A handful of studies in recent years have shown that whales play a big role in the ocean as they go about their lives. Whales enhance primary productivity by bringing nutrients to the sunlit upper ocean layers, and they transfer nutrients from high to low latitudes via their epic migrations. When they die, they sink to the ocean depths, providing sustenance to a whole community of benthic creatures.

With commercial whaling decimating their populations (some by up to 99%) and a distressing array of modern-day threats, whales are not providing the level of ecosystem function that they could, if numbers were to be restored.

The webinar will explore this concept: what we know, what we don’t know and what needs to be done to allow these incredible beings to return and help us tackle the biggest threat of all – the climate crisis.

Our speaker

Ed Goodall started off his environment career in recycling and sustainability community engagement in London.  He then worked as a Project Officer for Suffolk Country Council on a National Lottery landscape partnership scheme in East Anglia, helping to deliver a range of conservation, heritage and community projects before moving on to the Woodland Trust as a Project Manager in Sussex for another lottery project focussed on ancient woodland restoration and community engagement in nature.

He now works at Whale and Dolphin Conservation as Project Manager for their ‘Green Whale’ project. The project is helping to reframe the reasoning behind the urgency for restoring whale populations and the ocean, given their important role as a nature-based solution to the climate crisis.