ARTPORT_GOOD FOOD & SEATRUST INSTITUTE Panel: Creative Ingredients For A Sustainable Food System Venue: Kunstmuseum Bonn, Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2, 53113 Bonn, Germany (Auditorium)

Free and open to the public

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SB46 Bonn, Germany May 2017

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cop 20 Lima Peru

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SeaTrust Delegation Presents at COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland

A SeaTrust Institute delegation led by CEO Dr. Lynn Wilson is attending and presenting at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw, Poland November 11-22. Dr. Wilson chairs the official Side Event on November 15th, "Maximizing Resilience: Leveraging Health for Climate Resilient Communities." Delegates Abigail Blue, Lara Applegate and Dr. Carolyn Stevenson present on Saturday November 16th at the special offsite event, "Walk of Resilience" held at SOFA, next to the Warsaw Marriott Hotel.

The official side event is co-hosted by Peters Omoragbon from Nurses Across the Borders, Nigeria. Dr Wilson's presentation, "Every Day is Day #1 Resilience, Climate Change and Health: How Must Our Own Work Adapt?" challenges climate adaptation policy makers, professionals and delegates to reconsider strategies that change with the changes in climate, social, economic and political conditions.

The Walk of Resilience is a walk by global youth led by SeaTrust Policy Analyst Abigail Blue. It begins at the COP venue and concludes at SOFA, next to the Marriott hotel with a film presentation by Ms. Blue on climate migrants in India, a presentation by intern Lara Applegate about her 5 month project in Zambia, and ways students and researchers can get involved through internships and pre-university projects that may be part of future UN presentations by SeaTrust Institute.

 

Climate Migrants in India Video: "Walk of Resilience" on November 17th in Warsaw, Poland from SeaTrust Institute

SeaTrust Institute Education Director Carolyn Stevenson Presents at the Global Education Conference

Director of Education and Special Project Lead, AWARE (Action Within a Resilient Environment) Dr. Carolyn Stevenson presents during the 4th annual Global Education Conference held November 18-22 at http://www.globaleducationconference.com. Joined by intern Elise Kittrell, Dr. Stevenson will highlight our work in 2013 at her presentation " Education in Action:  Internship and Educational Programs at SeaTrust Institute as Global  Capacity Building.

Participants learn how to create and implement global capacity building education and research projects with youth and university level students. Showcases SeaTrust Institute's global internship program and recent work in Lower Zambezi, it provides an overview of the Halcyon Adaptation Scenario which is used to frame research and educational programs. The Halcyon Adaptation Scenario is a locally based process to enable communities to build their own environmental change adaptation scenario that addresses critical social, economic and political concerns in the context of global, regional, local and anecdotal climate change and health data. 

In addition to internships, an exciting program for pre-university students, AWARE (Action Within a Resilient Environment), will be presented highlighting ways youth aged 14 – university level engage in climate change research impacting their local communities and ways their research is presented to their local communities. The internship and AWARE experiences provide a way to promote education in action by focusing around a theme that is local to global to back again. All students connect through Sea Trust Institute’s Global Internship Program promoting collaboration with students around the world who share similar interests in environmental issues.

SeaTrust Institute is also a proud sponsor of the Global Education Conference. A veteran online and distance educator, Dr. Stevenson is a member of the conference Advisory Board.

AWARE (Action Within a Resilient Environment) Launch October 6, 2013 Chicago USA

Chicago high school students make a splash with Education Director Dr. Carolyn Stevenson, intern Elise Kittrell (home page) and SeaTrust Institute CEO/Executive Director Dr. Lynn Wilson in starting community service by local students that builds adaptive capacity in local communities.

October 6, 2013, Navy Pier, Chicago Illinois, USA. Community service for high school students, AWARE, (Action Within a Resilient Environment) launched with 5 inner city high schools. Intern Elise Kittrell introduced students to the climate change and water issues these students and their communities face through sharing the science and what it means to where the AWARE participants live.

Look for future AWARE sites in Phoenix, AZ and Florida's Treasure Coast!

Halcyon Adaptation Scenario Pilot Underway in Zambia May-September 2013

Results of the Halcyon Adaptation Scenario(SM) Pilot to be Presented in Warsaw, Poland at COP19

Along the Zambezi River, on the Zambian side across from the world famous Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, a pilot of the Halcyon Adaptation Scenario(SM) is underway with local communities.

