The implications of energy systems for ecosystem services: A detailed case study of offshore wind

Globally, the deployment of offshore wind is expanding rapidly. An improved understanding of the economic, social and environmental impacts of this sector, and how they compare with those of other energy systems, is therefore necessary to support energy policy and planning decisions. The ecosystem services approach provides a more holistic perspective of socio-ecological systems than traditional environmental impact assessment. The approach also makes possible comparisons across disparate ecological communities because it considers the societal implications of ecological impacts rather than remaining focused on specific species or habitats. By reporting outcomes in societal terms, the approach also facilitates communication with decision makers and the evaluation of trade-offs. The impacts of offshore wind development on ecosystem services were assessed through a qualitative process of mapping the ecological and cultural parameters evaluated in 78 empirical studies onto the Common International Classification for Ecosystem Services (CICES) framework. The research demonstrates that a wide range of biophysical variables can be consistently mapped onto the CICES hierarchy, supporting development of the ecosystem service approach from a broad concept into an operational tool for impact assessment. However, to improve confidence in the outcomes, there remains a need for direct measurement of the impacts of offshore wind farms on ecosystem services and for standardised definitions of the assumptions made in linking ecological and cultural change to ecosystem service impacts. The process showed that offshore wind farms have mixed impacts across different ecosystem services, with negative effects on the seascape and the spread of non-native species, and positive effects on commercial fish and shellfish, potentially of most significance. The work also highlighted the need for a better understanding of long term and population level effects of offshore wind farms on species and habitats, and how these are placed in the context of other pressures on the marine environment

Saltmarshes, ecosystem services, and an evolving policy landscape: A case study of Wales, UK

Coastal areas are facing increasing pressures, resulting in unprecedented levels of change that require an adaptive and flexible governance system. Through its devolved powers, governance in Wales has undergone significant change, with new legislation providing ‘world-leading’ and ‘innovative’ approaches to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges. This provides an opportunity to examine the extent to which ecosystem services have been translated into national policy, providing a useful case study for global coastal governance. This paper reviews five recent Welsh acts, focusing specifically on the case study system of saltmarshes and their ecosystem services, benefits and processes. A number of themes are identified, highlighting opportunities and challenges for global coastal governance. One key observation found that the language used within these 5 Acts is more clearly linked to ecosystem benefits, rather than language traditionally associated with ecosystem services. This evaluation of these Acts highlighted a limited inclusion of ecosystem services – perhaps, if ecosystem services are to be the lynchpin of coastal governance, a more explicit consideration of the concept is required at the highest of policy scales. Finally, recommendations are presented calling for greater inclusion of ecosystem services within high-level policy, and for an integrated and adaptive approach to coastal governance. In addition, it should be noted that although the study is based in a Welsh context, the outcomes are framed within a global scale, providing transferable insights. This paper contributes to the ongoing dialogue surrounding the concept of ecosystem services and its application within coastal governance

Ecosystem services: A bridge or barrier for UK marine stakeholders?

Ecosystem services conceptualises the multiple interactions between ecosystems and the people and communities benefitting from their direct or indirect use, aiming to provide stakeholders and scientists with a common language. While some users appear to have adopted this language and terminology, there are concerns that the complexities associated with the concept make it inaccessible and, rather than providing stakeholders with a tool to explain complex relationships, the language and terminology itself may disengage. Through surveying UK-based coastal and marine stakeholders (n = 158), this study examines stakeholders’ perceptions of the concept of ecosystem services and its role and usefulness within the marine and coastal science-policy-practice interface. Overall, stakeholders provided favourable opinions, with findings similar across respondents with the exception of industry; which used it less, was less confident with it and believed it to be less important. The results provide an evidenced argument for the benefits of the ecosystem services approach, including communication, supporting management and linking environment to humans. The analysis also details the required advancements to ensure effective future use, including improved terminology, pluralistic valuation and shared learning. Finally, the paper highlights challenges and benefits relating to the term, creating links to ongoing discussions about effective scientific communication for marine and coastal management

Public perceptions of tidal energy: Can you predict social acceptability across coastal communities in England?

