MarBEF outreach
Contents
Public knowledge of marine biodiversity
Stakeholders of the coastal zone range from the very young to the very old and, as a result, constitute very different audiences. Knowledge levels of marine biodiversity vary enormously, even within a single audience. Although more than 50% of the European population lives within the coastal zone, some people rarely visit the seashore.
Surveys of university undergraduate students and coastal tourists by MarBEF projects (BIOFUSE and ArctEco, respectively) showed a wide variation in how biodiversity loss and conservation in Europe were perceived and also in how willing those surveyed would be to '''pay to preserve biodiversity'''.
These target groups were also used to obtain an understanding of the level of awareness of environmental issues within the community and this, in turn, helped to refine MarBEF’s communication strategies.
Awareness and understanding of marine biodiversity issues should not be confined to the scientific community. Promoting and developing interest and awareness of marine biodiversity should also be focused on the non-scientist. Marine biodiversity issues are appreciated by a much wider audience than the scientific community, though unfortunately the information conveyed through the media is frequently limited to pollution incidents (e.g., the Prestige disaster) or to specific habitats (e.g., coral reefs). However, more recently the debate on climate change and its potential impacts has focused the public’s attention on broader international issues.
In order to try and bridge this information gap MarBEF developed an outreach strategy to provide a structured approach to disseminating information aimed at all ages, from the very young to the very old, and all levels of knowledge.
Outreach
To scientists
MarBEF scientists produced over 200 high quality peer-reviewed science papers during the MarBEF project and continue to produce papers beyond its lifetime. Scientific research results were disseminated through presentations and posters at scientific conferences and meetings worldwide. Individual research projects each had their own website, giving both the researchers involved and the scientific community at large greater accessibility.
A biannual newsletter was produced by the outreach team and this acted as a dissemination tool, not just to those in the MarBEF network but also to the wider marine community in Europe. The newsletter was distributed to a broad audience of marine scientists, science communicators, environmental managers and policymakers. As the readership was so wide, articles were written in an interesting manner that grabbed the attention and the understanding of the non-specialist reader. Over 8000 copies of the MarBEF newsletter were distributed worldwide and more than 9300 were downloaded from the website.
To the general public
With the rapid advances in communications technology, people now venture to the internet rather than libraries to get their questions answered. Therefore, MarBEF ensured that there was easy access to information on marine biodiversity on the outreach website including a ‘what’s new?’ section which was regularly updated with compelling stories and novel, stimulating material on marine biodiversity for the general public from a variety of sources.
Frequently asked questions on marine biodiversity were answered and information on the opportunities to become actively involved or to find out more about marine biodiversity were given. Relying on people to find out for themselves was not enough: MarBEF also went out to meet the public by participating in a number of roadshows. These included a Bioblitz in Poland, the British Science Association festival in Dublin and the UK, and the World Conference in Valencia, which had a week of public outreach on marine biodiversity.
