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Editorial overview: The potential of ecosystem-based management to integrate biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision in aquatic ecosystems

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Global aquatic biodiversity keeps declining rapidly, despite international efforts providing a variety of policies and legislations that identify goals for, and give directions to protecting the world's aquatic fauna and flora. With the H2020 project AQUACROSS, we have made an unprecedented effort to unify policy strategies, knowledge, and management concepts of freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems to support the achievement of the targets set by the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. AQUACROSS has embraced the concept of ecosystembasedmanagement (EBM), which approaches environmentalmanagement from a social-ecological system perspective to protect biodiversity and to sustainably harvest ecosystem services. This special issue includes contributions resulting from AQUACROSS,which either tackle selected EBMchallenges froma theoretical point of view or apply EBM in one of the selected case studies across Europe. In this article, we introduce relevant topics, address the most important lessons learnt, and suggest where research should go with aquatic EBM. We hope that this special issue will foster and facilitate the uptake of EBM in aquatic ecosystems and, therewith, provide the on-ground applications needed for evaluating EBM's utility to safeguard aquatic biodiversity.
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Editorial
The potential of ecosystem-based management to integrate biodiversity
conservation and ecosystem service provision in aquatic ecosystems
Simone D. Langhans
a,b,c
, Sonja C. Jähnig
c
, Manuel Lago
d
, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber
e
,ThomasHein
e,f,
University of Otago, Department of Zoology, 340 Great King Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), 48940 Leioa, Spain
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany
Ecologic Institute, Pfalzburger Str. 43/44, D-10717 Berlin, Germany
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, Gregor Mendel Strasse 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria
WasserCluster Lunz, WG Biger, Dr. Carl Kupelwieser Promenade 5, A 3293 Lunz am See, Austria
abstractarticle info
Available online 03 April 2019 Global aquatic biodiversity keeps declining rapidly, despite international efforts providing a variety of policies
and legislations that identify goals for, and give directions to protecting the world's aquatic fauna and ora.
With the H2020 project AQUACROSS, we have made an unprecedented effort to unify policy strategies, knowl-
edge, and management concepts of freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems to support the achievement of
the targets set by the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. AQUACROSS has embraced the concept of ecosystem-
based management (EBM), which approaches environmental management from a social-ecological system per-
spective to protect biodiversity and to sustainably harvest ecosystem services. This special issue includes contri-
butions resulting fromAQUACROSS, which either tackle selected EBM challenges from a theoreticalpoint of view
or apply EBM in one of the selected case studies across Europe. In this article, we introduce relevant topics, ad-
dress the most important lessons learnt, and suggest where research should go with aquatic EBM. We hope
that this special issue will foster and facilitate the uptake of EBM in aquatic ecosystems and, therewith, provide
the on-ground applications needed for evaluating EBM's utility to safeguard aquatic biodiversity.
© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords:
Aquatic ecosystems
Ecosystem-based management
Nature's contributions to people
Policy making
Resilience
Social-ecological system
Spatial planning
1. Introduction
Aquatic ecosystems including freshwater, coastal and marine envi-
ronments are rich in biodiversity, providing a diverse array of habitats
to species while delivering numerous economic benets to society
(Bennett et al., 2015). Many of these valuable ecosystems are at risk of
being irreversibly damaged by human activities and pressures, includ-
ing pollution, watershed disturbance, water resource development
(sensu Vörösmarty et al., 2010) or invasive species, overshing, and cli-
mate change (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
2014). These pressures threaten the sustainability of the ecosystems,
their provision of ecosystem services (ESs) and ultimately human
well-being (Vörösmarty et al., 2010). So far, existing EU policies have
been unable to halt or even reverse the trend of declining aquatic biodi-
versity (Voulvoulis et al., 2017). In Europe, the current broad policy
landscape, such as the EU Water Framework Directive (Council of the
European Communities, 2000), the Marine Strategy Framework Direc-
tive (Council of the European Communties, 2008), the Habitats Direc-
tive (Council of the European Communities, 1992) or the Renewable
Energy Directive (Council of the European Communities, 2009)among
others, implies that sustainable management solutions require coordi-
nation and cooperation between different policy areas tacklingfreshwa-
ter, coastal, and marine ecosystems. In addition, innovative business
solutions and public-private engagement are needed to consider and
manage aquatic ecosystems as truly social-ecological systems
(Virapongse et al., 2016).
2. What is ecosystem-based management?
To support long-term sustainable management in aquatic ecosys-
tems, strong policy integration in terms of objectives, knowledge base,
Science of the Total Environment 672 (2019) 10171020
Corresponding author at: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna,
Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, Gregor Mendel Strasse
33, 1180 Vienna, Austria.
