Publication Abstract

An important component of effective Marine Spatial Planning is the ability to monitor and assess the performance of the Plan against national and regional goals and objectives. Such Performance Assessment Systems (PAS) describe agreed methods for monitoring and assessing the status of ecosystem components, and provide managers with a coordinated mechanism for providing evidence of the effectiveness of the Planning Process, and the achievement of social, economic and conservation targets. This paper summarises recent progress in Europe with the identification of ecosystem goals for Regional Seas that will form the basis of the Marine Plans for Member States. It then reviews a variety of published examples of ecosystem assessments in freshwater, estuarine and fully marine environments, at local, national, international and global scales. The overview shows a surprising lack of consistent terminology currently used to describe and differentiate different types of assessment. In particular the terms ‘ecosystem’ and ‘integrated’ were often misused. Some so-called ecosystem assessments do not in fact incorporate abiotic parameters, and some ‘integrated’ assessments analyse parameters independently, with no attempt to analyse drivers and linkages between them. Clear definitions of assessment terminology are suggested that consolidate existing proposals. A new classification system is also proposed, based on the environmental components considered, the methodologies and nature of the linkages between components, and the inclusion or exclusion of socio-economic factors. The paper concludes by presenting an outline PAS that shows how explicit goals and a clear approach to assessment will be fundamental components of effective Marine Planning.