29 research outputs found
You Can't Eat Biodiversity: Agency and Irrational Norms in European Aquatic Environmental Law
Policies of the European Union cover a range of social, environmental and economic aspirations and the current environmental directives and laws have evolved from a suite of norms which have changed over time. These may be characterised loosely according to 'Three Ps': Practical, those taking an anthropocentric approach; Pure, those taking an ecocentric approach and Popular, those appealing to the general public. In this paper I use these three perspectives as a tool to analyse the complexity and identify contradictions in European aquatic environmental legislation. Some trade-offs between development and conservation are identified and used to characterise the potential qualities of more successful agency to achieve environmental goals in the governance of European aquatic environments
You Can't Eat Biodiversity: Agency and Irrational Norms in European Aquatic Environmental Law
Policies of the European Union cover a range of social, environmental and economic aspirations and the current environmental directives and laws have evolved from a suite of norms which have changed over time. These may be characterised loosely according to 'Three Ps': Practical, those taking an anthropocentric approach; Pure, those taking an ecocentric approach and Popular, those appealing to the general public. In this paper I use these three perspectives as a tool to analyse the complexity and identify contradictions in European aquatic environmental legislation. Some trade-offs between development and conservation are identified and used to characterise the potential qualities of more successful agency to achieve environmental goals in the governance of European aquatic environments
Public Perceptions of Europe's Seas: A Policy Brief
This survey across several European countries explores the values, concerns and aspirations of individuals regarding the marine environment. The policy agenda in Europe is moving forward as a result of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive; for planning and maritime development; through the Integrated Maritime Strategy; and in reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Concerning the oceans, the views of communities across Europe are relatively unknown. While the positions of organised stakeholder groups are captured through responses to policy consultations, the opinion of the 'person in the street' is difficult to include in the decision making process. Yet, crucially, it is the collective choices made by communities in the resources they use, the places they visit, and live in that drive many pressures on the marine environment. Public viewpoints on the oceans will play an important (if yet undetermined) role in supporting reforms such as marine planning, the large scale deployment of marine renewables, and marine protected areas that have considerable social and economic consequences. Understanding the perspective of communities will be critical in how the policy process unfolds
Rapid Policy Network Mapping: A New Method for Understanding Governance Structures for Implementation of Marine Environmental Policy
Understanding the relationships and dependencies in the development and implementation of environmental policy is essential to the effective management of the marine environment. A new method of policy network analysis called âRapid Policy Network Mappingâ was developed that delivers an insight for both technical and non-technical users into the lifecycle, relationships and dependencies of policy development. The method was applied to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Water Framework Directive in the UK. These case studies highlight the environmental policy challenges to protect the UK's marine coastal environment and they identify differences in the styles of policy implementation between the devolved authorities of the UK. Rapid Policy Network Mapping provides an opportunity to create a collaborative policy data environment with a relatively small investment. As a tool for civil society it should assist in their ability to understand and influence policy making and implementation
A vulnerability framework to protect coastal social ecological systems
Due to a long and beneficial legacy, human settlement and development is particularly concentrated in coastal zones and this concentration is expected to continue and increase in the future. Coastal dwelling, however, also entails risks from both anthropogenic and natural hazards and interactions between these. A spatially explicit ecosystem services framework combined with a vulnerability framework is used to explore human relations with the coast and to assess current and future capacities to ensure benefits of coastal migration and to address the risks that these areas pose. The spatial characteristics of some fundamental benefits â transport and settlement, fisheries and waste assimilation â of coastal dwelling and their associated environmental costs are first analysed using modern and historical examples. A variety of spatial characteristics describing human use patterns are then identified. On this basis, the implications of the variety of spatial scales in benefits and costs for effective governance are discussed with reference to historical and current marine and coastal management practice. Our analysis will attempt to demonstrate that incorporating ecosystem services in environmental management may provide a useful tool in the application of ecosystem-based management
Achieving good environmental status in the Black Sea: scale mismatches in environmental management
