The WWF Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative seeks a consultant to help co-produce a WWF report synthesizing latest knowledge of the role of cetaceans in ocean productivity and carbon sequestration and identifying the conservation opportunities, actions and solutions for management and policy.

Expressions of Interest due Friday May 10, 2024 (See below)

Outputs:

• Research and write an 8-12 page report including illustrative figures and tables based on a literature review and possible interviews of key experts and stakeholders where needed.

• Produce text for a two-page infographic summarizing key messages and solutions. Please note, WWF will be contracting a graphic design team to produce infographic and report layout.

Aims and objectives:

• Based on a thorough literature review and supplemental interviews, provide clarity on scientifically agreed evidence on the contribution of cetaceans to carbon capture, carbon sequestration, ocean productivity and highlight other values, including to local and indigenous communities worldwide.

• Highlight key opportunities for policy and decision makers to where whale conservation can advance the integration of global biodiversity and climate goals.

• Report will be co-produced with WWF conservation experts and some external partners, providing clear advice on current evidence and knowledge on the contribution of whales to our ocean and climate with benefits for people.

Budget available: AUD$ 25,000

Proposed timeline:

• April-May: Consultant search and contracting.

• June-July: Research, literature review, and writing.

• August: Provide first draft version for feedback.  Early September, finalize text for the designer.

Background:

With the biodiversity crisis and climate crisis accelerating, clear, time-bound, and actionable evidence-based solutions are needed for management and policy. Several drivers and pressures are linked to wildlife decline including cetaceans (Jaureguiberry et al. 2022) while there is growing scientific evidence that wildlife plays a vital role in ecosystem functioning including natural carbon capture and storage for climate resilience (Schmitz et al. 2022).

Adaptation of marine ecosystems to climate change requires restoring functionality of the healthy ocean system. Our aim is to explore the potential of stabilizing wildlife recovery as natural solutions and improve the link between biodiversity and climate for the policy domain. A systematic change is required to achieve global biodiversity, sustainable development, and climate goals together.

When it comes to carbon storage and other ecosystem services, oceans are vital. Scientific research over the past decade supports that whales play a critical role in maintaining ocean health and our global climate, all while contributing to a global economy (Chami et al 2019; Savoca et al 2021; Pearson et al 2023).

Growing evidence shows whales help capture carbon throughout their lifetime. Their excrement fertilizes our oceans with nutrients, which in turn fuels phytoplankton, microscopic plants that are the motor of the marine food chain and produce more than half of the world’s oxygen and are a major global carbon sink. This contribution to ocean productivity in turn has more benefits for nature, for people and their livelihoods, food, culture, and for major global industries. This is particularly relevant as global phytoplankton populations have decreased by 40% since 1950 (Boyce et al. 2010) and are projected to be impacted by climate change (Ibarbalz et al 2019).

Great whale populations were significantly reduced due to 20th Century commercial whaling, (Rocha et al. 2014), although some populations such as humpback whales are recovering. Concurrently, cetaceans are declining due to multiple human activities (Avila et al 2018; Nelms et al 2021). This is further hampering whale recovery worldwide and thereby; the resilience of our oceans is under further threat (Johnson et al 2022). Climate change modeling by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, shows  recovery predicted for humpback whales is likely to be strongly reversed by 2050 due to climate change (Tulloch et al 2018).

Whales rely on critical ocean habitats – areas where they feed, mate, give birth, nurse young, socialise or migrate – for their survival. “Blue corridors” are movement routes for marine megafauna such as whales among different but ecologically interconnected areas essential to their survival. As threats to whales have evolved; our conservation approach must evolve too. From local to regional to international levels, science, civil society, industry, states, and intergovernmental bodies have a role in safeguarding whale migration, mitigating threats and co-designing solutions. By promoting and linking conservation efforts to benefits of ocean productivity and improve climate resilience be a tool to aid recovery of populations?

Report structure & working title: The role of whales in ocean´s productivity and carbon sequestration: challenges and opportunities, and solutions

For the report, we envisage three themes the report will address.

1. The Challenge: Latest science, evidence, and knowledge, on how climate change impacting whales, their habitats and their prey.

• Provide an overview of how whales are impacted by climate change now and what challenges are facing (e.g. through changing currents, upwelling and heatwaves, moving prey, changing distribution increasing overlap with human activities, change of soundscape, etc.) Some species are shrinking in size due to prey availability (Pirotta et al. 2024). Other examples see: Nunny and Simmonds (2019)  Albouy et al. (2020), and Elliot and Simmonds (2007).