Using health as indicator of climate change effects within rural southern Zambia, SeaTrust Institute researchers are discovering ways to engage developing country communities in creating and implementing their own climate change and disaster risk adaptation strategies. Intern Lara Applegate is facilitating the African pilot process, working with 24 native native Zambians, regional conservation districts, villages and local health clinics to identify the characteristics of a preferable future under the increasing stresses on water, health, food and economy that are resulting from climate change.

SeaTrust Institute's CEO Dr. Wilson joins Lara mid summer for on-the-ground capacity building and assessment of this SeaTrust ground-up process on climate change adaptation strategies and wise practices to share with the UNFCC at COP19. Headquartered at a camp along the Zambezi River, Lynn and Lara are assisted by guides, staff and friends as they discover ways to help build what locals need, and perhaps more importantly will use, to choose a preferable future in a changing climate.

SeaTrust Institute's Dr. Lynn Wilson is working with local health officials and leaders of the Goba people on climate change adaptation and health issues. Primary concerns of insufficient water as well as lack of clean water topped the list of concerns which include various climate related diseases, vulnerability stressors like HIV and food insecurity and few economic and educational opportunities. The water pump shown above offers the only source of potable water for the Chiawa villages; it draws water from a bore hole into the earth near the Zambezi River. Water quality is uneven and often contaminated.

Abigail Blue Conducts Field Research to on Climate Migration and Population Health in India

SeaTrust Institute Policy Analyst and researcher Abigail Blue is in India to discover how Indian law governing in-migration to Mumbai and Delhi affects climate migrants from surrounding countries effected by climate change. Focusing on those fleeing from flooding and land erosion in Bangladesh, SriLanka, the Maldives and Pakistan, she is working with leading institutions and universities in the development of case studies in climate migration and population health. With filmmaker Ben Einhorn, Abigail is interviewing climate migrants relocating to India as part of the study which will be highlighted by SeaTrust Institute at COP19 in Warsaw.

Abigail is shown here with her daughter, Lucy Blue, who asked to sponsor an African child in lieu of a birthday present. That child is in Lusaka, Zambia where the Halcyon Adaptation Scenerio pilot is being conducted.

Dr. Che Baysinger Conducts Cultural Research on the Goba in Zambia

As part of the Halcyon Adaptation Scenario pilot in the Lower Zambezi region of Zambia, Dr. Che Baysinger of Kaplan University is investigating the social and cultural dimensions of the Goba of the Zambezi Valley in South-Central Africa. The Goba are a lowland group of Bantu speakers inhabiting a portion of the border zone between Zambia and Zimbabwe along the Zambezi River. By identifying key drivers for the Goba, Dr. Baysinger's work will illuminate factors that can constrain or encourage climate change adaptation in this region of Zambia.

Call for Papers - SeaTrust Institute Occasional Paper Series 2013

Papers for inclusion in the 2013 edition of the SeaTrust Institute Occasional Paper Series are now being invited in the categories of climate change, health as an indicator for decision making, sustainability, disaster risk reduction, insurance and risk and related topics. Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words to seatrust@seatrustinstitute.org and include authors' names, titles, and affiliations. Invited full papers will be peer reviewed prior to acceptance for publication.

SeaTrust Institute and NAB Contribute to RIO+20 Zero Draft Document - March 2012

SeaTrust Institute's Dr. Lynn Wilson and Nurses Across the Borders' Peters Omoragbon team to present a joint statement on the future of sustainability and the potentials for RIO+20.

See the full draft text on the UNCSD website or download from http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=510&nr=423&menu=20.

SEATRUST INSTITUTE PRESENTS at the UNFCCC November/December, 2011

SeaTrust Institute's Dr. Lynn Wilson will present an official Side Event at COP17, the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban South Africa on November 30, 2011. The event, Health as a Driver of Climate Change Policy - Local Efforts: Global Action, highlights catalytic adaptation projects by the South/North NGO partnership Nurses Across the Borders (NAB), Nigeria and SeaTrust Institute. These projects build local capacity for adaptation to climate change by training local health practitioners to undertake local-to-global actions to increase the awareness of health as the universal social, economic and environmental driver for changes in climate policy.

