Ecosystem goods, services and management

Abstract

1. Humans are an imperative component of the Earth’s ecosystems as we transform them to meet our economic and cultural needs. 2. Seas and oceans contribute to the local, regional and global development of human society. The downside of this development is environmental deterioration resulting from increasing competition for sea space and coastal areas between different and conflicting interests. 3. Natural environmental stressors are exacerbated by anthropogenic pressures in the drainage areas of all aquatic systems. The interplay of such pressures is particularly pronounced in semi-enclosed seas such as the Baltic Sea, which are often multi-use and multi-stakeholder areas. 4. The ecosystem goods and services offered by the Baltic Sea can be classified as provisioning (resources obtained by exploitation for e.g. human food), regulating (direct natural regulation processes, e.g. gas and climate regulation), cultural (non-material benefits, e.g. recreation) and supporting (processes necessary to sustain the other goods and services, e.g. primary production). 5. The management of the Baltic Sea ecosystem has its success stories, such as regulations for the exploitation of living resources and discharges of hazardous substances. It also has its failures, eutrophication management being perhaps the most evident one. 6. Trans-national networking and cross-border cooperation are crucial for improving the health of the Baltic Sea ecosystem. This is not always easy because the different countries around the Baltic Sea experience different social constraints. 7. The large-scale anthropogenic pressures on the Baltic Sea can only be dealt with by ecosystem-based management (EBM). EBM is an integrated approach to management that considers the entire ecosystem, including humans, and aims to maintain the sustainable supply of ecosystem goods and services by keeping the ecosystem in a healthy, productive and resilient condition. 8. Marine spatial planning (MSP) may be the vehicle for scientific knowledge to inform and influence decision-making.