2. The Opportunity: Latest science, evidence, and knowledge, on contribution of whales to ocean productivity and carbon sequestration.

• Using peer-reviewed publications and expert literature such as the outcomes of the IWC/CMS workshops, provide data quantifying the role carbon capture and ocean fertilization by whales. What are the knowledge gaps?

• Based on best-available science, how does this contribution compare to other wildlife and natural processes? How are whales unique?

• What do we know about small cetaceans? What is the evidence of the importance of small cetaceans for nutrients in marine ecosystems: e.g. harbour porpoise and spinner dolphins and coral reefs (Letessier et al. 2022). Raise potential to further explore carbon potential. What small cetaceans lack in size, can they may make up in numbers?

• What are the different values of whales by using storytelling examples: intrinsic value, cultural value, ecosystem value, monetary value, etc…

• Is it feasible to restore whale populations to pre-whaling numbers in the Anthropocene. What would this mean in terms of carbon storage potential and ocean productivity long-term?

3. The Solutions. How can safeguarding whales be ‘nature positive’ for our ocean and us? What key actions are needed to better improve their outlook? What are the immediate policy opportunities?

• Citing evidence including recent reports (WWF Protecting Blue Corridors and others), literature review, and interviews, what are current policy opportunities where solutions can be implemented by when? Including:

  • How can networks of marine protected area (MPAs) connect important feeding, breeding and migration areas of whales enhance climate resiliency for our ocean?  How can whale habitats and migratory corridors inform global 30x30 goals?

  • Are there mechanisms that can improve transboundary cooperation across the biological range of great whales from coastal areas up until the level of high seas.

  • Are there mechanisms or instruments be implemented to safeguard whales by various industries, government, or regional/international agreements?

  • What is does a ‘whale safe’ Blue Economy look like? What are key recommendations to better manage shipping (routes, slow steaming, anticipating growth), fisheries (quotas, subsidies, and techniques), offshore energy (location and noise), military (noise), end commercial whaling and other forms of pollution of entering oceans (circular economy).

Terms of reference of the consultant

The successful consultant will be experienced researcher, writer, and/or editor with a PhD or related experience in areas of marine sciences, policy, or economics. They will have authored/co-authored similar reports or papers in this topic area and will synthesize latest peer-reviewed evidence, identifying clear, and actionable solutions for various audiences. We will require examples of work in reviewing consultants.

• The successful consultant will work with project lead: Chris Johnson, Global Lead of WWF Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative, and key WWF cetacean experts. It is a collaborative report where the consultant will be lead author with relevant experts and external partners as co-authors.

• A collaborative agreement (contract) for this consultancy will be provided by World Wide Fund for Nature, Australia (WWF-Australia), to complete this work with a percentage payment plan of the production of report text.

To submit your expression of interest:

Provide a response with cover letter, CV and samples or relevant publications to: Chris Johnson. Global Lead, WWF Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative by Friday May 10, 2024 Em. cjohnson@wwf.org.au or contact page.

References:

Avila, I. C., Kaschner, K. & Dormann, C. F. Current global risks to marine mammals: Taking stock of the threats. Biol. Conserv. 221, 44–58 (2018).

Boyce, D. G., Lewis, M. R. & Worm, B. Global phytoplankton decline over the past century. Nature 466, 591–596 (2010).

Chami, R., Cosimano, T., Fullenkamp, C., Oztosun, S., Chami, R.,  Cosimano, T., Fullenkamp, C. & Oztosun, S. Nature’s Solution to Climate Change. Finance and Development 56, 34–38 (2019).

CSIRO. https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2022/july/humpback-whales#:~:text=Our%20modelling%20suggests%20the%20full,sensitive%20to%20increasing%20ocean%20temperatures (2022).

