This webinar will provide an overview of the natural history and ecology of the Thames Estuary in the last 200 years, summarising the reasons for its decline and recovery in the past, its current state and the future challenges in the face of the climate emergency.

Presented by Wanda Bodnar and Amy Pryor from the Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP), the webinar will also highlight that by investing into the restoration of an urban estuary, it can become a healthy and thriving environment with diverse aquatic habitats and species. A Q&A session with the audience will follow the speakers' presentation:

Past
We'll start with the fascinating history of the Thames Estuary. Covering the Industrial Revolution and World War 2, we'll look at the deterioration it underwent over time and how it recovered.

Present
We will cover the current state of the Thames Estuary, including the importance of the tidal influence, salinity, geology, wildlife and the habitats it provides.

Future
Lastly, we'll turn our attention to the future of the Thames Estuary. We will discuss the Tideway Tunnel, climate change and the Joint Thames Strategies Refresh project – presented by Amy Pryor. 

This webinar has been adapted from the 'Introduction to the Thames Estuary - Online Course' developed by the Thames Estuary Partnership, which has received short course endorsement from the IES.

This event has been organised as part of our Turning the Tide: systems thinking for a sustainable ocean project, which has been endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade Activity. Join our dedicated mailing list to stay up to date on future project activities and hear about ways to collaborate.

Our speakers

Wanda Bodnar 

Wanda holds a master’s degree in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management and worked as a research assistant at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research, and as a marine environmental consultant in offshore and coastal waters. In the latter position, she gained experience in developing and implementing marine mammal mitigation plans according to government and industry regulations. Since 2017 she has been focusing on marine geospatial data science. 

From January 2018 until March 2022 her main project at the TEP was the development of the Fish Migration Roadmap. Since April 2022 she has been working on several projects, including Blue Connections, Roadmap to Climate Resilience and Estuary Edges. 

She is also a STEM Ambassador and became accredited as a Chartered Marine Scientist in early 2023.

Amy Pryor

Amy is a marine and aquatic scientist with over 20 years of experience in the field of marine and coastal management, stakeholder engagement and system level strategic project design. She excels at 'joining the dots' to design integrated, cross-cutting and multi benefit projects with a healthy marine and estuarine environment as the driver and successfully secures funding to support this work. She designs and manages a wide portfolio of projects that bring together different sectors across the land/sea interface and across socio-economic and environmental drivers.

Amy works within several collaborations nationally and internationally and leads the national Coastal Partnerships Network to ensure that best practice approaches and resources can be shared between coastal and marine practitioners around the UK for improving coastal and estuarine management. At TEP, she leads on the strategic project design and fundraising, supports the Chief Executive in the strategic development of TEP, and oversees the project teams.
 

This online event is free to attend and open to all.