IOLR organised FutureMARES-ACTNOW event on climate change and its impacts on Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Prof. Gil Rilov from FutureMARES Partner IOLR (Haifa, Israel) organised a conference event in cooperation with EU project ACTNOW to discuss the challenges of marine conservation at the age of climate change with stakeholders and policy makers.

In July 2024, IOLR organized a coupled FutureMARES-ACTNOW sponsored event that brought together marine scientists studying climate change and its impacts in the region. Stakeholders and policymakers were invited to discuss the challenges of marine conservation at the age of climate change and with high exposure to invasive species. Participating stakeholders and decision makers included the chief scientist, Prof. Noga Kornfeld-Shor and the executive responsible for climate resilience, Mr. Rani Amir, of the Israel Ministry of the Environment, as well as the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea marine ecologist of the Israel Nature and Park Authority (INPA), Alon Rothschild, who manages biodiversity policy at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Ilan Nisim, the executive responsible for nature protection in the Ministry of Energy also attended the event.

The climate change and conservation challenges event at IOLR. Prof. Gil Rilov moderating a a panel discussion on the challenges of marine conservation at the age of climate change. The Ministry of Environmental protection gives an opening talk (bottom, middle)

There was a series of talks on northern Red Sea impacts and challenges, also discussing the fact that the northern Red Sea coral reefs are a climate refugia due to their high tolerance to warming. The Red Sea ecologist of INPA commented on the challenges his authority faces in protecting this unique habitat from threats of increased eutrophication and massive expansion of oil transport in the nearby terminal due to regional agreements. This discussion was followed by series of talks on climate change and bioinvasion impacts on Mediterranean biodiversity with an ecologist of INPA speaking about MPA challenges in this highly changing region. At the end of the meeting, there was a panel discussion of the stakeholders led by Prof. Rilov which focused on the challenges of marine conservation in this areas which is a hotspot of biodiversity, climate change and bioinvasions.

IOLR PhD student, Iris Preiss, explains about her FutureMARES-ACTNOW experiments in IOLR’s mesocosm facility on the impact of temperature on the invasive sea urchin, Diadema setosum and the impacts of the invader on the reef ecosystem.

This event was picked up by the media https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-first-marine-climate-confab-scientists-paint-worrying-picture-with-few-solutions/.

For more information contact Prof. Gil Rilov (IOLR).