mussels are part of the reason for a cleaner river. he said the aws began deploying the mussels in 2019.

since then, he said, over 38,000 mussels have been reintroduced into the anacostia river. they now filter 10-20 gallons of water per day, adding up to the equivalent of over 210 olympic-sized pools per year.

bogantes said volunteers make this project possible, as they are the ones releasing the mussels. he said the mailing list for the mussel volunteers is around 300 people. 

“the mussel project has been eye-opening for us,” bogantes said. “when we started, we were not expecting the support we have received for this project.”

reasons for anacostia river water quality improvement

maeda said it’s difficult to link mussel deployment directly to improved water quality because there are not many mussels upstream in the anacostia river. he said a main reason for an improvement in water quality is a decrease in sewage in the river, thanks to several projects run by the district’s department of energy and environment of the district through their restoring the anacostia river website.

the anacostia river sediment project, for example, identifies potential contaminants located within the anacostia river, along with the washington channel and kingman lake. and in november 2024, the doee also released their anacostia river corridor restoration plan. 

they also work on stormwater and sewage management systems through their riversmart homes program. 

since 2007, the riversmart homes program website said, it has supported residents with rain barrels, shade trees, rain gardens, and native plants. the program website also said it reimburses the construction behind the movement of large hard-surface areas like driveways or patios. 

these efforts reduce sewage and polluted runoff by helping rain soak into other areas instead of carrying trash into storm drains, according to the riversmart homes website. richard jackson, director of the doee, said this program works to prevent pollution.  

“it’s an old program,” jackson said. “but it’s still very effective and many people enjoy that program and benefit from it.” 

this past november, the aws released its 2025 state of the anacostia river report, showing improvements. 

the overall score was a pass of 65%, or a d, which is the second highest grade ever recorded, according to the report. but the anacostia river has not always passed the test, maeda said. the state of the anacostia river reports from 2019, 2022, and 2023 all showed failing grades. 

maeda said this means the river has shown improvement, but still has a long way to go.

in the waters of rio guamá, all of nature’s sounds are often overshadowed by the loud, echoing motor of boats that travel up and down the river. yet every morning, vitória nunes and nanda baniwa instead choose to listen to their canoe paddles treading the water and the peaceful sounds of native birds and insects while they take travelers on excursions from belém to ilha do maracujá. 

nunes and baniwa live in belém, an amazonian city in the north of brazil. at rio e mar va’a, an ecotourism company dedicated to canoeing excursions, they’re able to introduce people from around the world to the heart of the amazon — all with a focus on sustainability.

“using our canoes as instruments, we can show that economic development can be done without destruction,” nunes, who founded the company in 2020, said. “we are preserving the amazon in an active way.”

they told me belém is a city that was built with its back to the river; belém didn’t care for the people and habitats across the water, nor did it leave beach space for the city’s inhabitants to swim in and enjoy the river, they said. the islands that are just 20 minutes by boat from belém and home to thousands of ribeirinhos — or people who live right on the edge of the river— don’t even have potable water, they said.

women and the waters

nunes and baniwa serve as a rope of trust between outsiders and the local ribeirinhos, and in doing so, they also put women in the front and center of the businesses they work with. 

a study conducted by fundação getúlio vargas in 2022 found that companies with female leadership were often high-performing in sustainability and more in line with the united nations’ sustainable development goals. 

“with our work, we show the importance of female empowerment in the waters, even though canoeing is dominated by men,” nunes said. 

women in brazil represent nearly 50% of the number of professionals who make a living based on water activities, according to the brazilian ministry of fisheries and aquaculture. this represents over 815,000 women who are artisanal and recreational fishers as well as aquaculturists, or professionals who raise aquatic organisms like fish and shellfish under controlled conditions for consumption. 

in brazil’s tourism sector, which largely involves nautical activities and ecotourism, women also represent half of the workforce, according to brazil’s national tourism observatory.

yet, regardless of their powerful role in these industries, they are the most affected by climate change, said brazil’s minister of fisheries and agriculture andré de paula. the reduction of fish stocks, floods, and salinization are among the most significant impacts felt by women, he said. 

