Abstract
Coastal marine areas are characterized by the highest values of ecosystem services and by multiple uses that are often in conflict with each other. Natural capital analysis is claimed to be a valid tool to support space planning. In the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) of the European Union (EU), the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) Scientific and Policy Report 2014 defines the monitoring of specific descriptors and their possible use, based on an ecosystem-services approach. Mediterranean marine ecosystems are characterized by high biodiversity and the presence of relevant benthic biocenosis that can be used as a tool to support coastal planning, conservation, and monitoring programs. In this study, we considered the Mediterranean benthic biocenosis, as classified by Pérès and Picard, as a working tool and propose a basic spatial unit for the assessment of marine ecosystem services. Focusing on a high-resolution local-scale analysis, this work presents an accurate identification of the different biocenoses for the coastal area of Civitavecchia in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy, and ecosystem services, as well as a benefits assessment, of the Posidonia oceanica meadows.
Highlights
In 2000, United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, launched the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) with the general objective of assessing the consequences of changing ecosystems [1]
Ecosystem benefits evaluation is a process that is strictly connected to the ecosystem approach [4], which has been described as a strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources to promote conservation and sustainable use within the framework of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) [5]
The concept of ecosystem service has become of pivotal importance in assessing biodiversity decline and the implications of ecosystems changes for human kind [6], and various international initiatives have been taken to create an operational concept for research and management, such as the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) [6,7]
Summary
In 2000, United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, launched the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) with the general objective of assessing the consequences of changing ecosystems [1]. The concept of ecosystem services was introduced in scientific literature in the 1970s and 80s This concept considered only the services that nature provides, but over time, it came to include socio-economic concepts and conservation objectives [3]. The overall management objective must ensure the sustainable use of all resources This concept obviously includes the conservation of ecological structures and processes involved in use, aside from their usefulness in human activities. A zonation system has to be considered as a working tool, not as an end, or a finality [10] In this context, the distribution and abundance of benthic communities is used as a tool to be coupled with the ecosystem services evaluation methods. This work presents an assessment of the natural capital economic value for Posidonia oceanica meadows in the coastal area of Civitavecchia in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy
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