The iAtlantic project set out to complete one of the largest assessments of deep and open ocean ecosystems across both space and time ever attempted. Now, as the project draws to a close, a new publication – iAtlantic Research Highlights – presents a digestible summary of the project’s results, achievements and highlights from the past 5 years.
Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, iAtlantic undertook an ocean-wide approach to understanding the factors that control the distribution, stability and vulnerability of ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean. Work aimed to determine the tipping points – the points of irreversible change – for deep and open-ocean ecosystems, identify which drivers are most crucial in propelling ecosystems towards those tipping points, and understand what factors influence and support ecosystem resilience to environmental change. To do this we selected 12 study areas around the Atlantic basin and assembled a team of dedicated ocean experts across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, South Africa, the UK and USA.
Five years on and iAtlantic is drawing to a close, having made substantial advances in our understanding of ocean ecosystem function in a rapidly changing ocean. Collectively the partnership has undertaken more than 80 research expeditions, made hundreds of conference presentations, successfully delivered a comprehensive capacity building programme, vastly improved marine data availability and access in the Atlantic region, and published well over one hundred papers in the scientific literature.
As a project, we wanted not only to advance scientific understanding but to feed that knowledge directly to policy makers and other stakeholders at national, regional and international levels. iAtlantic has formed productive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, seeking to ensure results are transferred to the relevant end-users of such knowledge, including international decision-making processes. The results of our work will contribute to progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, support the implementation of the CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, supply knowledge to underpin the new UN High Seas Treaty, inform the development of new regulations for the nascent deep-sea mining industry, and aid regional and national bodies in sustainably managing ocean resources, such as fisheries, in an era of huge environmental change.
Aimed at an informed but non-specialist audience, this report summarises the major outcomes and achievements from iAtlantic’s work over the past 5 years, and reflects on the impact, relevance and legacy of its results.
Download the iAtlantic Research highlights (PDF, 5.8MB)
