The Skimmer on Marine Ecosystems and Management
The EBM Toolbox: Tools and resources to address climate change impacts on marine ecosystems
By Sarah Carr
To this point, there has been a lack of information on which tools and resources have been used to address current and potential climate change impacts on marine ecosystems, as well as which have proven most effective. To help address this information gap, the EBM Tools Network and OpenChannels.org conducted a survey in October-November 2013. The survey asked practitioners which tools and resources they had used when addressing climate change impacts on marine ecosystems. We took a broad view of "tools and resources" for the survey, including written guides, models, protocols, replicable methodologies, computer software, apps, and databases. In all, 102 practitioners participated.
Payment for ecosystem services: An idea whose time has come for marine resource management?
Healthy ecosystems provide a vast array of services to human society. Our coasts and oceans, for instance, provide us with food, recreation, carbon storage, trade routes, buffering against storms, and much more. The UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which assessed the services provided by the natural world, found that ecosystems have…
Tundi’s Take: Payments for ecosystem services should be done in tandem with ocean zoning
By Tundi Agardy, MEAM Contributing Editor. tundiagardy@earthlink.net
Payment for ecosystem services (PES) is one of my favorite EBM approaches, in part because it offers the potential to generate significant new funding streams for conservation and management. Furthermore, if PES is paired with ocean zoning – as I propose it should be – the two approaches can generate some very mutually beneficial outcomes. In my view this is a marriage of convenience, and perhaps even necessity.
New guide and website walk readers through the how-to of evaluating marine spatial plans
Marine spatial plans are being developed in more than 40 countries worldwide. Such processes can be complex and time-intensive, and sometimes the focus becomes simply to finish the plan. However, a new guide released by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission emphasizes that it is just as important to think beyond the…
Notes & News: MSP survey – Integration in MSP – Fisheries and climate change – Balancing food security and conservation
Report on tools and skills needed by MSP practitioners A new report is available on the tools and skills needed by marine spatial planning practitioners in North America, as well as various gaps that exist in providing those resources. Produced by the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center, the…
Improving ocean management by addressing population and human health concerns: Insights from Madagascar and the Philippines
Ecosystem-based management leads practitioners to consider whole ecosystems (their structure, function, dynamics) rather than single species or issues. Humans are considered part of the ecosystem. As such, economic factors — particularly how various groups use the ocean, and how different management options could impact these groups economically — are typically…
Tundi’s Take: Is the link between ocean health and human health the sleeping dragon?
By Tundi Agardy, MEAM Contributing Editor (tundiagardy@earthlink.net) The link between the condition of marine ecosystems and the human condition is deep and opaque, like the sea itself. It is probably safe to say that the majority of us believe that marine degradation will broadly affect humankind, but exactly how, and…
Perspective: Managing new Central Arctic Ocean fisheries in an era of global warming
[Editor’s note: Alf Håkon Hoel is research director for Arctic and international affairs at the Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø, Norway.] By Alf Håkon Hoel Global warming has reduced ice cover in the Arctic and facilitated the northward extension of fish stocks such as capelin and cod. This has brought…
Letter to the Editor: Combining approaches to address scale challenges
[Editor’s note: The following is Peter Jones’ response to two articles in the June-July 2014 edition of MEAM: “Mismatches between the scale of ecosystems and the scale of management” and “Tundi’s Take: Are we too preoccupied with scale?”. Jones is author of Governing Marine Protected Areas: resilience through diversity, published…
Notes & News: Small island developing states – Deep sea mining – Large-scale conservation – Climate change and fisheries – Financing fishery transition projects
Priority environmental threats identified for Small Island Developing States The UN Environment Programme has released a report identifying priority emerging environmental issues of concern to Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The report covers a wide array of threats — invasive species, overfishing, reaching the limit of land capacity, and more…