BRIDGES Ocean Talks #5

Observing the Environment and Society: How to Build Social-Ecological Systems Observatories?

Join us for the fifth webinar in the BRIDGES Ocean Talks series!

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📅 Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 1:00 PM (UTC+4)

🗨️ Speaker : Matthieu Juncker, marine biologist, and project manager in climate change adaptation and marine resources management in the Pacific.

Abstract

During this webinar, Matthieu Juncker, a biologist and project manager specializing in climate change adaptation and marine resource management in the Pacific (IUCN, PROE, ANCB, IRD Ifremer), will share his experience and expertise regarding the observatories he has helped build and develop in the South Pacific.
Drawing on a range of observatories (OEIL, CRIOBE, GOPS, the coastal fisheries observatories of New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, etc.), Matthieu will explain their purpose, how they operate, and their governance structures, before discussing the conditions necessary for the long-term sustainability of these monitoring and decision-support tools.
This discussion contributes to the deliberations within the framework of the targeted BRIDGES OBSERVATION project, whose objective is to build a regional network of interdisciplinary, multi-scale observatories focused on marine and coastal socio-ecosystems in the southwestern Indian Ocean. In September 2026, BRIDGES OBSERVATION organized a regional workshop bringing together some 40 partners from the BRIDGES study sites (Mayotte, Comoros, Mozambique, Réunion) to discuss priority variables and indicators, as well as appropriate observation strategies for monitoring the functioning and long-term evolution of the various components of socio-ecosystems.

Speaker

Matthieu Juncker

Marine biologist, Ph.D. in marine ecology from the University of New Caledonia, and specialist in marine resource management in the Pacific.
For more than twenty years, he has worked at the intersection of science, environmental management, public policy, and support for local stakeholders.

From 2009 to 2019, he directed the New Caledonia Environmental Observatory (OEIL), where he helped establish a partnership framework for the production, analysis, and sharing of environmental information. This experience led him to oversee baseline assessments, develop indicators—particularly regarding fishing pressure and biodiversity—establish participatory monitoring networks, and facilitate multi-stakeholder forums bringing together scientists, institutions, managers, and local communities.

From 2019 to 2024, he coordinated the coastal fisheries and aquaculture component of the PROTEGE regional program within the Pacific Community. In particular, he supported the development of coastal fisheries observatories in New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, designed as tools for decision-making and shared management of marine resources.