by Lena Beck
Dr. Ailene Ettinger joined TNC in 2019 as a Quantitative Ecologist. Her work focuses on applied conservation problems — how science informs approaches to solving real-world issues — and has led her to research wide-ranging topics, from whales in the Salish Sea to tropical bee communities on coffee farms. Most recently, Dr. Ettinger has been focused on climate change mitigation research of on-the-ground efforts such as planting trees. This work has manifested in urban environments in Washington, and she recently got back from visiting a mangrove restoration project in Papua New Guinea (PNG) that she is supporting. We asked Dr. Ettinger some questions about how this type of conservation work can make a difference around the world for climate change.
While you're based here in Washington and that's where you're focusing your work, you also recently traveled to Papua New Guinea to work on mangroves and their potential as nature-based solutions — could you please share a bit about how you see your Washington and PNG work contributing to addressing the climate crisis at both a local and global level?
Mangrove Scientist Dr. Mazzella Maniwavie (left) and Quantitative Ecologist Dr. Ailene Ettinger (right). Photo: Ailene Ettinger/TNC.
Ailene Ettinger: My work, both with the TNC team in Papua New Guinea and closer to my home in Washington state, aims to fill critical knowledge gaps around climate change impacts and mitigation outcomes and how to achieve them. Much of my work occurs on the ground at local scales but is motivated by global questions and problems. Even when the question is global in scale, such as “how will climate change affect forests and the people who depend on them?”, understanding the local context is critical. Finding commonalities, as well as unique differences, around the world is fascinating and can facilitate tackling global problems more efficiently and effectively.
What are some examples of those commonalities or overlaps that you see between how climate affects forests and the people who depend on them in PNG and the PNW?
AE: In both of those places, and in many places around the world, the impacts of climate change on forests are affecting people's livelihoods — sometimes in unexpected ways, but also in ways that people have been talking about for a long time.
Mangrove trees in the Dogura mangrove forest in Papua New Guinea. Photo: Ailene Ettinger/TNC.
In Papua New Guinea, the team I work with is focused on mangrove forests. And those forests are important for many reasons — including carbon sequestration, but also providing habitat for fish and bolstering the resilience of coastline communities to climate change, through buffering effects of wave action and storms. There are many similarities in the benefits we derive from our forests here in the Pacific Northwest. Forests here also provide important benefits for fish populations, and riparian forests can protect streams and enhance salmon habitat, for example. And our forests are also already treasure troves of stored carbon that, if managed well, can sequester additional carbon.
From your point of view, what is the link between conservation and climate change?
AE: I think there are a few links. Climate change is likely to affect all the conservation work that we do in some way or another. If we're trying to conserve salmon populations, climate change is likely to affect our ability to do that: warming ocean and stream temperatures affect salmon, for example, and other changes associated with climate change, such as shifts in growing conditions for riparian forest trees, may also affect salmon habitat. That's just one example, but really, any conservation that we do that has intended explicit goals, we have to think about how climate change is going to affect our ability to do that conservation work.
But conservation can also have the potential to affect climate change. If we conserve and restore natural communities and natural ecosystems effectively, especially those that are really effective at sequestering carbon, such as mangrove forests, it may be able to slow the pace of climate change. That's what we call “natural climate solutions” or “nature-based solutions” to climate change.
How do you see climate change impacting the land and people around where you work?
AE: I see people, trees, and other organisms experiencing more extreme conditions, in many cases — hotter and smokier summers here in the Pacific Northwest, for example. These extremes are challenging to prepare for because they are often outside the range of our experiences, and sometimes even of our recent ancestors' experiences.
How is your work contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
AE: I love the place-based research and conservation work that I’m involved in because there are contributions at multiple levels — from the larger scale/higher level contributions of filling critical knowledge gaps around climate mitigation outcomes and how to achieve them, to the on-the-ground level of picking up garbage and planting trees. The large-scale contributions may reach a wider audience and ultimately contribute to more greenhouse gas reduction, but it’s hard to measure or understand the impact there. Planting a tree in my neighborhood (or someone else’s) offers more tangible contributions, and I feel lucky that my work spans this range. In PNG, I was able to participate in World Mangrove Day and, along with over 100 other people, helped TNC’s team there plant nearly 1000 trees at the Dogura Mangrove Restoration area!
How is your work supporting communities and ecosystems to adapt and/or be more resilient amid a changing climate?
