Past and future challenges in managing European seas
Marine environments have undergone large-scale changes in recent decades as a result of multiple anthropogenic pressures, such as overfishing, eutrophication, habitat fragmentation, etc., causing often nonlinear ecosystem responses. At the same time, management institutions lack the appropriate meas...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Resilience Alliance
2015-03-01
|
Series: | Ecology and Society |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol20/iss1/art40/ |
id |
doaj-81b36f0023944372b434e3f8bb64c68d |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-81b36f0023944372b434e3f8bb64c68d2020-11-24T23:17:16ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872015-03-012014010.5751/ES-07246-2001407246Past and future challenges in managing European seasThorsten Blenckner0Andreas Kannen1Alberto Barausse2Christian Fischer3Johanna J. Heymans4Tiziana Luisetti5Valentin Todorova6Matilda Valman7Laurence Mee8Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm UniversityInstitute for Coastal Research, Human Dimensions in Coastal AreasUniversity of PadovaInstitute for Coastal Research, Human Dimensions in Coastal AreasScottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine InstituteCentre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), School of Environmental Sciences, University of East AngliaInstitute of Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of SciencesStockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm UniversityScottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine InstituteMarine environments have undergone large-scale changes in recent decades as a result of multiple anthropogenic pressures, such as overfishing, eutrophication, habitat fragmentation, etc., causing often nonlinear ecosystem responses. At the same time, management institutions lack the appropriate measures to address these abrupt transformations. We focus on existing examples from social-ecological systems of European seas that can be used to inform and advise future management. Examples from the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea on long-term ecosystem changes caused by eutrophication and fisheries, as well as changes in management institutions, illustrate nonlinear dynamics in social-ecological systems. Furthermore, we present two major future challenges, i.e., climate change and energy intensification, that could further increase the potential for nonlinear changes in the near future. Practical tools to address these challenges are presented, such as ensuring learning, flexibility, and networking in decision-making processes across sectors and scales. A combination of risk analysis with a scenario-planning approach might help to identify the risks of ecosystem changes early on and may frame societal changes to inform decision-making structures to proactively prevent drastic surprises in European seas.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol20/iss1/art40/ecosystem-based managementregime shiftsscenarios |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Thorsten Blenckner Andreas Kannen Alberto Barausse Christian Fischer Johanna J. Heymans Tiziana Luisetti Valentin Todorova Matilda Valman Laurence Mee |
spellingShingle |
Thorsten Blenckner Andreas Kannen Alberto Barausse Christian Fischer Johanna J. Heymans Tiziana Luisetti Valentin Todorova Matilda Valman Laurence Mee Past and future challenges in managing European seas Ecology and Society ecosystem-based management regime shifts scenarios |
author_facet |
Thorsten Blenckner Andreas Kannen Alberto Barausse Christian Fischer Johanna J. Heymans Tiziana Luisetti Valentin Todorova Matilda Valman Laurence Mee |
author_sort |
Thorsten Blenckner |
title |
Past and future challenges in managing European seas |
title_short |
Past and future challenges in managing European seas |
title_full |
Past and future challenges in managing European seas |
title_fullStr |
Past and future challenges in managing European seas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Past and future challenges in managing European seas |
title_sort |
past and future challenges in managing european seas |
publisher |
Resilience Alliance |
series |
Ecology and Society |
issn |
1708-3087 |
publishDate |
2015-03-01 |
description |
Marine environments have undergone large-scale changes in recent decades as a result of multiple anthropogenic pressures, such as overfishing, eutrophication, habitat fragmentation, etc., causing often nonlinear ecosystem responses. At the same time, management institutions lack the appropriate measures to address these abrupt transformations. We focus on existing examples from social-ecological systems of European seas that can be used to inform and advise future management. Examples from the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea on long-term ecosystem changes caused by eutrophication and fisheries, as well as changes in management institutions, illustrate nonlinear dynamics in social-ecological systems. Furthermore, we present two major future challenges, i.e., climate change and energy intensification, that could further increase the potential for nonlinear changes in the near future. Practical tools to address these challenges are presented, such as ensuring learning, flexibility, and networking in decision-making processes across sectors and scales. A combination of risk analysis with a scenario-planning approach might help to identify the risks of ecosystem changes early on and may frame societal changes to inform decision-making structures to proactively prevent drastic surprises in European seas. |
topic |
ecosystem-based management regime shifts scenarios |
url |
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol20/iss1/art40/ |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT thorstenblenckner pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT andreaskannen pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT albertobarausse pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT christianfischer pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT johannajheymans pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT tizianaluisetti pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT valentintodorova pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT matildavalman pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas AT laurencemee pastandfuturechallengesinmanagingeuropeanseas |
_version_ |
1716338098009276416 |