Early consideration of potential societal issues faced by the nascent tidal industry is important to facilitate public engagement and potentially avoid levels of conflict that have arisen within other renewable energy sectors; general expressions of public support (as reported in national-scale attitude surveys) do not always translate into approval for local developments. It is a very appealing idea that the likely response of different types of communities to marine energy developments can be mapped and used to support planning. This study examined the attitudes of 963 people in South West England to hypothetical local tidal energy projects, analysing the results both by geographic location and according to the coastal community typology developed for England by the Marine Management Organisation. With the exception of age, demographic variables had little influence on the level of opposition to tidal energy, which instead was affected more by factors such as attitudes towards tidal energy in general (in particular its likely environmental impact), activities undertaken at the coast, and place attachment. These significant factors are typically not captured by the national census data used to determine community types. Any predictions about the acceptability of energy projects made as a result of community mapping based on demographic variables will not be a substitute for thorough public engagement and consultation, which should centre on the implications of tidal developments for the environment

Developing conceptual models that link multiple ecosystem services to ecological research to aid management and policy, the UK marine example

Our understanding of ecological processes that lead to ecosystem services is still evolving but ecological research aims to understand the linkages between the ecosystem and services. These linkages can affect trade-offs between different ecosystem services. Understanding these linkages, by considering multiple ecosystem services simultaneously supports management of the environment and sustainable use of resources. The UK marine environment is relatively data rich, yet the links between ecosystem and several ecosystem services and linkages between services are poorly described. A workshop with 35 marine scientists was used to create a conceptual model that links ecosystem components and key processes to four services they provide and to highlight trade-offs between them. The model was subsequently further developed to include pressures and mitigating management measures. The models are discussed in terms of their application to marine data to facilitate evidence-based marine management and their usefulness to communicate management measures with managers and stakeholders

Valuation of marine plastic pollution in the European Arctic: Applying an integrated choice and latent variable model to contingent valuation

Despite its remoteness, marine plastic pollution is a significant environmental problem in the Arctic. In Svalbard, for example, plastics are found on the shorelines, in the water column, on the ocean floor and in the ice. Organisms have been observed to be entangled in nets and ingestion of plastics has been documented in a range of organisms. Notably almost all Arctic bird species have been found to have ingested plastic, with Northern fulmars being particularly affected, with 89 % of samples recorded as having ingested plastic. Identification and valuation of ecosystem services affected by marine plastic pollution can provide input for decision makers in evaluating and comparing management policies concerning this unique environment. This study employs the contingent valuation method (CVM) for eliciting the willingness to pay (WTP) of Norwegian households for reducing marine plastic pollution around the archipelago of Svalbard. An Integrated Choice and Latent Variable model (ICLV) is employed to explore attitudinal determinants of WTP. We find an average WTP for an initiative to reduce marine plastics of NOK 5,485 (USD 642) per household per year. The ICLV results reveal that people who are relatively more concerned about marine plastic pollution and who deem the proposed initiative effective are willing to pay more (up to 85 % and 50 %, respectively). The use of ICLV models in CVM and recommendations for future research are discussed

A conceptual framework for assessing the ecosystem service of waste remediation: In the marine environment

In the marine environment, the ecosystem service of Waste Remediation (WR) enables humans to utilise the natural functioning of ecosystems to process and detoxify a large number of waste products and therefore avoid harmful effects on human wellbeing and the environment. Despite its importance, to date the service has been poorly defined in ecosystem service classifications and rarely valued or quantified. This paper therefore addresses a gap in the literature regarding the application of this key, but poorly documented ecosystem service. Here we present a conceptual framework by which the ecosystem service of WR can be identified, placed into context within current ecosystem classifications and assessed. A working definition of WR in the marine context is provided as is an overview of the different waste types entering the marine environment. Processes influencing the provisioning of WR are categorised according to how they influence the input, cycling/detoxification, sequestration/storage and export of wastes, with operational indicators for these processes discussed. Finally a discussion of the wider significance of the service of WR is given, including how we can maximise the benefits received from it. It is noted that many methods used in the assessment, quantification and valuation of the service are currently hampered due to the benefits of the service often not being tangible assets set in the market and/or due to a lack of information surrounding the processes providing the service. Conclusively this review finds WR to be an under researched but critically important ecosystem service and provides a first attempt at providing operational guidance on the long term sustainable use of WR in marine environments

