Ecosystem Services as a Common Language for Coastal Ecosystem‐Based Management

TLDR

Ecosystem‑based management is logistically and politically challenging because ecosystems are inherently complex and decisions affect many groups, and coastal ecosystems illustrate these challenges while raising issues of predicting human impacts, service provision, and welfare effects. The study demonstrates that using ecosystem services as a common language can improve ecosystem‑based management by integrating scientific information and stakeholder knowledge, though it also presents benefits and difficulties. The authors estimate ecosystem‑service provision under alternative management schemes and illustrate this systematic approach in a Puget Sound case study. The approach yields a transparent method for assessing trade‑offs, a shared set of facts and currency, and improved communication among groups with competing interests or differing worldviews.

Abstract

Ecosystem-based management is logistically and politically challenging because ecosystems are inherently complex and management decisions affect a multitude of groups. Coastal ecosystems, which lie at the interface between marine and terrestrial ecosystems and provide an array of ecosystem services to different groups, aptly illustrate these challenges. Successful ecosystem-based management of coastal ecosystems requires incorporating scientific information and the knowledge and views of interested parties into the decision-making process. Estimating the provision of ecosystem services under alternative management schemes offers a systematic way to incorporate biogeophysical and socioeconomic information and the views of individuals and groups in the policy and management process. Employing ecosystem services as a common language to improve the process of ecosystem-based management presents both benefits and difficulties. Benefits include a transparent method for assessing trade-offs associated with management alternatives, a common set of facts and common currency on which to base negotiations, and improved communication among groups with competing interests or differing worldviews. Yet challenges to this approach remain, including predicting how human interventions will affect ecosystems, how such changes will affect the provision of ecosystem services, and how changes in service provision will affect the welfare of different groups in society. In a case study from Puget Sound, Washington, we illustrate the potential of applying ecosystem services as a common language for ecosystem-based management.