Opening Plenary - Monday, June 14, 2010

"Towards a National Ocean Policy: Connections Across the Land-Sea Boundary"

The Monday opening plenary will kick-off the conference to inform and engage conference participants in discussion on the development of national-level U.S. ocean policy and how it can be a valuable tool for climate change adaptation. Global climate change will have significant effects on coasts and oceans over the next century. In the past several decades, progress has been made on integrated coastal planning and governance through such mechanisms as the Coastal Zone Management Act and the National Estuary Program.

More recently, President Obama's June 2009 memorandum directed the federal agencies to coordinate on both the production of a national ocean policy and on the development of a framework for marine spatial planning. What is still lacking, however, is the connection between the two – coastal and marine – across the land-sea boundary. The plenary will explore the potential for an ecosystem-based planning and governance approach extending from the head of the coastal watershed to the limits of the U.S. EEZ, and through the lens of potential impacts related to global climate change, in particular sea level rise. The presentations will include global, national regional and North Carolina perspectives.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Mike Orbach, Duke University
  
  
• Kristina Gjerde, High Seas Policy Advisor, International Union for the Conservation of Nature
  
  
• Dr. Larry Crowder, Duke University
  
  
• Dr. Douglas Rader, Environmental Defense Fund