Alejandro Fernandez (left) with the Tacoma Tree Foundation and Dr. Ailene Ettinger (right) participate in a tree giveaway for residents. Photo: Hannah Letinich
AE: Much of the work that I’m doing involves understanding the role that planting or protecting trees plays in mitigating climate change and in improving climate resilience — in mangroves in PNG and in cities like Tacoma, Washington. Trees are one of our most powerful natural climate solutions to support climate change resilience and adaptation. Healthy trees in mangrove forests support habitat for diverse species including economically important fish, and help clean the water and stabilize the shoreline, in addition to sequestering carbon. Healthy urban trees provide shade and help clean the water and air around cities. Understanding effective ways of restoring and protecting healthy trees may be an important part of improving climate resiliency in communities and ecosystems, and we are still learning how to quantify the contributions of restoring and protecting ecosystems such as mangroves to reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
How is equity showing up in your work? What inequities are you addressing in your work, and how?
AE: Systemic inequities show up everywhere. I see racial and socioeconomic inequities in access to urban green spaces in U.S. cities. And the team I support in PNG is concerned about potential gender and other inequities in accessing benefits that will be derived from emerging carbon markets. In PNG, women use the mangroves for their livelihoods—from gathering shellfish to important plant foods that grow there. But when these areas are valued for carbon, we see women pushed out of these spaces. In introducing new economies, like carbon markets, we need to be mindful of these existing systemic inequities.
You mentioned inequities in access to urban green spaces. How we can improve access to parks, greenways other nature access points in urban areas?
AE: There's a couple of ways I think about that. One is engaging communities of all kinds in restoring and protecting nature in cities. So, focusing on engaging some of the communities that have not been thought of at the forefront of urban tree work, either because they've been intentionally excluded, historically through practices such as redlining, or because they may not play an active role in government, for whatever reason. So that's one thing: centering engagement about urban forests on the needs and interests of communities that haven't been served in the past.
Also, planting and maintaining existing trees and forests or providing resources to do that more is really important. A lot of urban forestry agencies are limited in resources. They have few, if any paid, full-time staff, and they're expected to manage many acres of forests and trees across their cities. And so often, they're just not able to do it, given the resources that they have. There are many things we can do to increase public/private partnerships and volunteering, to ensure that we have healthy urban forests across all neighborhoods.
“I’m inspired by people working hard together to make their communities more resilient to challenges posed by climate change.
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In a blog you wrote about your recent trip to PNG, you mention a concerning issue with emerging carbon markets called “carbon colonization.” What is that in in your words, and how does that relate to your work locally or in other places?
AE: Carbon colonization refers to colonial relationships rearing again in the form of carbon markets. Carbon markets are emerging in Papua New Guinea, which was a former colony of Great Britain, Germany, and Australia, and many companies are seeking to engage them. Carbon credits may represent an important tool for limiting global warming but recent reporting in PNG highlights that there can be harsh mismatches between the promise of conservation as a natural climate solution and the reality of how carbon projects are implemented on the ground, which can be devastating for local and indigenous inhabitants. We need to be cautious in how carbon markets progress and what role we play, in particular considering how local communities are affected and engaged, as well as how people who are already marginalized in the economy, such as women, may be further disadvantaged by these markets.
If we don't take climate action, what might happen within the ecosystems and communities around where you work? What impacts are you most concerned might be exacerbated?
AE: If climate change is not addressed, people — and other living organisms — will lose access to the natural resources on which we rely. In some cases, these resources will literally go up in smoke (e.g., forests in the Western US). In other cases, sea level rise and other changing environmental conditions may cause their demise. What is most concerning to me is that the people (and other organisms) that are already under-resourced and experiencing tremendous challenges, are often those that will be hit hardest by impacts from climate change.
Where have you found inspiration and hope in as you're doing your important conservation work? What keeps you going?
AE: I'm inspired by people working hard together to make their communities more resilient to challenges posed by climate change. I have witnessed and participated in this dedication from Papua New Guinea, where the TNC team is leading people living near Port Moresby to restore and protect mangrove forests for and with communities who rely on them, to Tacoma, Washington where the Tacoma Tree Foundation is leading work to grow healthier communities through urban forestry, and in between. Tackling climate change requires sustained commitment to working hard together.
Lena Beck (she/her) is a journalist and writer based in Montana. Originally from Oregon and Washington, her work centers on the environment with a special emphasis on food systems and marine science. Read more of her work here.
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Dr. Ailene Ettinger is a quantitative ecologist at The Nature Conservancy. She uses data and models to understand the species, communities, and ecosystems around us, especially effects of global change and conservation actions. Her research toolbox includes field experiments, observational monitoring, meta-analysis, and statistical models.
Banner image of mangrove courtesy of: Basir
