scholarly journals A Benthic Zonation System as a Fundamental Tool for Natural Capital Assessment in a Marine Environment: A Case Study in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Marcelli ◽  
Sergio Scanu ◽  
Francesco Manfredi Frattarelli ◽  
Emanuele Mancini ◽  
Filippo Maria Carli
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Posidonia Oceanica ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services

Coastal marine areas are characterized by the highest values of ecosystem services and by multiple uses that are often in conflict with each other. Natural capital analysis is claimed to be a valid tool to support space planning. In the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) of the European Union (EU), the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) Scientific and Policy Report 2014 defines the monitoring of specific descriptors and their possible use, based on an ecosystem-services approach. Mediterranean marine ecosystems are characterized by high biodiversity and the presence of relevant benthic biocenosis that can be used as a tool to support coastal planning, conservation, and monitoring programs. In this study, we considered the Mediterranean benthic biocenosis, as classified by Pérès and Picard, as a working tool and propose a basic spatial unit for the assessment of marine ecosystem services. Focusing on a high-resolution local-scale analysis, this work presents an accurate identification of the different biocenoses for the coastal area of Civitavecchia in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy, and ecosystem services, as well as a benefits assessment, of the Posidonia oceanica meadows.

scholarly journals Trends and Evolution in the Concept of Marine Ecosystem Services: An Overview

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2060
Author(s):  
Elvira Buonocore ◽  
Umberto Grande ◽  
Pier Paolo Franzese ◽  
Giovanni F. Russo
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Alternative Assessment ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Policy Dialogue ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services

The biotic and abiotic assets of the marine environment form the “marine natural capital” embedded in the global ocean. Marine natural capital provides the flow of “marine ecosystem services” that are directly used or enjoyed by people providing benefits to human well-being. They include provisioning services (e.g., food), regulation and maintenance services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage, and coastal protection), and cultural services (e.g., tourism and recreational benefits). In recent decades, human activities have increased the pressures on marine ecosystems, often leading to ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss and, in turn, affecting their ability to provide benefits to humans. Therefore, effective management strategies are crucial to the conservation of healthy and diverse marine ecosystems and to ensuring their long-term generation of goods and services. Biophysical, economic, and sociocultural assessments of marine ecosystem services are much needed to convey the importance of natural resources to managers and policy makers supporting the development and implementation of policies oriented for the sustainable management of marine resources. In addition, the accounting of marine ecosystem service values can be usefully complemented by their mapping to enable the identification of priority areas and management strategies and to facilitate science–policy dialogue. Given this premise, this study aims to review trends and evolution in the concept of marine ecosystem services. In particular, the global scientific literature on marine ecosystem services is explored by focusing on the following main aspects: the definition and classification of marine ecosystem services; their loss due to anthropogenic pressures, alternative assessment, and mapping approaches; and the inclusion of marine ecosystem services into policy and decision-making processes.

In Search of Marine Ecosystem Services Values: The V-MESSES Database

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (04) ◽  
pp. 1550037 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Skourtos ◽  
D. Damigos ◽  
D. Tsitakis ◽  
A. Kontogianni ◽  
C. Tourkolias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Reference Value ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services ◽  
Marine Environmental ◽  
European Seas

Economic valuation of marine ecosystem services is strongly anchored within the logic of Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). An inventory and critical assessment of marine valuation studies was conducted within the European Union funded Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research for the Southern European Seas (PERSEUS) research project ( http://www.perseus-net.eu/ ) and this information was fed into a suitable, spatially explicit valuation database, namely Valuation database for Marine Ecosystem Services of Southern European Seas (V-MESSES), with the objective of providing monetary values for Southern European Seas (SES) to be used in cost–benefit and cost-effectiveness applications. At present, the database contains 93 studies offering over 110 value estimates for four categories and 20 subcategories of marine ecosystem services covering all regions of Mediterranean and Black Sea. The database enables so far the estimation of the aggregated value of all ecosystem services. However, the selection of appropriate, policy relevant value estimates is not a simple and straightforward task, since several conditions should be met in order to conduct effective and efficient value transfers. Bearing in mind the above limitations, tentative reference value estimates are compiled from the V-MESSES database for a number of coastal and marine ecosystem services, although not all service categories are covered sufficiently.

scholarly journals The role of non-natural capital in the co-production of marine ecosystem services

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Outeiro ◽  
Elena Ojea ◽  
João Garcia Rodrigues ◽  
Amber Himes-Cornell ◽  
Andrea Belgrano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services

scholarly journals Valuing Marine Ecosystems - Taking into account the value of ecosystem benefits in the Blue Economy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Austen ◽  
Peder Andersen ◽  
Claire Armstrong ◽  
Ralf Döring ◽  
Stephen Hynes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Ecosystem Valuation ◽  
Natural Capital Accounting ◽  
Support Policy ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services

