The Baltic Health Index (BHI): Assessing the social–ecological status of the Baltic Sea

People and Nature

article

Thorsten Blenckner¹  Christian Möllmann²  Julia Stewart Lowndes³  Jennifer R. Griffiths¹  Eleanore Campbell¹  Andrea De Cervo¹  Andrea Belgrano⁵  Christoffer Boström⁷  Vivi Fleming⁸  Melanie Frazier³  Stefan Neuenfeldt⁹  Susa Niiranen¹  Annika Nilsson^1,10  Henn Ojaveer⁹  Jens Olsson^1,12  Christine S. Palmlöv^1,13  Martin Quaas^1,14  Wilfried Rickels^1,15  Anna Sobek^1,13  Markku Viitasalo⁸  Sofia A. Wikström^1,16  Benjamin S. Halpern³ 

[1] Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University;Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg;National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California;Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife;Institute of Marine Research, Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences;Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment (SIME), University of Gothenburg;Åbo Akademi University;Finnish Environment Institute SYKE;National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark;Faculty of Law, Uppsala University;Pärnu College, University of Tartu;Institute of Coastal Research, Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences;Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University;German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig;Kiel Institute for the World Economy;Baltic Sea Centre, Stockholm University;Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California

关键词: ecosystem-based management;    health;    management targets;    social–ecological system;    sustainability;   

DOI  :  10.1002/pan3.10178

学科分类：护理学

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Improving the health of coastal and open sea marine ecosystems represents a substantial challenge for sustainable marine resource management, since it requires balancing human benefits and impacts on the ocean. This challenge is often exacerbated by incomplete knowledge and lack of tools that measure ocean and coastal ecosystem health in a way that allows consistent monitoring of progress towards predefined management targets. The lack of such tools often limits capabilities to enact and enforce effective governance. We introduce the Baltic Health Index (BHI) as a transparent, collaborative and repeatable assessment tool. The Index complements existing, more ecological-oriented, approaches by including a human dimension on the status of the Baltic Sea, an ecosystem impacted by multiple anthropogenic pressures and governed by a multitude of comprehensive national and international policies. Using a large amount of social–ecological data available, we assessed the health of the Baltic Sea for nine goals that represent the status towards set targets, for example, clean waters, biodiversity, food provision, natural products extraction and tourism. Our results indicate that the overall health of the Baltic Sea is suboptimal (a score of 76 out of 100), and a substantial effort is required to reach the management objectives and associated targets. Subregionally, the lowest BHI scores were measured for carbon storage, contaminants and lasting special places (i.e. marine protected areas), albeit with large spatial variation. Overall, the likely future status of all goals in the BHI averaged for the entire Baltic Sea is better than the present status, indicating a positive trend towards a healthier Baltic Sea. However, in some Baltic Sea basins, the trend for specific goals was decreasing, highlighting locations and issues that should be the focus of management priorities. The BHI outcomes can be used to identify both pan-Baltic and subregional scale management priorities and to illustrate the interconnectedness between goals linked by cumulative pressures. Hence, the information provided by the BHI tool and its further development will contribute towards the fulfilment of the UN Agenda 2030 and its Sustainability Development Goals. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

【 授权许可】

CC BY