Publication Abstract

Learning from aquatic environmental assessments

Jo Foden*, Stuart I Rogers* and Andrew P Jones

Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) are formalised, structured processes that assess the environmental impacts of a plan or programme before licensing decisions are made.  Many other assessments of the marine environment have been generated by the need to understand and describe important ecosystem processes and anthropogenic impacts on them.  These can relate to single or multiple sectors, include one or more components of the ecosystem and include varying amounts of interaction between them.  Single trophic level assessments are conducted routinely, while assessments of increasing numbers of parameters and having greater quantitative rigour are conducted less frequently.  A fully integrated ecosystem assessment as defined by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2007), were found to be relatively scarce; a probable reflection of their complexity, difficulty to conduct and greater resource requirement. 

There is confusion in the terminology used to describe assessments; terms such as ‘ecosystem’ ‘socioeconomic factors’ and ‘integrated’ are frequently used, but often misrepresentative in their application.  Some so-called ecosystem assessments do not in fact incorporate abiotic parameters.  Similarly, the term integrated has been applied to assessments that actually analyse parameters independently, with no attempt to analyse drivers and linkages between them.  The diversification of assessments and lack of a coherent terminology to differentiate the various types has been recognised; for example by UNEP (2007) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES, 2007).  It is more than a mere limitation or irritation to an audience, since it can lead to misunderstanding. Pre-defining terms, methods to be used, and the standards against which parameters are judged is imperative.

This paper reviewed a variety of assessments in freshwater, estuarine and fully marine environments, at local, national, international and global scales.  Definitions of some assessment terminology are suggested, consolidating existing proposals (e.g. Leadbitter and Ward, 2007; UNEP, 2007).  A system is proposed for categorising assessments, which builds on the work of ICES Working Group on Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Activities (ICES, 2007). Classification of assessments is based on the environmental components considered, the methodologies and nature of the linkages between components, and the inclusion or exclusion of socio-economic factors.  Lessons learnt from a variety of environmental assessments are briefly described, with an emphasis on their potential application for future SEAs.

Reference

Jo Foden*, Stuart I Rogers* and Andrew P Jones (2008) Learning from aquatic environmental assessments, CoastNET Seminar (http://www.coastnet.org.uk/)