Examining the role of integration in marine spatial planning: towards an analytical framework to understand challenges in diverse settings

Marine spatial planning (MSP) as a means of marine governance has been given more prominence recently in response to the problems of fragmentation of marine regulation, environmental protection from increasing pressures upon the seas and the emergence of new maritime industries (Douvere and Ehler, 2009). Therefore enhancing multiple aspects of the way that marine authorities, sectors and stakeholders interact and engage with each other is integral to MSP's role and function and seen as a key means to address fragmented and isolated decision-making in marine space (Portman, 2016). While the function and processes of enhancing integration should not be seen as ends in themselves, they aim to create institutionalised platforms that support multi-level and multi-sectoral governance interaction to achieve 'sustainable use' of marine space (Gilek et al., 2016; Ritchie and Ellis, 2010; Varjopuro et al., 2015). Here, integration mostly plays an instrumental role in realising multiple and divergent political ends (e.g. blue growth, sustainable use, legitimate decision-making) related to ‘integrated spatialized outcomes' that seek to reflect a balance of competing goals (Flannery et al., 2016; Flannery et al., 2018; Jones et al., 2016; Olsen et al., 2014a). Integration is also seen to be important to foster greater connectivity over borders, beneficial for conservation, shipping and fishing (Jay et al., 2016). While claims of the benefits of more integration are intuitively appealing, whether and how these are actually delivered through integration practices remains under-examined in MSP practice; as are empirical insights on the multiplicity of roles that integration plays in MSP. So, while integration has been universally adopted as a policy principle where it is believed that more integration is seen to be closely related to successful planning in numerous ways, there is confusion about what it means, how to do it and what it implies in different MSP contexts. In response, the key aim of this article is to develop an analytical framework useful for examining integration in MSP across a diversity of contexts and processes. Given the central role of integration in MSP, it is vitally important to better understand the linkages between ideas of integration and their practical application in MSP. To examine the role of integration across multiple MSP contexts, we first describe the approach taken in this study. This is followed by a review of relevant MSP and integration related literature to develop an analytical framework. We draw on this framework to illustrate important expressions of integration challenges and responses in our cases. The experiences from the multiple cases are then discussed to generate insights into the various roles that integration plays in MSP and how problems arise and have been addressed. In closing, we underline key findings and reflect on the usefulness and adaptability of the integration approach developed in this article

How to Compare Fuzzers

Fuzzing is a key method to discover vulnerabilities in programs. Despite considerable progress in this area in the past years, measuring and comparing the effectiveness of fuzzers is still an open research question. In software testing, the gold standard for evaluating test quality is mutation analysis, assessing the ability of a test to detect synthetic bugs; if a set of tests fails to detect such mutations, it will also fail to detect real bugs. Mutation analysis subsumes various coverage measures and provides a large and diverse set of faults that can be arbitrarily hard to trigger and detect, thus preventing the problems of saturation and overfitting. Unfortunately, the cost of traditional mutation analysis is exorbitant for fuzzing, as mutations need independent evaluation. In this paper, we apply modern mutation analysis techniques that pool multiple mutations; allowing us, for the first time, to evaluate and compare fuzzers with mutation analysis. We introduce an evaluation bench for fuzzers and apply it to a number of popular fuzzers and subjects. In a comprehensive evaluation, we show how it allows us to assess fuzzer performance and measure the impact of improved techniques. While we find that today's fuzzers can detect only a small percentage of mutations, this should be seen as a challenge for future research -- notably in improving (1) detecting failures beyond generic crashes (2) triggering mutations (and thus faults).Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Coping and adaptation in socio-ecological problem structures : Towards an integrated framework for analyzing trans-boundary environmental problems in marine settings

The literature on governance of socio-ecological systems has been growing fast during the last one or two decades. However, sound theoretical underpinnings to these systems have not been sufficiently articulated and tied to existing theory, it is argued in this working paper. To address this shortcoming, this paper aims to elaborate on how the theoretical constructs  problem structure, collective choice theory and adaptive governance can be brought together to form a coherent analytical framework for analyzing trans-boundary environmental problems in marine settings. The argument that collective action problematiques may inhibit successful adaptation to environmental change among sovereign states is fundamental to this model. Given that governments tend to prefer national coping strategies where expected national rather than joint benefits are maximized, mutually beneficial cooperation often does not evolve and regional adaptation turn out piecemeal. It is concluded that in order to improve trans-national environmental governance, a better understanding of underlying drivers and countries’ incentives to take action is a necessary prerequisite

Coping and adaptation in socio-ecological problem structures : Towards an integrated framework for analyzing trans-boundary environmental problems in marine settings

The literature on governance of socio-ecological systems has been growing fast during the last one or two decades. However, sound theoretical underpinnings to these systems have not been sufficiently articulated and tied to existing theory, it is argued in this working paper. To address this shortcoming, this paper aims to elaborate on how the theoretical constructs  problem structure, collective choice theory and adaptive governance can be brought together to form a coherent analytical framework for analyzing trans-boundary environmental problems in marine settings. The argument that collective action problematiques may inhibit successful adaptation to environmental change among sovereign states is fundamental to this model. Given that governments tend to prefer national coping strategies where expected national rather than joint benefits are maximized, mutually beneficial cooperation often does not evolve and regional adaptation turn out piecemeal. It is concluded that in order to improve trans-national environmental governance, a better understanding of underlying drivers and countries’ incentives to take action is a necessary prerequisite

Transnational environmental collective action facing implementation constraints : the case of nutrient leakage in the Baltic Sea Action Plan

