Grant: Canada Research Chairs

This research program will fill critical knowledge gaps in identifying solution options to achieve ‘desirable’ and sustainable ocean futures for food security, climate change and biodiversity conservation (FCB). The program will advance our understanding of the responses of human-natural marine systems to global change through combining the next generation of social-ecological databases, numerical modelling and scenario approaches with knowledge co-development with stakeholders and right-holders. The ocean’s capacity to sustain life and support human wellbeing is threatened, raising concerns for food security climate change and biodiversity loss. Transformative solutions to achieve ‘desirable’ targets for the ocean to support sustainable food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity conservation (hereafter called FCB ocean targets) are urgently needed. The goal of Dr. Cheung’s research program is to identify plausible social-ecological pathways to achieve FCB ocean targets. The program will study the system changes and transformations that are needed for these pathways, their potential barriers, trade-offs, and opportunities. Specifically, the proposed program has three objectives: (1) Identify and elucidate plausible targets for FCB ocean futures in terms of seafood nutrient security, carbon sequestration and storage and biodiversity rebuilding for the ocean by considering the interactions between human and natural systems; (2) Examine how human population growth, economic development, consumption pattern and climate change are affecting the achievement of these plausible FCB targets; (3) Evaluate the contributions of sustainable fisheries management, marine protected areas (MPA), mariculture development and Indigenous reconciliations, with considerations of their interactions, in achieving the FCB ocean targets. The program includes a global analysis and regional case studies, combining quantitative modelling with data collated from available global and regional databases, published literature and expert knowledge to identify and examine plausible targets for FCB ocean futures. The proposed research program will generate new theoretical and analytical frameworks to understand and project the responses of human-natural marine systems to global change. The program will promote the advancement of knowledge to achieve FCB ocean targets, and to facilitate the use of the generated knowledge to support policy discussions.