We would like to invite you to the very first edition of the National Ocean Sciences Conference in the Netherlands, this year taking place at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center on Thursday 6 June 2024. From the shore to the open ocean, from the equator to the poles, from the natural sciences to humanities. Be there to help shape the community and hear what your fellow researchers are doing, expand your network and get inspired!
Time: 09:30 – 18:00
Location: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
Registration: via this link before May 20th, 2024
Sharing knowledge at national level
Scientists and scholars in the Netherlands study marine processes from a multitude of scientific disciplines to better understand how they can provide sustainable solutions to address the big societal questions that are posed by the climate and biodiversity crises. As stated by the UN Decade of the Ocean Sciences, it is essential to share this knowledge also at a national level to move forward together in this quest. And what better timing to do so than just before the United Nations designated World Ocean Day?
Programme National Ocean Sciences Conference
09:30 Registration
10:15 Welcome – Yvonne Smit
- Stefanie Ypma – Sustainable Ocean Community
- Maaike van de Kamp - Romijn, Deputy General Director- Naturalis Biodiversity Centre
10:25 The voice of the Ocean - Milan Meyberg
11:10 Whose Ocean Icebreaker – Susanne Ferwerda
The ocean is crucial to life and climate, but its voice is barely heard in (international) law and policy decisions. While the UN explicitly speaks about “our ocean”, it is completely unclear who the “our” refers to. Does the ocean belong to humanity? To states? Or does the ocean belong to itself? To the organisms (non-human animals, plants, and microbes) that live in it and/or to the materialities that make the ocean (water, rocks, elements)?
11:45 Keynote - Redistributing value(s) and wealth in ocean-industries in the Age of Unsustainability – Liam Campling
Shipping and industrial fisheries are leading 'blue economy' industries. Each contributes in different ways to global heating and biodiversity loss, and each reproduce socially inequitable outcomes in terms of the distribution of gains, costs and risks. Can we think about a more sustainable ocean future based upon new energy sources and a just maritime transition for people working at sea, and where coastal states are incentivised to act as custodians of marine life?
12:30 Poster Pitches – Mei Nelissen
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Forum Discussion – Biodiversity Protection & Restoration
Introduction by Hans Nieuwenhuis (Ministry I&W) and panelists: Mark Vermeij , Susanne Ferwerda, Seline Trevisanut, Sabine Gollner and Annet Pauwelussen.
15:00 Policy update by the Ministry of I&W
15:15 Break & poster Session
16:15 Our role as ocean scientists – Katja Peijnenburg
Biodiversity is under enormous pressure from the rapidly changing ocean. What else can a researcher do besides bringing out as much knowledge as possible?
Following this, Katja Peijnenburg and Maarten Heijnen will give an update on The National Ocean Decade Committee which will be installed on the 5th June.
16:45 The Wild North Sea – Klaudie Bartelink
17:15 Drinks
Organised by the Sustainable Ocean Community and
