The Ocean Foundation’s International Ocean Acidification Initiative: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Building Resilience

The Ocean Foundation’s International Ocean Acidification Initiative helps vulnerable communities understand changes in ocean chemistry, monitor the changes in their waters, assess the risks to their social and economic health, and address the effects with policy based on strong science. The initiative achieves this by providing both specialized and interdisciplinary training, ranging from science-specific technical trainings, to legislative drafting trainings, to interdisciplinary symposia bringing together scientists, policy makers, and industry leaders from around the world to collaborate and discover strategies for building resilience to ocean acidification. For example, in January 2019 The Ocean Foundation hosted the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Symposium on Ocean Acidification; sessions highlighted options for low-cost chemical monitoring equipment, techniques for conducting biological experiments to evaluate impacts on species, strategies for adaptation in aquaculture, and policy frameworks for building socioeconomic resilience at local, regional, and national levels. The Ocean Foundation is currently training policy makers in the Mexican Government on national policy drafting to address ocean acidification under the scope of Mexico’s national monitoring plans. To date, The Ocean Foundation has led seven regional scientific trainings for more than 100 scientists, two regional policy trainings and one national policy training for more than 50 policymakers, developed a suite of equipment designed to monitor acidification at high quality with low cost, developed a policy guidebook, and helped introduce two regional resolutions on ocean acidification. The International Ocean Acidification Initiative serves as a model that can be replicated and expanded, and is a useful case study on how to advance and engage on ocean acidification issues amongst a diverse group of stakeholders.