Ecological and socio-economic effects of highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) in temperate waters

This study provides a synthesis of current scientific evidence on the ecological and socio-economic effects of highly protected marine areas (HPMAs), primarily in temperate waters. The aim was to establish if HPMAs can provide benefits beyond those afforded by other types of marine protected area (MPA). We identify critical interactions within and between ecological and socio-economic effects to help marine planners and managers make informed decisions about the trade-offs of alternate management actions or measures for MPAs. Well-designed and enforced MPAs with high levels of protection (HPMAs) often provide conservation benefits within their boundaries beyond those afforded by other types of MPA. Much remains to be learned about the socio-economic effects of HPMAs. Empirical evidence to date suggests that potential benefits cannot all be maximised simultaneously because potentially conflicting trade-offs exist not only between but also within ecological and socio-economic effects. Marine planners and managers must be able to evaluate the impact and distribution of trade-offs for differing management regimes; to make informed decisions about levels of protection required in MPAs to ensure sustainable use of marine resources and meet conservation objectives. One of the main challenges remains providing evidence of the societal benefits from restricting use in these areas

Assessing costs and benefits of measures to achieve good environmental status in European regional seas: challenges, opportunities, and lessons learnt

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to assess the costs and benefits of Programmes of Measures (PoMs) put in place to ensure that European marine waters achieve Good Environmental Status by 2020. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to carry out such an assessment whereby economic analysis is used to evaluate the outputs from ecological analysis that determines the expected effects of such management measures. This paper applies and tests an existing six-step approach to assess costs and benefits of management measures with potential to support the overall goal of the MSFD and discusses a range of ecological and economic analytical tools applicable to this task. Environmental cost-benefit analyses are considered for selected PoMs in three European case studies: Baltic Sea (Finland), East Coast Marine Plan area (UK), and the Bay of Biscay (Spain). These contrasting case studies are used to investigate the application of environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA) including the challenges, opportunities and lessons learnt from using this approach. This paper demonstrates that there are opportunities in applying the six-step environmental CBA framework presented to assess the impact of PoMs. However, given demonstrated limitations of knowledge and data availability, application of other economic techniques should also be considered (although not applied here) to complement the more formal environmental CBA approach

Detecting critical choke points for achieving Good Environmental Status in European seas

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Quantifying and valuing carbon flows and stores in coastal and shelf ecosystems in the UK

Evidence shows that habitats with potential to mitigate against greenhouse gases emissions, by taking up and storing CO2, are being lost due to the effects of on-going human activities and climate change. The carbon storage by terrestrial habitats (e.g. tropical forests) and the role of coastal habitats (‘Blue Carbon’) as carbon storage sinks is well recognised. Offshore shelf sediments are also a manageable carbon store, covering ∼9% of global marine area, but not currently protected by international agreements to enable their conservation. Through a scenario analysis, we explore the economic value of the damage of human activities and climate change can inflict on UK marine habitats, including shelf sea sediments. In a scenario of increased human and climate pressures over a 25-year period, we estimate damage costs up to US$12.5 billion from carbon release linked to disturbance of coastal and shelf sea sediment carbon stores. It may be possible to manage socio-economic pressure to maintain sedimentary carbon storage, but the trade-offs with other global social welfare benefits such as food security will have to be taken into account. To develop effective incentive mechanisms to preserve these valuable coastal and marine ecosystems within a sustainability governance framework, robust evidence is required

A Review of the Tools Used for Marine Monitoring in the UK: Combining Historic and Contemporary Methods with Modeling and Socioeconomics to Fulfill Legislative Needs and Scientific Ambitions

Marine environmental monitoring is undertaken to provide evidence that environmental management targets are being met. Moreover, monitoring also provides context to marine science and over the last century has allowed development of a critical scientific understanding of the marine environment and the impacts that humans are having on it. The seas around the UK are currently monitored by targeted, impact-driven, programmes (e.g., fishery or pollution based monitoring) often using traditional techniques, many of which have not changed significantly since the early 1900s. The advent of a new wave of automated technology, in combination with changing political and economic circumstances, means that there is currently a strong drive to move toward a more refined, efficient, and effective way of monitoring. We describe the policy and scientific rationale for monitoring our seas, alongside a comprehensive description of the types of equipment and methodology currently used and the technologies that are likely to be used in the future. We contextualize the way new technologies and methodologies may impact monitoring and discuss how whole ecosystems models can give an integrated, comprehensive approach to impact assessment. Furthermore, we discuss how an understanding of the value of each data point is crucial to assess the true costs and benefits to society of a marine monitoring programme

An analysis and valuation of post-designation management aimed at maximising recreational benefits in coastal Marine Protected Areas

Two waves of choice experiment surveys were carried out to capture preferences on recreational attributes of a coastal Marine Protected Area in England. A significant effect on preferences after a management intervention targeting recreation was observed. A mixed logit model with status quo as a random parameter showed that in 2014, the status quo had a negative effect, suggesting visitors were not satisfied by the status quo. However by 2015, after investments on a nature reserve, the status quo variable is highly significant and positive. The average benefits, measured in willingness to pay, generated by a refurbished visitor centre and other improvements is equal to £9.18 per visit per person. The study also found that key management attributes for future MPAs that will generate increased economic benefits from recreational activity are those that promote the diversity of wildlife and the provision of educational information. As expected the donation and the restriction attributes decrease the benefits, but on average their effects are smaller than wildlife improvements. From a policy and management perspective, especially in the context of public funding pressures, these results are particularly important as they provide evidence on management strategies that support conservation objectives and maximise economic benefits

Why value ‘blue carbon’?

This chapter intends examine the potential of blue carbon storage ecosystem services to contribute to a healthy climate and to support future protection for the coastal and marine habitats. Coastal ecosystems store ‘blue carbon’ but this provision is currently not protected by any international climate agreement or mechanism. Using scenario analysis, the chapter aims to develop a better understanding of the measurement and valuation of carbon stored and sequestered in coastal and marine ecosystems. Case studies of saltmarshes and seagrasses in England and Europe provide the main focus. Two main scenarios are presented. In one scenario, current environmental protection policies continue to be implemented. In a second scenario, a combination of factors (e.g. less environmental protection, more significant climate change impacts and increased marine pollution) lead to large habitat loss. The loss may be sufficient to lead to the functional extinction of some seagrass species, and hence the services they provide. The on-going debate about the definition of stock and flows of ecosystem services both in biophysical and economic terms and their related valuation issues are also explored based on a carbon cycle example