Ecotones

What is an ecotone?

An ecotone is a term in ecology used to describe the space where two ecosystems meet, interact, and influence one another. These are not boundaries of separation, but bridges to walk across - places where flows of species, resources, and information move between systems.

Ecotones matter because ecosystems do not function in isolation. Grasslands connect deserts and tundras. Marine life depends on beaches. Coastal cities are protected by mangrove forests. The health of one system is shaped by what happens in the next. Ecotones make those relationships visibl and must be stewarded accordingly.

Ecotones is a Pine Forest Media documentary series that works across boundaries — ecological, political, and social — to bring siloed conversations into dialogue.

About the series

Ecotones explores the spaces where environmental science, policy, and everyday life intersect. Each installment uses a specific place or moment as a lens to examine how decisions made at one level of society shape realities at another.

Rather than treating global policy and local action as separate worlds, the series is interested in what happens between them: how high-level negotiations translate into lived experience, and how grassroots knowledge and action feed back into broader systems of governance.

At its core, Ecotones is about building bridges between disciplines and between the people who write policy and the people whose lives are shaped by it.

The first installment: Oceans

The first chapter of Ecotones will focus on oceans — a system defined by connection. Oceans link countries, economies, climates, and communities. What happens offshore shapes food systems, livelihoods, weather patterns, and coastal cultures around the world.

This installment grows out of Pine Forest Media’s sustained focus on ocean science through the Oceanography podcast, as well as our invitation to report from the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya.

By moving between conference halls and coastal communities, Ecotones: Oceans examines how global commitments meet local realities, and how local knowledge and action can inform more grounded, effective approaches to ocean stewardship.

An ongoing, place-based series

Ecotones is designed as a recurring documentary series. Each installment will be anchored in an issue-specific international convening — such as climate, biodiversity, or ocean conferences — and paired with reporting from the communities most directly affected by those discussions in the host cities.

Across ecosystems and countries, the series will connect:

• High-level policy spaces and negotiations
• Scientific research and expertise
• Local, grassroots action and lived experience

Together, these stories form a growing archive of environmental change at system boundaries, where relationships, responsibility, and context shape shared futures.