The Arctic is undergoing unprecedented change. Observations and models demonstrate significant perturbations to the physical and biological systems. Arctic species and ecosystems, particularly in the marine environment, are subject to a wide range of pressures from human activities, including exposure to a complex mixture of pollutants, climate change and fishing activity. These pressures affect the ecosystem services that the Arctic provides. Current international policies are attempting to support sustainable exploitation of Arctic resources with a view to balancing human wellbeing and environmental protection. However, assessments of the potential combined impacts of human activities are limited by data, particularly related to pollutants, a limited understanding of physical and biological processes, and single policies that are limited to ecosystem-level actions. This manuscript considers how, when combined, a suite of existing tools can be used to assess the impacts of pollutants in combination with other anthropogenic pressures on Arctic ecosystems, and on the services that these ecosystems provide. Recommendations are made for the advancement of targeted Arctic research to inform environmental practices and regulatory decisions.
In recent decades, a concerted effort has been made to define methodologies and frameworks to account for the contribution of the natural environment to national wealth and its role in fulfilling societal and economic needs. The linkages between natural capital and human well-being are even stronger in low-income and vulnerable countries, such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). This is particularly true for coastal and marine ecosystems and for SIDS, considering that a large portion of their population live along the coast. Therefore, SIDS would greatly benefit from systematically assessing and recording the condition and services provided by marine and coastal habitats in ecosystem accounts. Applications of accounting frameworks to marine and coastal habitats, however, are still under development. Through a case study in the Caribbean Island of Grenada, we explore SIDS readiness to develop marine and coastal natural capital accounts, in particular framed within the guidelines of the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA). We find that, while data to compile accounts of ecosystems extent exist and may be suitable for accounting, data related to ecosystem condition are very limited. Data gaps significantly constrained the potential approaches to estimate the ecosystem services supply provided by the coastal and marine environment in our natural capital accounts for Grenada. Our case study investigation brings us to suggest initial steps for the development of ecosystem accounts in SIDS, including potential methodologies and approaches and discuss how developing a set of coherent accounts can play a key role in incorporating nature into decision-making.
The designation of large scale marine protected areas (MPAs) has increased in recent years to address global issues such as biodiversity loss and the conservation of vulnerable marine habitats. While designing a large scale MPAs in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Ascension Island, the monitoring and enforcement costs were estimated for the two options under consideration: partial closure or full closure of the EEZ for the international commercial fleet. It was found that number of licenses to be sold to the international fleet to allow them access to the EEZ of Ascension Island would need to be increased to fund the monitoring and enforcement cost in case of a partial closure of the EEZ of Ascension Island. In this study, the future economic viability of the licensed big eye tuna fishery was addressed. The study explored economic drivers thought to be linked to license sales. It was shown that cost of licenses had not caused the observed decline in license sales but a shift in consumer demand toward lighter tuna species resulted in a decrease in Japanese imports for bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). This change in demand led to global changes in fishing effort and a drop in demand for licenses to fish within the Ascension Island EEZ. This study provided a valuable insight into the economic viability of the bigeye tuna fishery within the Ascension Island EEZ which informed the subsequent decision to close the bigeye tuna fishery as part of the designation of an Ascension Island highly protected large-scale MPA.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.