The ecosystem approach
People are an integral part of the marine
environment, and maintaining the health and resilience of marine
ecosystems is an essential aspect of long-term sustainability,
where the many socio-economic activities that depend on the sea are
concerned. Such aims can be achieved by adopting the ecosystem approach, where EcoQOs play a vital
role.
This approach has recently been adopted by both
the Helsinki
Commission (HELCOM) and the OSPAR Commission. It also now forms
an integral part of the European Marine Strategy, which is
currently under elaboration by the European Commission.
Adopting an ecosystem approach will require a
shift away from resource-based management towards the ecosystem and
its long-term sustainability. This approach also has a
multi-species framework, and integrates nature conservation with
human activities, by including political, economic and social
values, and proposes solutions that are socially acceptable.
Regional application in the Baltic Sea
The ecosystem approach framework will need to be
based on an existing management plan, setting the desired future
conditions through interactive planning sessions with a variety of
stakeholder groups. It will need to incorporate current existing
data with new research to develop ecologically based concepts and
techniques to achieve the desired conditions. The approach should
ultimately facilitate the evaluation of management ooutcomes and
the setting of future policy goals, such as ecological quality
objectives (EcoQOs).
An initial
road map has already been developed to set out the way forward
in broad and unrestricted terms. The first step within this road
map recognises the importance of setting up a continuous
interactive networking forum for scientists and managers, where
throughout the policy cycle scientists can gain a better
appreciation of how policy is formulated and implemented, while
managers and other stakeholders can gain a better understanding of
the functioning and variability of natural systems and the
consequences of socio-economic activity. This forum is intended to
help build a consensus on a common set of issues with regard to
Baltic Sea ecosystem health, and to establish a foundation of
mutual understanding based on concepts of long-term
sustainability.
Effective Ecological Quality Objectives
Effective EcoQOs will reflect the core of
information on the ecosystem, balancing basic ecosystem properties
on one hand, and human influences on the other. It has been
recognised that biological effects can provide a useful link
between ecosystem health and human influences.
As it is impossible to measure everything of
potential relevance within an ecosystem, indicators must be
selected to reduce the number of components that have to be
investigated and monitored. The effectiveness of each potential
ecological quality indicator must be evaluated before EcoQOs can be
set. When suitable indicators have been chosen an ecosystem
approach should be applied where objectives are set according to
sound ecological principles, emphasising the role of interconnected
processes. There also needs to be a shift towards the ecosystem
itself, which will always lie at the centre of any complex network
of causal links.
More information on the Ecosystem Approach and the development
of Ecological Quality Objectives
Helsinki Commission