NewslettersFacebookFlickr
InitiativesNewsMarketsScienceGet Involved

Read Our Newsletters For the latest marine science and other ocean news, subscribe to Ocean Update, Marine Science Review and our other free newsletters.



SeaWeb Ecosystem-based Management Resources

Implementing Ecosystem-based Management

children play on a crowded beach
Kathleen Reaugh/Marine Photobank/Marine Photobank
Maintaining access to cultural ecosystem services such as recreational, educational and spiritual opportunities in coastal environments is a key component of an ecosystem-based management approach. This beach in Cape Town, South Africa, provides ample opportunity for human recreation.

An ocean management plan designed and implemented according to an ecosystem-based management framework will:

  • Prioritize the health of the whole ecosystem over the needs of an activity or special interest;
  • Be place-based, or focused on a particular place, with natural boundaries;
  • Account for the ways in which multiple things or actions in that place interact and affect each other;
  • Consider the way things or actions in this place can influence or be influenced by land-based structures, chemicals or actions (such as dams, fertilizers or coastal development), the air (like air pollution) or different parts of the ocean (like industrial fishing);
  • Integrate the concerns of the environment, society, the economy and our institutions (see integrated management); and
  • Provide a mechanism for coordination among various management entities.

Design and implementation of an ecosystem-based framework is no small task. Furthermore, these principles leave plenty of room for interpreting how to develop an ecosystem-based management plan. Fortunately many scientists and policy experts agree that several actions are consistent with ecosystem-based management. In many places, at least some of these actions already have been implemented. In all cases, an ecosystem approach requires that these measures be put into practice in an integrated, effective way that links across management jurisdictions, cultural divides and political boundaries.

Actions Consistent with Ecosystem-based Management

We know enough to begin to implement ecosystem-based management today. Scientists agree that the actions listed below are consistent with an ecosystem-based approach to management. These actions are described in a 2005 consensus statement signed by more than 220 academic scientists and policy experts. Various groups in many places have initiated these actions, including governments and government agencies, citizens' groups, and large and small non-government organizations. Improved, specific communications tools and strategies are necessary for the advancement of each of these types of actions:

Initiate ecosystem-level planning

Albatross and plastic debris
Steven Siegel/Marine Photobank
The northwestern Hawaiian islands of Midway Atoll are protected as a Marine National Monument, yet cumulative human impacts, such as this plastic debris cluttering albatross nesting grounds, are apparent.

Planning exercises must include multiple stakeholders by involving representatives from government agencies and leadership, traditional leaders, industries and other economic interests, residents and environmental groups. Planning should consider the collective, or cumulative, effects of human actions that affect the environment and explicitly weigh trade-offs between ecosystem services and between management choices. For example, planners should examine not only the individual effects of fishing, pollution and coastal development but also seek to understand the collective impacts of those and other activities over time.

 

Establish cross-jurisdictional and multi-lateral governance and management

In many places, different organizations, agencies, and authorities are responsible for different sectors of the environment. In the United States, for example, the division of authority across sectors (fish and wildlife, minerals, water quality) and across levels of government (local, state, federal, tribal) has resulted in both duplicated efforts and gaps, leading to many costly disputes and lawsuits. In many cases, formal agreements and laws need to be established or amended to remedy this problem. In many parts of the world, governments of two or more countries share jurisdiction over a single ecosystem. In this case, governments should work together to manage the ecosystem in an integrated, ecosystem-based way. Agreements and laws should streamline management, shift focus to ecosystem-level processes and contain goals that align with the principles of ecosystem-based management.

Initiate spatial planning in ocean and coastal areas

The place-based concept of ecosystem-based management implies a spatial approach to management. This means that within a certain space, areas are zoned, or spatially defined and designated for single or multiple uses. Zoning consistent with an ecosystem approach seeks to minimize environmental impact, maximize ecosystem services and reduce user conflict. Zones can range from very restrictive (allowing only one user group, such as scientists or the military) to very permissive (allowing most or all uses).

Restore diminished ecosystems

Coral Reefscape
Chuck Savall/Marine Photobank
An ecosystem-based management approach would protect coral reef habitats that harbor a diversity of important and vulnerable species, such as this black coral outcrop in Saint Lucia, in the Carribbean, by limiting or relocating harmful human activities.

Many coastal ecosystems are diminished and therefore no longer able to provide their full complement of ecosystem services. The ecosystems at highest risk include wetlands, seagrass beds, kelp and mangrove forests, and coral reefs. Restoration should be coordinated among agencies and stakeholder groups.

Adopt cooperative management strategies

Cooperative management involves a combination of government agencies, resource users, researchers, conservationists, community members and other stakeholders in the decision-making for and the enforcement of shared natural resources. Cooperative management has many known advantages, including better-informed decision-making, management flexibility, and improved enforcement.

Implement adaptive management strategies

In order to allow for adaptive management, management plans and institutions must clearly acknowledge that: (1) current understanding is incomplete and will continue to improve and that (2) the environment for which the management plan was developed will continue to change. Management plans with an adaptive component are designed to test various management scenarios, learn from management actions and adjust to changing natural and man-made environments. Learning involves scientifically based evaluation using the analysis of data gathered by carefully designed monitoring programs. Following the learning process, management plans (and, sometimes, institutions) must change to effectively adapt to the new environment.

Establish long-term ocean and coastal observing, monitoring and research programs

These programs are designed to collect, integrate and analyze data, including biological, physical, social and economic data. These data are essential to other actions listed above, including ecosystem-level planning, cooperative management processes and adaptive management. Once established, monitoring systems require continuous financial and scientific support. Where monitoring systems are not yet implemented, their development is essential to the long-term success of an ecosystem-based management plan.

Place-based examples of ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning implementation

Resources and support tools