E-mail address: thomas.hein@boku.ac.at (T. Hein).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.025
0048-9697/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Science of the Total Environment
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv
methods and tools, as well as engagement and knowledge exchange, is
essential. The integrative nature of ecosystem-based management
(EBM) shows in theory a lot of promise for supporting all of the
above. Ultimately, EBM is a collaborative management approach used
with the intention to restore, enhance and protect the resilience of an
ecosystem so as to sustain or improve ESs and protect biodiversity,
while considering nature and society, i.e. the full social-ecological sys-
tem (Gómez et al., 2016a;Gómez et al., 2016b;Langhans et al., 2019).
Hence, EBM treats human society as one of the essential elements that
constitute an ecosystem, making use of different concepts such as inte-
grated ecosystem assessments, marine spatial planning, resilience
thinking, and complex adaptive systems (Table 1).
3. Ecosystem-based management in the AQUACROSS project
With this special issue we advance and, therewith, foster the under-
standing and application of EBM in aquatic ecosystems by showcasing
selected results of AQUACROSS an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project
(Lago et al., 2019). Finished in November 2018, AQUACROSS aimed to
support EU efforts to enhance th e resilience of aquatic ecosystems, man-
aged as a continuum, and to stop the loss of aquatic biodiversity in line
with the EU2020 Biodiversity Strategy as well as to ensure the ongoing
provision of ESs. Hence, AQUACROSS provided the perfect opportunity
to advance the knowledge base and demonstrate practical applications
of the EBM concept across a range of European case studies. One part of
AQUACROSS was the development of a common and free of charge
open-access online platform the AQUACROSS Information Platform
(http://dataportal.aquacross.eu/)to disseminate research and innova-
tion results. On one hand, this platform acted as a publishing tool for
project partners focusing on the AQUACROSS case studies. On the
other hand, it is now a central access point for data on different types
of aquatic ecosystems, biodiversity, and EBM practices addressed to
the entire scientic community, stakeholders, and policy makers. Sup-
ported by the Information Platform, we believe that AQUACROSS
made an unprecedented effort to unify policy strategies, knowledge,
and management concepts of freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosys-
tems to support the cost-effective achievement of the targets set by
the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (European Commission, 2011).
4. Roadmap to the special issue
ThespecialissueopenswithLago et al. (2019),whodescribetheaims
and approaches of AQUACROSS, its conceptual framework and case stud-
iesacrossEurope(Fig. 1). Gómez et al. (2016b) introduce an integrated
assessment framework (further called the AQUACROSS assessment
framework) to help operationalise the aims of AQUACROSS. The assess-
ment framework is based on the water-biodiversity-nexus as the corner-
stone to coordinate sectoral policies for sustainabl e land use, the provision
of ESs, and biodiversity conservation. Core elements of the AQUACROSS
assessment framework include i) harmonising and streamlining environ-
mental policies within the context of biodiversity conservation strategies,
ii) coordinating policies in different ecosystems (freshwater, marine,
coastal) where different legislation applies, iii) amalgamating the relevant
analytical approaches for the assessment of aquatic ecosystems and iv)
addressing social-ecological systems in a truly holistic way.
A suite of studies identies individual challenges associated with the
operationalisation of the AQUACROSS assessment framework and pro-
pose ways forward. O'Higgins et al. (2019) choose the Ria de Aveiro
case study in Portugal to demonstrate a methodology to characterise
supply and demand for ESs. This is done on the basis of spatial proper-
ties and interdependencies between the lagoon and locations outside
of the management area, and economic properties. Culhane et al.
(2019) use insights from the case studies to explore aggregated impact
risks from human activities on ES supply components across a range of
aquatic ecosystems, including lakes, rivers, inlets, and coastal realms.
Daam et al. (2019) analyse the causal links between aquatic biodiversity
and ecosystem functioning. Teixeira et al. (2019) identify linkages on
the supply-side of the social-ecological system, i.e. from biodiversity to
ES supply, for all of the case studies. Borgwardt et al. (2019) link
human activities through pressures to different ecosystem components
in fresh-, coastal and marine waters, to identify the risk by each impact
Table 1
EBM components relevant for the protection of aquatic biodiversity, explanations of the
components and examples of how they were considered in individual studies of this spe-
cial issue.