In 2011,NAB's CEO, Peters Omoragbon visited SeaTrust Institute's offices in Olympia, Washington to explore a more active working relationship between the two organizations by on the ground capacity buiding in locations throughout the world to augment their UNFCCC partnership as Co-Chairs of the Coalition on Health and Environment: Climate Change Initiative. As a result, the partnership between the two NGOs has grown and strengthened to include a strong Disaster Risk Reduction component. Together with Mr. Omoragbon, Dr. Wilson demonstrates in this Side Event how, by empowering health professionals in low adaptive capacity areas, a South/North partnership with Nurses Across the Borders links research and capacity building with global action to build momentum for health as the universal societal and environmental driver for climate policy.

Global Nurses Mentorship Program- October/November, 2011

As the focal point and official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) delegate to the UNFCCC for SeaTrust Institute, Dr. Lynn Wilson is honored to been invited by the African Union to join Peters Omoragbon of Nurses Across the Borders in hosting a day at the African Pavilion in Durban, South Africa at the upcoming global climate change meetings, COP17. On November 29th, Dr. Wilson and Mr. Omoragbon will hold a discussion about the role that the partnership Nurses Across the Borders and SeaTrust Institute play in Climate Change Disaster Risk Reduction, highlighting the complementation applications of human health in diaster risk reduction strategies. Panels and presentations with policy and medical experts mark this event.

Global Nurses Mentorship Program- October/November, 2011

The Global Nurses Mentorship Program is part of the partnership established by SeaTrust Institute with Nurses Across the Borders Humanitarian Initative. Mentors are working nurses and midwives who provide nurses from developing countries with knowledge and collaboration on health related issues through a secure virtual site at SeaTrust Institute.

Mentors support includes training in climate change and health connections, scenarios for supporting decisions and a variety of resources and networking connections in health and environmental issues. Mentor membership levels for students are at a reduced fee and include the ability to shadow a working nurse mentor and access to resources.

Mentees receive one-on-one mentorship matches with nurses a variety of clinical settings and access the the mentorship network of services. At present, over 1,000 African nurses are awaiting mentors in our program.

United Nations Climate Change Conference, SB34 - June 10, 2011

SeaTrust Institute and Nurses Across the Borders hosted an event during the 34th sessions of the SBSTA and the SBI, the second part of the 16th session of the AWG-KP and the second part of the 14th session of the AWG-LCA held at the Hotel Maritim, Bonn. Dr. Lynn Wilson and Pastor Peters Omoragbon team again to present a proposal for participation in the 2011 UNFCCC negotiations for researchers, practitioners and anyone who believes that health is a binding issue in creating consensus on climate change actions.

Consultative Forum for the Coalition on Health and Environment: Climate Change Initiative Presented by SeaTrust Institute and Nurses Across the Borders Humanitarian Initiative. The focus of this event is to provide a focus and venue for global colleagues, parties and stakeholders to work together throughout 2011-2012 to craft innovative ways to give health its proper place in the global climate change discussions. Key to this effort is involving Ministers of Health and recruiting their participation at COP17 in Durban, South Africa in December, 2012.

Dr. Lynn Wilson, SeaTrust Institute Executive Director and CEO together with visiting scholar Dr. Diane Lee from Murdoch University in Perth, Australia gave a joint presentation on May 16 entitled “Indigenous Tourism to Inform Marine Policy” at the International Marine Conservation Congress, IMCC2, in Victoria, BC. The talk outlined the concepts behind the project SeaTrust Institute is developing with tribal and educational partners to interweave western science with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in specialized tours in conjunction with Pacific Northwest Native Americans. Dr. Lee compared the Australian experience with WAITOC to show examples of global indigenous tourism; Dr. Wilson compared the Northwest and the Australian aboriginal policy frameworks to illustrate areas of uniqueness and areas in which the SeaTrust Institute indigenous interpretation program could be replicated with other indigenous peoples. IMCC is the marine section for the Society for Conservation Biology.

"The Message" by Charles Elliott • The IMCC2 logo depicts a human reaching out to a killer whale. The raven in the hair of the person is a messenger, carrying news from one place to the next. In the flukes and tail of the orca there are two seabirds, representing all other life in the oceans. The hand of the person is reaching for friendship with the creatures of the ocean, and also expressing a symbol of dialogue.