While scholars have showed a long-standing interest for how to design effective environmental treaties and other international agreements, less interest has been paid to implementation phases of these agreements. This article takes the Eutrophication Segment in the Baltic Sea Action Plan as an example of a regional effort to reduce nutrient leakages, where national reporting of adopted strategies has been a key mechanism to improve implementation effectiveness. It is shown that although transnational collective action theory is a powerful tool to analyse underlying drivers and priorities in state implementation policies, a deeper analysis of domestic and external constraints can shed additional light on observed implementation gaps. Varying views among countries on, for example, the role of stakeholder participation, legitimacy and top-down governing versus multi-stakeholder governance approaches may comprise domestic constraints that make effective and efficient implementation problematic. In terms of external constraints, states’ balancing of action plan objectives versus other international commitments, such as other environmental treaties and EU Directives, is shown to potentially reduce implementation efficiency as well

Postmaterialistic environmental attitudes : From attitudinal change to behavioural implications

It has been argued that economic development and increased socioeconomic security tend to foster postmaterialistic attitudes including an increased concern for the environment. According to the postmaterialist hypothesis, individuals who grow up under favorable materialistic conditions tend to place a higher value on non-materialistic issues, not only during their adolescence but also for the rest of their lives. During a modernization process where people’s socioeconomic welfare increases with time, a generational effect is created where younger cohorts systematically demonstrate a higher concern for postmaterialistic values. In contrast to the postmaterialist hypothesis, a link between current income and postmaterialism has been suggested as an alternative explanation for the alleged spread of postmaterialistic attitudes. This would imply that the generational effect is substituted for a current income effect where societies with more affluent citizens tend to have a more postmaterialistic outlook. In this article, concern for the environment is taken as an example of a postmaterialistic outlook. Survey data about attitudes towards environmental issues in Estonia (2001) is used to show that no clear correlation can be found between either personal income or age and the adoption of a positive attitude towards environmental issues. This finding is taken as a starting point for a theoretical elaboration about the relationship between income, attitudes and the consumption of postmaterialistic goods. It is suggested that the important link might not be between attitudes and socioeconomic security but between income and spending on postmaterialistic goods. Changes in behavior are therefore dependent on differences in income elasticity between materialistic and postmaterialistic goods. The most important implication is that the observed changes in attitude in a postmaterialistic direction probably entail less consumption of materialistic goods in relative terms but not in absolute terms

IMO legislation and its implementation: Accident risk, vessel deficiencies and national administrative practices

The article takes as its point of departure the apparently contradictory findings in recent research about accident rates in shipping and IMO implementation records. It is argued here that although IMO conventions have probably greatly improved shipping safety, they cannot credibly be held to be the chief cause of reduced accident rates as claimed in a recent Marine Policy article, when the documented failures of flag state and port state implementation continue to leave vessels sailing with grave deficiencies. The present analysis posits and corroborates a cluster of linked tendencies that jointly undermine IMO implementation. The core problem is IMO’s weak connection to the national maritime administrations, leading to broadly discretionary practices, exacerbated by language difficulties. Adding new rules is no panacea, as new rules in some cases negatively affect the functioning of existing regulations, and sometimes seem motivated mainly to show political alertness. The structural weakness of the IMO/member state link is the core implementation problem that urgently needs to be dealt with if marine safety is to be improved. The concluding section proposes a reform to bring the IMO out of this conundrum and ensure effective implementation

The Ecosystem Approach to Management in Baltic Sea Governance : Towards Increased Reflexivity?

This chapter analyses the governance structures linked to the marine environment of the Baltic Sea. The purpose is to assess whether current developments of the governance structures have a potential to take into account requirements of an Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM). We use the concept of reflexive governance to understand key components and weaknesses in contemporary governance modes, as well as to elaborate on possible pathways towards a governance mode more aligned with EAM. The reflexive governance framework highlights three elements: (1) acknowledgement of uncertainty and ambiguity; (2) a holistic approach in terms of scales, sectors and actors; and (3) acknowledgement of path dependency and incremental policy-making. Our analysis is based on a comparative case study approach, including analysis of the governance in five environmental risk areas: chemical pollution, overfishing, eutrophication, invasive alien species and pollution from shipping. The chapter highlights an existing governance mode that is ill-equipped to deal with the complexity of environmental problems in a holistic manner, with systematic attention to uncertainty, plurality of values, ambiguity and limited knowledge, while also pointing at important recent cognitive and institutional developments that can favour pathways towards reflexive governance and consequently EAM

IMO legislation and its implementation: Accident risk, vessel deficiencies and national administrative practices

The article takes as its point of departure the apparently contradictory findings in recent research about accident rates in shipping and IMO implementation records. It is argued here that although IMO conventions have probably greatly improved shipping safety, they cannot credibly be held to be the chief cause of reduced accident rates as claimed in a recent Marine Policy article, when the documented failures of flag state and port state implementation continue to leave vessels sailing with grave deficiencies. The present analysis posits and corroborates a cluster of linked tendencies that jointly undermine IMO implementation. The core problem is IMO's weak connection to the national maritime administrations, leading to broadly discretionary practices, exacerbated by language difficulties. Adding new rules is no panacea, as new rules in some cases negatively affect the functioning of existing regulations, and sometimes seem motivated mainly to show political alertness. The structural weakness of the IMO/member state link is the core implementation problem that urgently needs to be dealt with if marine safety is to be improved. The concluding section proposes a reform to bring the IMO out of this conundrum and ensure effective implementation.Shipping Maritime regulation Flag state Port state Detention Institutional interaction