Teleconnected SARgassum risks across the Atlantic: building capacity for TRansformational Adaptation in the Caribbean and West Africa (SARTRAC)

在大多数小岛屿和许多沿海发展中国家，大多数定居点、政府、运输和通信基础设施都位于沿海地区。进入海岸可以获得自然资源(例如渔业)、交通、娱乐以及支持旅游业--许多低收入和中等收入国家的就业和收入依赖于旅游业。在加勒比地区，气候变化正在带来海平面上升(影响海岸侵蚀)、海洋变暖(与珊瑚漂白有关)、降雨量减少(影响农业)以及出现更强热带气旋的风险，各岛屿正在为此做准备。这些都是已知的风险，减少灾害风险的措施往往相当先进，例如热带气旋预警系统和海岸侵蚀管理。有可能造成重大经济和社会损害的新风险现在才刚刚开始被记录在案。人们对这些风险知之甚少，包括来自遥远源头的巨大海浪、横贯大陆的尘埃云、跨越国界的入侵物种以及水生病原体的传播。在后者中，自2011年以来出现了大量的马尾藻海藻，淹没了加勒比、中美洲和非洲西部的海滩。这种大规模和反复发生的洪水事件被称为金色海藻潮，海藻在海滩上堆积高达3米。马尾藻在到达浅水区和海滩后不久就会腐烂。在腐烂过程中，马尾藻会消耗周围水中的氧气，杀死鱼类和其他海洋生物，并释放出硫化氢气体-导致人体皮肤刺激和呼吸问题，以及难闻的气味。马尾藻搁浅事件是不可预测的，但可能会产生重大的社会、经济和环境影响。在SARTRAC项目中，英国研究人员正在与加勒比海和西非的合作伙伴合作，在加勒比海和西非建设能力，以回答一些问题：为什么马尾藻在2011年开始大规模生产？春季和夏季大量的马尾藻是加勒比海和西非的新“常态”吗？加勒比和西非的趋势预测是什么？马尾藻搁浅的预测能否在当地规模和短期内交付？马尾藻搁浅的长期经济和社会影响是什么？管理搁浅的最佳方法是什么？重新利用海藻是否有机会实现公平的复原力？为什么社区还没有重新利用海藻--存在哪些障碍？关于再利用的成功案例有哪些，它们是如何发生的，以及所学到的经验教训有多大的可转移性？马尾藻问题的区域治理的机会和障碍是什么？南太地研究中心将采用多学科能力建设办法解决这些问题，以研究：海藻生长的驱动因素；风险沟通；监测和预警系统；重新利用海藻的机会；以及受影响国家共同努力制定区域应对措施和跨区域支持的机会。通过结合来自一系列学科和组织的知识和技能，我们可以从多个角度处理这些问题，以获得更完整的理解。我们的方法还鼓励这样一种观点，即将马尾藻视为一种新的可用经济资源是存在机会的。所有研究都将通过PI项目驱动的变革性适应视角进行，即所有研究人员的任务是确保所有产出有助于受马尾藻搁浅事件影响的最贫穷群体的公平复原力。

In most small islands and many coastal developing countries, the majority of settlements, government, transport and communications infrastructure are located in the coastal zone. Access to the coast allows access to natural resources (e.g. fisheries), transport, recreation, as well as supporting tourism - on which many low and middle income countries depend for employment and income. In the Caribbean, climate change is bringing sea level rise (affecting coastal erosion), warmer seas (associated with coral bleaching), decreased rainfall (affecting agriculture) and the risk of stronger tropical cyclones, for which islands are preparing. These are the known risks and disaster risk reduction measures are often quite advanced e.g. tropical cyclone early warning systems and coastal erosion management. New risks, which have the potential to create significant economic and social damage are only now starting to be documented. These risks are far less well understood, and include large ocean waves from distant sources, transcontinental dust clouds, invasive species moving across boundaries, and the spread of aquatic pathogens. In this latter group is the emergence of very large quantities of Sargassum seaweed inundating beaches of the Caribbean, Central America, and West of Africa since 2011. Such massive and recurrent inundation events are known as golden seaweed tides, with seaweed piling up to 3m high on beaches. The Sargassum decays shortly after reaching the shallow areas and beaches. In the decay process Sargassum consumes oxygen out of the surrounding water, killing fish and other marine creatures, and releasing hydrogen sulphide gas - causing human skin irritation and respiratory problems, and an unpleasant smell. The Sargassum stranding events are unpredictable, but can have major social, economic and environmental impacts.In the SARTRAC project, UK researchers are teaming up with partners in the Caribbean and West Africa to build capacity within the Caribbean and West Africa to answer a number of questions: why did the Sargassum start to mass produce in 2011? Are the large quantities of Sargassum in Spring/Summer, the new 'normal' for the Caribbean and West Africa? What are the trend projections for the Caribbean and West Africa? Can Sargassum stranding predictions be delivered at the local scale and in the short-term? What are the long-term economic and social impacts of the Sargassum strandings? What are the best methods for managing the strandings and are there opportunities for equitable resilience from re-use of the seaweed? Why are communities not already re-using the seaweed - what barriers exist? What are the success stories about re-use, how did they occur, and how transferable are the lessons learned? What are the opportunities for and barriers to regional governance of the Sargassum issue?SARTRAC will address these questions using a multi-disciplinary capacity-building approach to research on: drivers of the growth of the seaweed; risk communications; monitoring and early warning systems; opportunities for re-use of the seaweed; and the opportunities for affected nations to work together to develop regional responses and trans-regional support. By combining knowledge and skills from a range of disciplines and organisations, we can approach these questions from multiple perspectives to gain a more complete understanding. Our approach also encourages the view that opportunities exist from seeing Sargassum as a newly available economic resource. All research will be delivered through a transformational adaptation lens driven by the project PI, i.e. all researchers will be tasked with ensuring that all outputs contribute to the equitable resilience of the poorest groups affected by the Sargassum stranding events.