Inclusion of condition in natural capital assessments is critical to the implementation of marine nature-based solutions

Current approaches to measure ecosystem services (ES) within natural capital (NC) and nature-based solutions (NbS) assessments are generally coarse, often using a single figure for ecosystem services (e.g., nutrient remediation or blue carbon sequestration) applied to the local or national habitat stock, which fails to take account of local ecosystem con�ditions and regional variability. As such, there is a need for improved understanding of the link between habitat con�dition and ES provision, using comparable indicators in order to take more informed management decisions. Here the UK, Solent Marine Sites (SEMS) is used as a case study system to demonstrate how Water Framework Directive (WFD) ‘ecological status’ and other indicators of ecosystem condition (state or quality) can be coupled with habitat extent information to deliver a more precise locally-tailored NC approach for active coastal and marine habitat restoration. Habitat extent and condition data are collected for seven NbS relevant coastal habitats (littoral sediment, matforming green macroalgae, subtidal sediment, saltmarsh, seagrass, reedbeds and native oyster beds). The workflow includes: 1) biophysical assessment of regulatory ES; 2) monetary valuation; and 3) compilation of future scenarios of habitat restoration and creation. The results indicate that incorporating classifications by condition indices into local NC extent accounts improved ES benefits by 11–67%. This suggests that omitting condition from NC assessments could lead to undervaluation of ES benefits. Future scenarios of restoration in the SEMS also show that the additional regulatory benefits of reaching ‘Good’ ecological status are £376 million annually, but could be as much as £1.218 billion if ‘High‘status and all habitat creation targets were met. This evidence of the potential value of restoration and importance of including condition indices in assessments is highly relevant to consider when investing in water ecosystems conservation and restoration as called for by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021−2030), and more generally in global nutrient neutrality and blue carbon policy strategies

Primary vs grey: A critical evaluation of literature sources used to assess the impacts of offshore wind farms

The evidence-base for environmental and social impacts of offshore wind farms (OWF) is increasing with the exponential global growth of the offshore energy sector. In the UK, planning and consenting processes are lengthy (7+ years) and rely largely on evidence from grey literature sources. To meet 2030 and 2050 renewable energy targets and marine net gain ambition, policy and decision makers require access to the best available data. Translating environmental impacts into ecosystem services (ES) provides a qualitative framework by which to evaluate positive and negative outcomes. We review and synthesise UK grey literature (2012–2022) relating to OWF impacts and compare reported ES outcomes with those from global primary literature (2002–2021). Grey literature portrays a largely negative (71%) view of ES outcomes and fails to represent many positive ES out�comes reported in primary literature. In primary literature, 28% of reported ES outcomes are positive, but in UK grey literature this is just 2%. Evidence gaps are highlighted for both literature types, with major gaps for decommissioning outcomes, and sparse evidence for Provisioning ES (8%), Regulating ES (7%) and specific operational pressures. We recommend evidence from both literature types is used to achieve environmentally sound decision making and expedite planning and consenting times

Applying the natural capital approach to decision making for the marine environment

The aspirations for natural capital and ecosystem service approaches to support environmental decision-making have not been fully realised in terms of their actual application in policy and management contexts. Application of the natural capital approach requires a range of methods, which as yet have not been fully tested in the context of decision making for the marine environment. It is unlikely that existing methodologies, which were developed for terrestrial systems and are based on land cover assessment approaches, will ever be feasible in the marine context at the national scale. Land cover approaches are also fundamentally insufficient for the marine environment because they do not take account of the water column, the significant interconnections between spatially disparate components, or the highly dynamic nature of the marine ecosystem, for example the high spatial mobility of many species. Data gaps have been a significant impediment to progress, so alternative methods that use proxies for quality information as well as the opportunities for remote sensing should be explored further. Greater effort to develop methodologies specifically for the marine environment is required, which should be interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral, coherent across policy areas, and applicable across a range of contexts