The Black Sea has suffered severe environmental degradation. Governance of the Black Sea region is complex and results in a series of scale mismatches which constrain management. This paper develops a simple classification of spatial scale mismatches incorporating the driver, pressure, state, welfare, response (DPSWR) framework. The scale mismatch classification is applied to two major environmental problems of the Black Sea, eutrophication and small pelagic fisheries. A number of scale mismatches are described and classified and potential solutions are identified
Mismatches in spatial scale of supply and demand and their consequences for local welfare in Scottish aquaculture
Mismatches in spatial scales, or spatial disconnections between causes and effects of ecosystem degradation, can reduce resilience in socialâecological systems. These mismatches can be particularly disruptive in coastal and marine areas, where multiple social and ecological systems are multi-layered. Scotlandâs Western Isles have a history of local resource exploitation to meet extra-regional, larger-scale demands, which has resulted in a long process of socio-demographic decline. Salmon aquaculture is a major and expanding industry in the area, often linked to âBlue Growthâ. The expansion of this industry operates within and contributes to create several scale mismatches. Combining a systems approach across nested scales with a classification of scale mismatches, this work analyses the characteristics of the Western Isles salmon aquaculture industry, and it explores effects on socialâecological resilience. An extent scale mismatch between the global stocks of fishmeal species and the local capacity to respond to fluctuations is identified. The implications for this mismatch for the Western Isles are discussed. Some potential policy arrangements for incorporating matched spatial scales are considered
Estimating the Irish public's willingness to pay for more sustainable salmon produced by integrated multi-trophic aquaculture
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) has been put forward as a potential sustainable alternative to single fin fish species aquaculture. In IMTA, several species are combined in the production process. Integrating species has a conceivable dual advantage; the environmental impact can be lowered through nutrient cycling and from an economic perspective there is potential for increased efficiency, product diversification and a higher willingness to pay for more environmentally friendly produced salmon. This paper presents the results from a choice experiment which examines whether the Irish public is willing to pay a premium for “sustainably produced” farmed salmon from an IMTA process. Uniquely, an ecolabel was used in the design, based on familiar energy rating labels, to communicate the environmental pressure of fish farming to respondents. The experiment demonstrates that the Irish public has a willingness to pay a price premium for sustainability in salmon farming and for locally produced salmon
A multidisciplinary Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Mediterranean to support implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive
29 påginas, 4 figuras, 2 tablas, 1 apéndice.The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) adopted in 2008 aims to
protect the marine environment through the holistic Ecosystem Approach (EA).
The MSFD requires Member States to develop and implement cost-effective
measures to achieve and/or maintain âGood Environmental Statusâ (GEnS). To
this end, interested parties require a large amount of data and this data should be
appropriately managed. This is particularly true for EA applications, where data can come from diverse sources, in diverse formats, and from several disciplines.
Preliminary steps for supporting reliable multi-disciplinary analysis include data
collection, data management, and the implementation of an interoperable sharing
system. In an effort to implement this type of multidisciplinary analysis, a working
group from the KnowSeas project (www.knowseas.com) created a Spatial Data
Infrastructure for the Mediterranean Sea, designed to define and analyze the
GEnS concept across various geographical scales. This article describes the
implementation of this SDI, demonstrating how an interoperable system can
provide strong support in implementing the MSFD under the EA, and how marine
spatial planning can assist policymakers in the decision making process.This work was co-funded by the KnowSeas project (grant number 226675) and
the EGIDA project (grant number 265124).Peer reviewe
Estimating the publicâs preferences for sustainable aquaculture: a country comparison
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is an alternative to the monoculture of fin fish species, in which several species are combined in the production process. This can have environmental advantages such as a lower environmental impact through nutrient cycling and natural filters; and can have economic advantages consisting of increased efficiency, product diversification and potential price premiums. In this paper, a choice experiment (CE) was conducted through an online survey in Ireland, the UK, Italy, Israel and Norway, to assess how the public makes decisions on what type of salmon or sea bream to buy based on the attributes of the product. Analysis assessed the Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) for more sustainable produced seafood using a Latent Class multinomial logit modelling approach. In the experiment, an ecolabel was used to distinguish between regularly produced (monoculture) products and sustainably produced (IMTA) products. The general public in each country showed a positive attitude towards the development of such an ecolabel and towards the payment of a price premium for the more sustainably produced salmon or sea bream