Marine environmental vulnerability and cumulative risk profiles to support ecosystem-based adaptive maritime spatial planning

Abstract

Human use of marine and coastal areas is increasing worldwide, resulting in conflicts between different interests for marine space, overexploitation of marine resources, and environmental degradation. In this study we developed a methodology that combines assessments of marine environmental vulnerability and cumulative human pressures to support the processes of ecosystem-based adaptive maritime spatial planning. The methodology is built on the spatially explicit marine environmental vulnerability profile (EVP) that is an aggregated product of the distribution of essential nature values (habitat-forming benthic macroalgal and invertebrate species, benthic species richness, birds and seals as top marine predators) and their sensitivities to disturbances. The marine environmental cumulative risk profile (ERP) combines the EVP and the HELCOM Baltic Sea Pressure Index (BSPI), the latter representing the spatial distribution of intensities of cumulative anthropogenic pressures. The ERP identifies areas where environmental risks are the highest due to both long recoveries of the biota and high intensities of human pressures. This methodology can be used in any other sea areas by modifying the list of nature values, their sensitivity to disturbances, and the intensities of human pressure.

Assessing cumulative impacts of human-induced pressures on reef and sandbank habitats and associated biotopes in the northeastern Baltic Sea

“…A cumulative impact assessment includes several sources and causes of uncertainty, and these should be clearly communicated to practitioners to facilitate the correct interpretation of the analysis results ( Gissi et al, 2017 ). Uncertainties due to modelling of benthic habitats and biotopes have been discussed in Aps et al (2018) and Torn et al (2020) . Acknowledging the relatively data rich situation of the Estonian coastal sea, the habitat and associated biotope maps explain about 85–95 % of natural variability and thereby this source of uncertainty is of little consequence in our case study.…”

“…The PW4B tool includes the most updated maps of benthic habitats and biotopes (native spatial resolution of these map layers is 100 m (for modelling approaches see Aps et al, 2018 and Torn et al, 2020 ). In this study we used maps of coverage of habitats and associated biotopes that provided a seamless prediction in the entire study area.…”

“…The spatial impacts of these human pressures (current and projected) on benthic ecosystems were generated by the PW4B portal ( Kotta et al, 2020 ). Details on the spatial modelling of benthic habitats are available in Aps et al (2018) .…”

“…As such, MSP is a process that enables stakeholders to achieve ecological, economic, and social objectives to ensure effective long-term use of marine resources and to mitigate multi-sectoral conflicts over the use of the sea space ( Douvere and Ehler, 2010 ; Stelzenmüller et al, 2015 . ; EU, 2014 ; Aps et al, 2018 ).…”

Delimitação Dos Índices De Fragilidade Ambiental Do Município De São Lourenço Do Sul/Rs: Subsídio Para O Planejamento E Gestão Ambiental

“…Devido aos impactos negativos que as atividades antrópicas causam no ambiente natural, torna-se importante que sejam analisados de forma integrada os diferentes elementos A fragilidade ambiental é também chamada de vulnerabilidade ambiental em diferentes abordagens ambientais (APS et al, 2018;SAHOO;DHAR;KAR, 2016;ZHAO et al, 2018).…”