Pastor Peters Omoragbon - March 15, 2011

SeaTrust Institute is honored to welcome special guest Pastor Peters Omoragbon on March 19-April 3, 2011. Peters is CEO of Nurses Across the Borders Humanitarian Initiative (NABHI) from Nigeria.

Peters visits the Pacific Northwest to work with SeaTrust Institute on our capacity building project for local medical professionals in Nigeria and around the world on climate change adaptation strategies, disease surveillance and policy related to climate and health. Through incorporating other African and international organizational and governmental interest that this work including climate change issues related to women and violence and policy applications of climate and medical science, local projects for developing countries attend to specific regional climate change and health concerns.

During his two week visit, we formalize our joint 2011-2012 approach as NGO partners on climate and health in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Our collaborative presentations will be shown at the intersessional United Nations climate meetings in Bonn, Germany in June; new developments will be highlighted at COP 17 at both an official UNFCCC Side Event and through the Coalition on Health and Environment: Climate Change Initiative presentation on health and climate to negotiators in Durban, South Africa.

It will not be all work, however. We arranged a series of special events to introduce Peters to our ways here in the coastal Pacific Northwest. While it has been suggested that our more reserved culture here in the cold northern climes pales next to Sub-Saharan African hospitality, we shall do our best to rise to the challenge.

We warmly (and effusively) welcome our friend and partner, Peters Omoragbon!

Dr. Diane Lee - March 15, 2011

Visiting scholar Dr. Diane Lee arrived in early February from Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. Diane will be assisting us throughout the year with developing a program in nature based tourism and indigenous interpretation. Within a few short weeks of her arrival, she had already prepared and submitted a preliminary proposal for a co-operative approach to work with the SeaTrust Institute; University of Washington; Murdoch University (Australia) and an indigenous coastal community in Washington State.

Diane is an accomplished scholar, lecturer and researcher with over 20 years work in tourism and indigenous peoples in various parts of the world. We are extremely fortunate to have access to her expertise in working with local tribes and coastal communities to develop a business strategy approach for Marine Based Tourism that provides traditional interpretation and environmental data collection opportunities for tourists, with analytical support from NGO and academic capabilities. The focus of the plan will be on sustainable development that addresses the triple bottom line of socio/cultural capacity building, environmental maintenance and economic viability (people, planet, prosperity).

Having previously spent time here in the Pacific Northwest, Diane is an “old hand” with our customs but will lend some Western Australian spice to our ways.

We are looking forward to a fabulous year together. It is our great pleasure to welcome Diane!

SeaTrust Institute at the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention - Feb 28, 2011

From Cancun (COP16) to Durban (COP17)

Progress made during the 2010 climate change meetings in Cancun, Mexico included expanding the audience for health as a critical factor to consider in all aspects of climate change. The World Health Organization (WHO) organized three briefings under the informal “Friends of Public Health” to catalyze participation on health issues in the negotiation venue and participated in several formal events highlighting health issues in climate change negotiations. SeaTrust Institute and Nurses Across the Borders  organized and presented a special UN Side Event " Human Health: The Issue of/for Climate Change Adaptation Strategies" during which speakers from Africa, the Europe and the US explored how scientific knowledge can better be used to support practitioners in climate change adaptation actions, highlighting malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. An important outcome of COP16 was the formalization of the Health and Environment Coalition Climate Change Initiative. The Coalition begins work now in the run up to COP17 in Durban, South Africa in 2011.

Co-Chaired by SeaTrust Institute’s Dr. Lynn Wilson and African based Nurses Across the Borders’s Peters Omoragbon, the Coalition’s goal is to help bring health to the heart of the climate change negotiations. It will do this by assembling and presenting the research and mobilizing an active global community who believe that health is a key organizing point around which climate decisions need to be considered. SeaTrust Institute's primary role is to coordinate and lead a research team to gather and review studies, current projects and published research on the linkages between climate change and health and to liaise with the World Health Organization and other organizations to ensure that those studies reach the negotiators in South Africa as they consider the human health effects of their policy decisions. Nurses Across the Borders leads the effort to invite key global leaders in health, climate and finance to come together on this important issue, support the role of health, and attract ministerial level attendance from health at key UNFCCC meetings.

This Coalition's mission is closely aligned with SeaTrust Institute's Consortium on Climate Change and Population Health which is comprised of working researchers who will collaborate over the next several years to build new knowledge on health and climate change.