“there is no sustainable future without the women of the water,” de paula said. “the strength of the waters is the same as that of the community that lives in them.”

for this reason, cop30 in belém, brazil, shone a spotlight on women and communities of the waters. from panels, to solutions, and even inclusion in high-level negotiations, the  presence of those who most intensely feel the effects of climate change was strongly felt.

seeking solutions

“brazil is leading by example” on representing and protecting those whose lives depend on aquatic systems, said brazil’s first lady janja silva. 

the country’s government had already created some solutions prior to hosting cop, such as being the first country in the world to include the “blue curriculum” in schools across the country, launching the national artisanal fishing plan, and a prize named “mulheres nas Águas” (“women in waters”) that is awarded every year. 

but cop also saw the launching of new programs like the ocean task force, co-led with france, and the approval of the belém package’s one ocean partnership, which includes a $20 billion commitment by 2030 for supporting water communities’ resilience to climate change and seeks to generate 20 million blue jobs, according to cop30’s official website. 

however, in the midst of bright solutions, there are still many developing states that are reliant on the ocean for livelihood and are still struggling to finance sustainable programs. 

pio manoa, deputy director general of the pacific islands forum fisheries agency, said some of the pacific’s small, developing islands source 70% of their gdp from fishing, which is either a first or second source of livelihood for families who live there. 

“we feel the effects of climate change already,” he said. “we need less talk and more action, especially because adaptation financing is always lower than mitigation financing.” 

as major financing goals are pushed farther into the future, and as cop’s presidency transitions to that of turkey and australia, it remains to be seen if promises will be met.  

reflecting on the future, nunes concluded, “without destroying our waters, our environment, we are leaving future generations with the privilege of exploring and benefitting from the very nature we have right now.”

as the 10^th anniversary of the paris climate agreement quickly approaches, more innovation is needed to discover win-win solutions for humans and marine habitats. could marine protected areas (mpas) lead the way, and what challenges remain with their implementation?

the takeaway: mpas – areas of the ocean designated by a nation’s government for resource protection – present one avenue to help meet the goals established by the paris climate agreement. however, challenges remain with enforcement, buy-in, and deciding which areas need protection.

the statistics: according to the united nations, only about 8% of the world’s oceans are currently protected via mpas. the un’s 30×30 plan, proposed in 2019, aimed to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. at current rates, it is estimated that mpas will only achieve 15% coverage by that time. 

• beyond the preservation of marine resources, marine protected areas can also serve as carbon sinks. according to stefano pogutz, a professor at milan’s bocconi university, marine protected areas are a key tool for countries looking to further their contributions to the paris climate agreement. this is because the vibrant marine ecosystems created by mpas can sequester carbon more efficiently than areas with degraded habitats.

what the experts are saying: when implemented correctly, marine protected areas can help promote economic growth while protecting key marine resources.

• “i think companies are much more advanced than we think,” pogutz said. in the european union, pogutz argues that many companies realize they are dependent on natural resources. offering tuna producers as an example, pogutz says that firms have recognized that overfishing and habitat destruction will quickly leave them without fish to catch. 
  
• in hong kong, experts see mpas as an avenue to boost ecotourism. writing in the south china morning post, business and conservation experts andy cornish and marine thomas argue that expanding mpas can “generate substantial economic and social returns” as tourists flock to natural areas. however, the two conservation leaders also write that new policy controls are needed to help build out hong kong’s ecotourism infrastructure. 

zooming in: experts have identified hong kong as a region where increased mpa coverage could benefit the local economy and community. 

• in 2018, wwf hong kong released a report designating port shelter as a high-potential candidate for mpa status. home to various types of coral and over 100 species of fish, the location is popular with tourists looking for an outdoor break from hong kong’s bustling business district. 
  
• according to wwf hong kong, port shelter was a candidate area for marine protection in 2009 and 2012. while the movement to establish port shelter as a formal mpa has struggled with momentum, the creation of other marine parks across hong kong has brought increased attention to the subject. 
  

a ticking clock: for mpas to be successful, more work is needed from the business, conservation, and policy communities to identify win-win solutions for all stakeholders.

• according to the inter-american development bank, one of the biggest barriers to the success of mpas is funding. without adequate funds to support enforcement, marine protected areas risk becoming “paper parks.” this occurs when failures in managing mpas render them indistinguishable from other areas of the ocean. 
• as a result, organizations such as the nature conservancy have advocated for innovative mechanisms to secure funding for ocean initiatives. this includes blue bonds, which, according to the nature conservancy, can help a country “refinance a portion of its national debt in a way that secures funding for conservation activities.”

when implemented correctly, refinancing through blue bonds can channel financial resources to protect marine areas and support local communities. like most impactful conservation innovations, blue bonds present an opportunity for win-win solutions that benefit both people and the planet. 

both the paris climate agreement and the un’s 30×30 plan set ambitious yet daunting goals. solutions like mpas – financed with blue bonds when applicable – present one way nations can take a step forward while promoting their communities and economies.