Keywords
ecosystem services modelling, integrated assessment platform, user conflict, integrated coastal zone management, freshwater management
Start Date
1-7-2010 12:00 AM
Abstract
Integrated coastal zone management is an emerging governance practice which aims at combining environmental preservation, economic development and social concerns in the context of complex ecosystem dynamics and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Coastal managers need socio-environmental integrated models in order to investigate the consequences of policy options which apply to different sectors simultaneously and pursue multiple objectives. The ecosystem services concept is equivalent for natural and social sciences; it offers a framework for a better understanding of users’ conflicts regarding natural resources and the environment. This paper presents a model-based assessment of the ecosystem services supplied by freshwater in the coastal zone, under various local management options. The model is built through a participatory experiment which has been carried out in a coastal area of the Atlantic side of France, called “Pertuis Charentais”, according to the methodology developed by the European project SPICOSA (Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment). The modelled socio-ecosystem is centred on the Charente river catchment. The stakeholders chose the allocation of freshwater as the core issue for integrated coastal zone management. They considered that freshwater provides mainly “support services” for natural habitats and shellfish farming and “provisioning services” for households and agriculture. The model is intended to produce a wide range of indicators for the integrated assessment of these ecosystem services. The model is used to support the deliberative process engaged with local managers in order to explore new rules for water allocation, their consequences on ecosystem services and their meanings in terms of conflict mitigation. For that purpose, the model will also allow for an economic assessment based on two methods (productivity losses and remediation costs).
Using ecosystem services modelling to explore conflict mitigation in the coastal zone
Integrated coastal zone management is an emerging governance practice which aims at combining environmental preservation, economic development and social concerns in the context of complex ecosystem dynamics and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Coastal managers need socio-environmental integrated models in order to investigate the consequences of policy options which apply to different sectors simultaneously and pursue multiple objectives. The ecosystem services concept is equivalent for natural and social sciences; it offers a framework for a better understanding of users’ conflicts regarding natural resources and the environment. This paper presents a model-based assessment of the ecosystem services supplied by freshwater in the coastal zone, under various local management options. The model is built through a participatory experiment which has been carried out in a coastal area of the Atlantic side of France, called “Pertuis Charentais”, according to the methodology developed by the European project SPICOSA (Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment). The modelled socio-ecosystem is centred on the Charente river catchment. The stakeholders chose the allocation of freshwater as the core issue for integrated coastal zone management. They considered that freshwater provides mainly “support services” for natural habitats and shellfish farming and “provisioning services” for households and agriculture. The model is intended to produce a wide range of indicators for the integrated assessment of these ecosystem services. The model is used to support the deliberative process engaged with local managers in order to explore new rules for water allocation, their consequences on ecosystem services and their meanings in terms of conflict mitigation. For that purpose, the model will also allow for an economic assessment based on two methods (productivity losses and remediation costs).
