Professional Certificate in Environmental Management for Sustainability courses
We are excited to announce that our Storytelling with Data Using Socio-environmental Report Cards course will be live this upcoming Monday, May 10th! This is our second course in the Professional Certificate in Environmental Management for Sustainability. Pro tip: consider enrolling as a verified learner to have access to bonus materials and extra resources.
Socio-environmental report cards have proven to be THE tool to effect positive change. Enroll here today, and join us as we explore proven techniques to synthesize data, engage the local community, inform decision-making, and drive policy for any environmental or sustainability challenge.
Bhitarkanika Conservation Area Report Card now available
The first-ever report card for the Bhitarkanika Conservation Area in Odisha, India is now available! The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), jointly with the Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project (OFSDP-II) and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, brought together over 40 local and regional experts and stakeholders in February 2019. Together the group chose ecosystem health indicators, thresholds and a reporting framework for Bhitarkanika Conservation Area.
Bhitarkanika Report Card captures current conditions within the conservation area, including the Eco Sensitive Zone, Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhitarkanika National Park, Critically Vulnerable Coastal Area and the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. Overall, Bhitarkanika is in good condition. Indicator scores were “excellent” in Maipura and Gahirmatha and “good” in Bhitarkanika, Dhamra, Brahmani and Mahanadi.
2020 Coastal Georgia Report Card now available
This is the seventh Coastal Georgia Ecosystem Report Card. Georgia DNR has been creating report cards since 2014, when IAN helped kick off the process. This report card updates indicators and methods. New indicators added were dissolved oxygen, spotted seatrout, and bald eagles. Overall, Coastal Georgia received a score of 77%, a B+.
Subscribe to the COAST Card Research Consortium newsletter
The Coastal Ocean Assessment for Sustainability and Transformation (COAST) Card is an international, transdisciplinary research program seeking to foster solutions to global sustainability challenges. This project brings together researchers from the USA, Japan, Philippines, Norway, and India. COAST Card merges three tools: socio-ecological network analyses; socio-environmental report cards; and system dynamics models. You can subscribe to the COAST Card e-news for updates. Follow COAST card on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
A successful, virtual National Monitoring Conference
The CMC project team attended the virtual National Monitoring Conference in April. The one-week virtual event brought together practitioners from federal, state, and volunteer monitoring organizations to share knowledge about monitoring across the U.S. The CMC presented on the Hack the Bay and provided a Data Interpretation workshop at the conference. The image (above) is from the panel discussion in the session “Building Credibility in Community-based Monitoring Programs,” with Julie Vastine from ALLARM facilitating the discussion and Liz Chudoba, the CMC Project Manager, presenting on the CMC Hackathon.