Abstract
The European Biodiversity Strategy asks EU Member States for an assessment, mapping and valuing of Ecosystem Services (ES). While terrestrial ES concept is advanced and different tools are available, they are largely lacking for coastal and marine systems. We develop a stepwise methodological process to assess ES in coastal and marine systems which we name Marine Ecosystem Services Assessment Tool. We applied it to two large Baltic lagoons, the Szczecin and the Curonian Lagoons demonstrating a quantitative and qualitative assessment approach. Firstly, an initial status is defined reflecting, according to the European Water Framework Directive, a past situation when the ecosystems where in a so called good ecological state. In both Baltic lagoons, this refers to a situation around 1960. Secondly, a present state is defined, assessed and compared to the initial status. Increasing anthropogenic impacts in Szczecin Lagoon caused an overall decrease ecological status which may influence the system’s ability to provide services. Assessing ES changes semi-quantitatively via 39 indicators and 22 services, we show a decrease in provisioning and regulating and maintenance and an increase of cultural services’ provision. According to 15 expert valuations, the Curonian Lagoon displays no changes in provisioning but an increase in regulating and maintenance and cultural service provision. We discuss how these results can serve different marine management approaches and support different polices. Through our application we show how the tool can be used to assess ES changes over time and thus provide key information on sustainable use and ES for future generations.
Highlights
Environmental changes due to human impacts take place at unprecedented rates, leading to situations where it is imperative to act and safeguard ecosystems from future damages (Hofmann et al 2015)
Ecosystem Services (ES) knowledge has been integrated into decision-making through different legislation and management strategies such as the Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Marine Spatial Planning, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Biodiversity Strategy 2020 (Luisetti et al 2011, 2014; Liquete et al 2013)
O’Higgins and Gilbert (2014) states that the inclusion of ES into Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and other policies is important as the inclusion of the integral role of humans into managements helps in the construction of sustainable societies
Summary
Environmental changes due to human impacts take place at unprecedented rates, leading to situations where it is imperative to act and safeguard ecosystems from future damages (Hofmann et al 2015). One way of raising awareness regarding the importance of environmental conservation is by demonstrating how important ecosystems act as contributors to human wellbeing and as providers of our most basic needs. This is the backbone of the concept of Ecosystem Services (ES), which the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005) describes as ‘‘the benefits humans obtain from the environment’’. Roy Haines-Young and Potschin (2013) coordinated the development of the Common International Classification on Ecosystem Services (CICES). This classification hierarchically organizes ES into sections, divisions, groups and classes. For this one of MAES advantages is the correspondence with CICES classification, as it makes it easier for researchers to find suitable indicators for ES
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