The main aim of this publication is to highlight the current thinking in ecosystem service valuation for the marine environment. Valuation of the benefits stemming from marine ecosystem services, including often unnoticed benefits to society, can help to assess the long-term sustainability of blue growth, support policy development and marine management decisions, and raise awareness of the importance of the marine environment to society and in the economy. Recommendations are made on how to incorporate outputs from valuation studies into the traditional analyses used in resource and environmental economics and into the European marine policy landscape and related management and decision making choices. The publication is primarily aimed at stakeholders interested in valuation of marine ecosystem services and natural capital accounting, spanning diverse roles from commissioning, managing, funding and coordinating, to developing, implementing, or advising on, marine ecosystem service and natural capital programmes. Such programmes will have strategic and policy drivers but their main purpose may vary from predominantly research driven science to provision of valuation data and reporting to legally-binding regulations or directives. The main focus is on European capabilities but set in a global context with the various actors spanning a variety of geographical scales from national to regional and European. Key stakeholder organizations include environmental or other agencies; marine research institutions, their researchers and operators; international and regional initiatives and programmes; national, regional and European policy makers and their advisors. It will also be of interest to the wider marine and maritime research and policy community. The publication recommends:1.Marine ecosystem valuation should be used to support policy making, regulation and management and decision making;2.The quality and availability of monetary and non-monetary valuation data should be improved and increased through research, development and implementation actions;3.The spatial and temporal dimensions of ecosystem valuation need to be mapped and their implications for policy and management decisions assessed;4.In order to strengthen the use and derivation of ecosystem service values to support policy, regulation and management, underpinning research and development actions should be undertaken:a.To improve understanding of the role of marine biodiversity and ecosystem processes in providing services and benefits;b.To improve modelling approaches to support ecosystem valuation and decision making;5.Systems to enable and use marine natural capital accounting and enhance the experimental ecosystem accounts should be further developed and implemented including:a. A natural capital portfolio approach utilising existing marine data sets and assessment results and addressing scale and aggregation as well as ecosystem degradation;b.Valuation methods for both ecosystem services and assets that can be standardised and are compatible with National Accounting;c.Payment for marine ecosystem services and other financing mechanisms to restore marine natural capital and improve its sustainable use.

scholarly journals A State-of-the-Art Review of Marine Ecosystem Services in the Rías Baixas Natura 2000 Network (Galicia, NW Spain)

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Tubío ◽  
Pablo Pita ◽  
Carlota Barañano ◽  
Sebastián Villasante
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Nw Spain ◽  
Natural Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rías Baixas

Humans are deeply connected to the oceans, who provide us vital ecosystem services (ES) (climate regulation, control of natural threats, wealth of its biodiversity, etc.), but the oceans are the first to suffer from human activity (climate change, destruction of ecosystems, overexploitation of marine resources, pollution, endangered species, etc.). Marine biodiversity is a fundamental natural capital in the generation of marine ecosystem services (MES), fundamental elements for the maintenance of human wellbeing. The objective of this article is to empirically demonstrate the role of marine ES in natural protected areas in Nature 2000 Rías Baixas (N2RB) (Galicia, NW Spain) in order to (1) to improve the knowledge on natural capital and ES associated to conserved coastal areas, (2) to analyze the contribution of these conserved coastal areas to the provision of sustainable business opportunities, and (3) to analyze if green-oriented policies can revert the current unsustainable exploitation model by providing real opportunities for business development. By creating an inventory, we gathered detailed information collected up to October 2020 of scientific literature, research projects, press releases, information on business initiatives and public policies regulations on ES and conservation of marine biodiversity in the N2RB (Cíes Islands and Island of Ons, including the Ons–O Grove Complex). Better protection of marine natural capital needs coordinated efforts among all sectors of government, business, and international institutions. It is a priority to generate a greater degree of social and business commitment that promotes the conservation of marine biodiversity, through the design of social and business participation strategies in the planning and use of ES in the N2RB areas.

Response of Ecosystem Service Values to Environmental Change in the Bohai Sea

2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 1321-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
An Ning Suo ◽  
Xu Bin Pan ◽  
Jian Hua Zhao ◽  
Yong Hai Yu
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Bohai Sea ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Laizhou Bay ◽  
The Bohai Sea ◽  
Ecosystem Services Value ◽  
Climate Regulation ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services ◽  
O2 Supply

Since 1988, great changes of primary production, pollutants loading, coastline and sea area have happened in the Bohai Sea in China. These environmental changes increased the value of marine ecosystem services value from 529.42 billion RMB in 1988 to 558.83 billion RMB in 2010. The ecosystem services values of recreation, food and materials production, O2 supply, climate regulation and primary productivity were raised. However, other marine ecosystem services value, including biological control, pollutant purification, knowledge broaden and biodiversity protection were lowered. In addition, value of ecosystem services increased in Liaodong Bay and Bohai Bay, but decreased in middle Bohai and Bohai strait, and it no change in Laizhou Bay,.This spatial difference of ecosystem service function value was mainly caused by the change of recreation function, O2 supply function and climate regulation function.

Donor-side evaluation of coastal and marine ecosystem services

2019 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 115028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Yang ◽  
Gengyuan Liu ◽  
Yan Hao ◽  
Lixiao Zhang ◽  
Biagio F. Giannetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Donor Side ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services
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