Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation, University of Exeter

This pre-recorded talk tells the story of coral reefs, lavishly illustrated by one of the world’s foremost underwater photographers, Alex Mustard, and based on Callum’s book: Reef Life: An Underwater Memoir (Profile Books). It tells how coral reefs became one of the wonders of the ocean world, how we learned to love them and how they now struggle to survive. Coral reefs tell us something urgent and important – we need to change course now if we are to leave a world fit for generations yet to come.

Callum Roberts is a Professor of Marine Conservation in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter's Cornwall campus. His research focuses on threats to marine ecosystems and species and on finding the means to protect them. His main interests include documenting the impacts of fishing on marine life, both historic and modern, and exploring the theory and practical effectiveness of marine protected areas for conservation and fisheries management.

For the last few decades Callum has used science to make the case for stronger protection for marine life at both national and international levels. His research group designed half a million square kilometres of marine protection in the North Atlantic that was established by OSPAR in 2010. He also provided the scientific underpinning for a new ocean protection target – 30% marine protected areas by 2030 – which is gaining widespread support as a follow on to the UN 10% by 2020 target.

Callum Roberts is the author of two award winning books: The Unnatural History of the Sea (Island Press) which charts the effects of 1000 years of exploitation on ocean life. And, Ocean of life: how our seas are changing (Penguin Books), shows that the oceans are changing faster and in more ways than at any time in human history, and sets out a series of reforms that could lead to a more sustainable future. He was chief scientific advisor for the BBC television’s flagship series Blue Planet II and is Chief Scientific Advisor of the Maldives Coral Institute and BLUE Marine Foundation, Trustee of the Nekton Oxford Deep Ocean Research Institute and Ambassador for WWF-UK.

The tickets for this webinar are £3 which helps to fund the Seaquest Southwest project which currently receives no external funding.

To view fantastic webinar on Thursday 3rd December, all you need to do is register for a ticket. All ticket holders will get an email 30 minutes before the event with the link to watch the talk via private You Tube page. The talk will be accessible for 3 hours between 6pm and 9pm that day.