New Partnership Needed to Ensure Future of Marine Environment: The New UNEP Guide to Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM)

In the context of the World Ocean Day 2011, UNEP produced, on 8 June 2011, a new important publication on the issue of ecosystem-based management (EBM), entitled Taking Steps Toward Marine and Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management: An Introductory Guide.

With this Guide, UNEP seeks to assist countries and communities to take steps towards making  marine and coastal ecosystem-based  management operational – from strategic planning to on-site implementation. The guide offers a comprehensive overview of the core elements of EBM and its main phases, including visioning, planning and implementation. Drawing upon worldwide practical experience and lessons, ranging from tropical ecosystems and polar ocean ecosystems to marine protected areas, such as that of California in the U.S, the publication offers guidance to marine managers towards achieving long-term sustainability, from initial planning of how to deal with environmental degradation to on-site implementation of action plans. The target audience of the Guide includes planners and decision-makers in local, national and regional governments as well as communities across a broad spectrum of interests and uses.

The new UNEP guide draws attention to the fact that the unprecedented degradation and decline in marine and coastal ecosystems, as a result of overfishing, pollution, coastal development, and the climate change impacts, necessitate the need for the adoption, by the relevant communities and stakeholders, of an integrated approach to the management of the coastal and marine environment and the development of a close partnership and cooperation between different marine users and maritime sectors, including the tourism, energy, shipping industry, fishing communities, and conservationists.

“The future role of marine and coastal ecosystems in human well-being depends increasingly on developing the capacity of countries to manage human uses and impacts in order to ensure that ecosystem health and self-repairing capacity is not undermined”, said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

“Central to a transformational response to decades of overfishing, pollution and unplanned urban development will be moving from sectoral marine and coastal management to a joined approach that marries seemingly competing interests”, added Mr. Steiner.

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) as a holistic, integrated approach that looks at marine and coastal ecosystems as units with many ecological and social links, can contribute significantly to the protection and sustainable development of marine and coastal environments. The new publication points out that best practices, synergies, and sharing knowledge across different sectors could make communites more resilient to environmental change and lay the groundwork for an effective marine management and equitable sharing of ocean marine resources. This could involve, for example, planning of marine protected areas in direct dialogue with other sectors like fisheries and off-shore energy exploration. In turn, this can provide for broad-scale healthy oceans rather than isolated ‘pockets of biodiversity’.

The new UNEP guide also highlights that cross boundary cooperation and working with neighbours and even countries far away will be also needed for EBM to be effectively planned and implemented. The UNEP Regional Seas Programme is uniquely placed to assist, while also acting as a forum for practical engagement with other regional and international organizations, such as regional fishery management organizations, initiatives of the International Maritime Organization, and other relevant bodies. It can provide a basis for creating common agendas and building an EBM approach to sustainable marine development.