COAST Card at the 24th International RiverSymposium
Our COAST Card team virtually presented at the 24th International RiverSymposium, on topics including how report cards help inform environmental management, stakeholder engagement and environmental justice, and how to build better relationships with international teams. Strategies like these help advance the effort of moving from healthy rivers to resilient rivers. In addition to presentations by our international team, Dr. Bill Dennison and Dr. Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen facilitated a workshop with the James River Association to share success stories of using report cards to catalyze meaningful action. To learn more about the conference, visit riverysymposium.com.
Updating the Texas Coast Report Card in workshops
The first round of stakeholder workshops for the updated Texas Coast Report Card are under way. Through the month of October, IAN staffers Heath Kelsey, Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen, and Annie Carew are attending virtual workshops hosted by the Harte Research Institute. The updated report card, which will include economic and social as well as environmental indicators, is divided into several smaller, regional report cards. Each region represents one or several of the small coastal bays along the southern Texas Coast.
Stakeholders from each region are gathering virtually to discuss what's important to their ecosystems, from bird populations to hotel revenue, and what threatens ecosystem health, including the various threats associated with climate change. Future meetings and workshops will define indicators, thresholds, and potential data sources for the report cards.
Farewell, Simon!
This month, we say a fond farewell to Simon Costanzo, who has been with IAN for ten years as a science integrator. Simon has worked a wide variety of projects, including the Kwando and Kafue River Report Cards, and the Darwin Harbour Report Card. One of Simon's future endeavors is continuing to work with IAN at DarwinIAN, an IAN-esque organization based in Brisbane, Australia. Thanks for all you've done, Simon, and good luck!