I am on a CoastCarb secondment to University Austral de Chile (UaCH-IDEAL) in Chile and CONICET in Argentina, with additional funding from a Fondecyt grant of Claudio Gonzales at UaCH. The aims of my secondment in Chile are to work on the physiology of gastropod molluscs with Julia Saravia, to compare this information with their phylogenetic history.
My secondment gave me the opportunity to attend the SCAR open science conference in Pucon, where I gave talks and organised a session. This was also the venue for the CoastCarb joint business meeting with Centro IDEAL and DynAMo, which was a great chance for us to share progress and discuss future directions
During the SCAR conference there was a meeting, organised by the British embassy to celebrate UK-Chile collaborations. The British ambassador to Chile gave a speech, along with several others, detailing the history and importance of these scientific links. We then enjoyed the wine, cheese and meats provided by the embassy.
During this social event we were talking to staff at the British Embassy in Santiago and they were interested in our work on Blue Carbon. We were invited to a seminar on Blue Carbon in Santiago on 3rd September to be part of the discussions with ministries, public bodies and scientists about the developing interest in valuing macroalgae as a means to capture and store carbon as a mitigation against climate change.
If macroalgal culture can be scaled up, it could help to reduce harvesting of wild macroalgae, conserving this crucial habitat for biodiversity.
This is of course a complex issue but many companies are looking at this as an option and governments are aware that there are some carbon emissions that will have to continue and these will need to be offset to meet net zero carbon emission goals. It was a really interesting event to part of and we made some important contacts who we are hoping to work with in the future.
In my opinion, this is the greatest benefit of CoastCarb, the people you meet and connect with who become friends and colleagues.