Ibarbalz, F. M., Henry, N., Brandão, M. C., Martini, S., Busseni, G., Byrne, H., Coelho, L. P., Endo, H., Gasol, J. M., Gregory, A. C., Mahé, F., Rigonato, J., Royo-Llonch, M., Salazar, G., Sanz-Sáez, I., Scalco, E., Soviadan, D., Zayed, A. A., Zingone, A., Labadie, K., Ferland, J., Marec, C., Kandels, S., Picheral, M., Dimier, C., Poulain, J., Pisarev, S., Carmichael, M., Pesant, S., Tara Oceans Coordinators, Babin, M., Boss, E., Iudicone, D., Jaillon, O., Acinas, S. G., Ogata, H., Pelletier, E., Stemmann, L., Sullivan, M. B., Sunagawa, S., Bopp, L., de Vargas, C., Karp-Boss, L., Wincker, P., Lombard, F., Bowler, C. & Zinger, L. Global Trends in Marine Plankton Diversity across Kingdoms of Life. Cell 179, 1084–1097.e21 (2019).

Jaureguiberry, Pedro, Nicolas Titeux, Martin Wiemers, Diana E. Bowler, Luca Coscieme, Abigail S. Golden, Carlos A. Guerra et al. "The direct drivers of recent global anthropogenic biodiversity loss." Science advances 8, no. 45 (2022).

Johnson, C. M., Reisinger, R. R., Palacios, D. M., Friedlaender, A. S., Zerbini, A. N., Willson, A., Lancaster, M., Battle, J., Graham, A., Cosandey-Godin, A., Jacob, T., Felix, F., Grilly, E., Shahid, U., Houtman, N., Alberini, A., Montecinos, Y., Najera, E., & Kelez, S. Protecting Blue Corridors - Challenges and solutions for migratory whales navigating national and international seas. WWF International, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.6196131 (2022).

Letessier, T. B., Johnston, J., Delarue, J., Martin, B., & Anderson, R. C.  Spinner dolphin residency in tropical atoll lagoons: Diurnal presence, seasonal variability and implications for nutrient dynamics. Journal of Zoology, 318(1), 10-22 (2022)

Nelms, S. E., Alfaro-Shigueto, J., Arnould, J. P. Y., Avila, I. C., Bengtson Nash, S., Campbell, E., Carter, M. I. D., Collins, T., Currey, R. J. C.,Domit, C., Franco Trecu, V., Fuentes, M., Gilman, E., Harcourt, R. G., Hines, E. M., Rus Hoelzel, A., Hooker, S. K., Johnston, D. W., Kelkar, N., Kiszka, J. J., Laidre, K. L., Mangel, J.C., Marsh, H., Maxwell, S. M., Onoufriou, A. B., Palacios, D. M., Pierce, G. J., Ponnampalam, L. S., Porter, L. J., Russell, D. J. F., Stockin, K. A., Sutaria, D., Wambiji, N., Weir, C. R., Wilson, B. & Godley, B. J. Marine mammal conservation:over the horizon. Endanger. Species Res. 44, 291–325 (2021).

Pearson, H. C., Savoca, M. S., Costa, D. P., Lomas, M. W., Molina, R., Pershing, A. J.,& Roman, J. Whales in the carbon cycle: can recovery remove carbon dioxide? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 38(3), 238-249 (2023).

Pirotta, E., Tyack, P. L., Durban, J. W., Fearnbach, H., Hamilton, P. K., Harris, C. M., ... & Thomas, L. Decreasing body size is associated with reduced calving probability in critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. Royal Society Open Science, 11(2), 240050 (2024).

Rocha, R. C., Jr, Clapham, P. J., Ivashchenko, Y., Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century. Mar. Fish. Rev. 76, 37–48 (2014).

Savoca, M. S., Czapanskiy, M. F., Kahane-Rapport, S. R., Gough, W. T., Fahlbusch, J. A., Bierlich, K. C., Segre, P. S., Di Clemente, J., Penry, G. S., Wiley, D. N., Calambokidis, J., Nowacek, D. P., Johnston, D. W., Pyenson, N. D., Friedlaender, A. S., Hazen, E. L. & Goldbogen, J. A. Baleen whale prey consumption based on high-resolution foraging measurements. Nature 599, 85–90 (2021).

Schmitz, O. J., Sylven, M., Atwood, T., Bakker, E. S., Berzaghi, F., Brodie, J. F., & Schepers, F. J. Animating the carbon cycle through trophic rewilding could provide highly effective natural climate solutions (2022).

Tulloch VJD, Plagányi ÉE, Matear R, Brown CJ, Richardson AJ. Ecosystem modelling to quantify the impact of historical whaling on Southern Hemisphere baleen whales. Fish Fish. 19: 117–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12241 (2018).