LISTSERV 16.0 - WATERINSTITUTE-EXP-L Archives

Abstract: When President Obama signed an Executive Order on 19 July 2010 instructing federal agencies to implement the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, he created a new approach to managing human activities in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone--all 12 million square miles of the marine waters of the U.S. One of the Task Force recommendations proposed a framework for coastal and marine spatial planning that would create spatial plans for nine regions of the EEZ over the next four years--a daunting task given the limits of existing institutional arrangements for marine management, as well as the need for new funding. However, marine spatial planning has been practiced successfully in other countries (Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, and Norway) for over a decade. The seminar will examine the U.S. approach from an international perspective and identify management challenges that will have to be overcome if MSP in the U.S. is to be effective, efficient, and equitable.

Dr. Ehler is an internationally recognized expert on integrated coastal and ocean management, and has specialized for the past seven years in marine spatial planning. Since 2005 he has been a consultant to UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and Man and the Biosphere Programme, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme, the World Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), IUCN’s Marine Programme, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the International Ocean Institute, WWF-International, WWF-Sweden, and the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Climate Change and the Arctic. From 1978-2005 he worked as a senior executive for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, serving as the Director of the International Program Office of the National Ocean Service from 1998-2005 and managing the US Coastal Zone Management Program from 2000-2003 .

Dr. Ehler will be available to meet with interested students and faculty before his seminar on Thursday March 3rd. Please contact Wendy Graham ([log in to unmask]) if you are interested in meeting with him.