Innovation Challenge 5: Interventions to change the course of climate impacts

IC5: Interventions and IMBeR

IMBeR Grand Challenges (GCs):

  • GCI: Understanding and quantifying the state and variability of marine ecosystems
  • GCII: Improving scenarios, predictions and projections of future ocean-human systems at multiple scales
  • GCIII: Improving and achieving sustainable ocean governance

The IC5 links to:

  • GCI – when will intervention be needed?
  • GCII – outcomes and testing of interventions
  • GCIII – social acceptability and governance of interventions

Focal question:

How can human intervention reduce the impacts of climate change on ocean life and human well-being?

Objectives of the Interventions Innovation Challenge

  1. Develop best practice guidelines for testing interventions in simulation models. 
    • This objective may be achieved by determining what models are appropriate for testing interventions such that a range of scenarios can be explored and in which unanticipated consequences can be detected.
  2. Development of methods to scale interventions from pilot experiments to “full scale” operational scale
    • Interventions in pilot experiments may be low risk, but the risks in going to large scale implementation may be different.
  3. Development of decision rules for initiating interventions (e.g. defining thresholds)
    • These decision rules may need to recognise political, societal, or environmental thresholds for action. Case studies may be helpful in illustration where decision thresholds were observed.
  4. Understanding and enhancing intervention governance frameworks (global, regional, national and local) for intervention.
    • Interventions may be risky – governance may reduce those risks.