UNESCO unveils results of its groundbreaking mapping of marine species using environmental DNA
Date/Time: Monday 09 December 2024, 15:00 CET
UNESCO invites you to a press conference on 9 December to unveil the results of its pioneering environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling initiative conducted across 21 World Heritage marine sites in 19 countries. Over three years, this pilot programme engaged hundreds of scientists and local schoolchildren. It represents a milestone in biodiversity monitoring and marine conservation amidst a rapidly climate disruption.
Speakers will include:
- Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General
- Fanny Douvere, Head of World Heritage Marine Programme, UNESCO
- Ward Appeltans, Head of Ocean Biodiversity Information System, UNESCO
- Pedro Ramos, Superintendent, Everglades National Park World Heritage site, United States of America
- Anne Laure Léger, General Representative of Flanders to UNESCO, OECD and the Council of Europe, funder of the programme
Climate disruption, including ocean warming, is forcing marine species away from their natural habitats and creating an urgent need to better understand and map their distribution. Using eDNA sampling to identify life in the ocean is a promising technology to monitor biodiversity at higher scale and with faster results to keep pace with our rapidly changing environment.
Over the past three years, UNESCO has honed and harnessed eDNA sampling methods in a way that is that is efficient, non-invasive to local wildlife, affordable and engages local communities especially youth. After deployment across 21 World Heritage marine sites – representing some of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots – this pilot programme has successfully shown how eDNA sampling can help collect the data we need for better informed decision-making, necessary to tackle the joint climate and biodiversity crises.
This press conference will unveil the results of this cutting-edge initiative and its practical applications to better monitor biodiversity. UNESCO experts and site managers will show how eDNA sampling could now be scaled up and rolled out across the 18,000 marine protected areas worldwide, and become a vital tool to achieve the marine conservation targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: protecting 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.
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