What is it about?
This paper identifies four critical issues that are likely to hamper achieving good environmental status (as required by the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive) in the Northeast Atlantic. These issues are: system variability, cumulative effects, ecosystem resilience and conflicting policy targets.
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Why is it important?
The European Union requires member states to apply an ecosystem approach to management of human activities in the marine environment, with an aim to achieve good environmental status by 2020. However, we live in a complex social-ecological system which influences the extent to which this can be achieved. If we understand some of the critical issues, then we can attempt to overcome them and thus move towards achievement of this goal.
Perspectives
This paper arose from a final collaborative workshop as part of the EU KnowSeas project (http://www.msfd.eu/) which ended in 2013. The study involved authors from a variety of disciplines (from the social and ecological sciences), who came together to offer a multidisciplinary perspective on the topic of good environmental status in the Northeast Atlantic. This was my first experience of working with such a diverse group of people, using the soft-systems approach to develop a conceptual model, and the DPSWR framework. I believe that this approach brought together 3 components, which combined provide a useful mechanism for investigating issues of marine management in a different, but ultimately useful, light.
Dr Karen A Alexander
University of Tasmania
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Challenges of achieving Good Environmental Status in the Northeast Atlantic, Ecology and Society, January 2015, Resilience Alliance, Inc.,
DOI: 10.5751/es-07394-200149.
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