EBM component Explanations of EBM
component
AQUACROSS examples
1) EBM considers
ecological integrity,
biodiversity,
resilience and ESs
- Joint evaluation of
multiple ESs
- Protection of ecosystem
integrity as a means to
preserve ESs and
biodiversity
- Focus on multiple
benets or environmental
services
Consideration of multiple
ESs to select protected area
sites that deliver broader
benets than just
biodiversity protection
(Barbosa et al., 2019) and
social equity (Domisch
et al., 2019)
2) EBM is carried out at
appropriate spatial
scales
- Consideration of
ecosystems rather than
jurisdictional boundaries
- Can require
transboundary
cooperation
Selection of sites for
efcient and effective river
restoration based on a
multi-national catchment
rather than at the national
level, to reach better
biodiversity outcomes at
lower costs (Funk et al.,
2019)
3) EBM develops and
uses
multi-disciplinary
knowledge
- Understanding of the
ecological and social
systems to be managed
- Drawing on local &
traditional knowledge
Combination of a
semi-quantitative
description of the
social-ecological system
with stakeholder input to
identify drivers and
pressures to be managed
(Piet et al., 2019)orto
meet societal goals (Lillebø
et al., 2019;
Martínez-López et al.,
2019a); using spatial
ecological and economic
data to map the most
cost-effective location to
meet biodiversity goals
(Barbosa et al., 2019,
Domisch et al., 2019,
Kuemmerlen et al., 2019)
4) EBM builds on
social-ecological
interactions,
stakeholder
participation, and
transparency
- Balance of ecological and
social concerns
- Prominence to
transparent and inclusive
decision making
- Power to collective
action by building
consensus on a shared
vision for the future
Development of
semi-quantitative models
with stakeholder input,
increasing scientic
knowledge and building
stakeholder understanding
and consensus (Lillebø
et al., 2019;Robinson
et al., 2019)
5) EBM supports policy
coordination
- Creation of new
opportunities of pursuing
different policy objectives
simultaneously by
breaking silos
Targeting river,
transitional estuary, and
coastal area objectives
therewith aligning
biodiversity and Water
Framework Directive
indicator monitoring and
evaluation (Lillebø et al.,
2019)
6) EBM incorporates
adaptive
management
- Ability to respond to a
range of possible futures
- Weighting short-term
actions against long-term
benets of alternative
actions
Development of scenarios
that incorporate
projections of population
and economic growth to
include them in
management planning to
make better informed
decisions (Kuemmerlen
et al., 2019,Piet et al.,
2019)
1018 Editorial
chain, providing a more integrated view on different aquatic ecosys-
tems. Martínez-López et al. (2019b) develop ve ES models that can
be applied to any place in the world without user input, while giving
the option to customise the models with context-specic data.
Domisch et al. (2019) analyse potential management plans for the Dan-
ube River basin that spatially optimise areas for conservation and ESs
delivery, while accounting for social equity. Piet et al., (2017) introduce
a cyclical adaptive EBM approach, each cycle consisting of four phases:
i) the identication of the relevant societal goals, ii) establishing the
knowledge base and identifying the main threats to the achievement
of the societal goals, iii) EBM planning, and iv) EBM implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation.
Seven manuscripts describe specic applications of the AQUACROSS
assessment framework and EBM measures in selected case studies. Piet
et al. (2019) provide guidance for (more)EBM in the North Sea based on
an evaluation of the effectiveness of specic management measures in
contributing to the conservation of marine biodiversity, while consider-
ing a range of societal goals such as sustainable food supply or clean en-
ergy. Barbosa et al. (2019) propose a spatial design for a Green and Blue
Infrastructure network and the implementation of EBM measures in
freshwater, coastal, and marine realms in a transboundary setting,
namely the Intercontinental Biosphere Reserve of the Mediterranean
in Andalusia and Morocco. Funk et al. (2019) prioritise river-
oodplain segments for conservation and restoration along the whole
Danube River, based on the multi-functionality of these segments re-
garding biodiversity and selected ESs, the availability of remaining
semi-natural areas, and the reversibility of multiple human activities in-
cluding ood protection, hydropower, and navigation. Robinson et al.
(2019) explore the dependencies and interactions in the Lough Erne
catchment in Northern Ireland with a social-ecological system ap-
proach, focusing on exploring how individual stakeholders perceived
the goals to be affected by both biodiversity and activities found in the
catchment. Lillebø et al. (2019) develop a collaborative EBM plan to-
gether with different stakeholder groupsin the Ria de Aveiro coastal ter-
ritory in Portugal using a spatial multi-criteria analysis approach aiming
to mitigate foreseen changes connected to human activities and poten-
tial conicts. Martínez-López et al. (2019a) focus on the same area to
nd optimal management actions to compensate for the predicted
loss of biodiversity due to the oodbank extension in the Baixo Vouga
Lagunar. Finally, Kuemmerlen et al. (2019) present a strategy based
on decision support methods that aggregates reach-scale ecological as-
sessments to describe the ecological state of entire catchments. They
test the approach for selected sub-catchments in the Swiss Plateau
and recommend a set of spatial criteria, which represent ecological pro-
cesses orconcepts such as migration, resilienceand habitat diversity in a
spatially explicit way.
5. Lessons learnt
EBM embraces six broader components (Table 1), reaching far beyond
traditional management approaches. Equipped with these six compo-
nents, EBM should be able to tackle pressing current and future environ-
mental challenges. Indeed, the case studies described in this special issue
exemplify individual components, i.e. the strengths of EBM (Table 1,col-
umn 3). In summary the case study applications show that EBM is practi-
cally doable and can be used to design more effective, efcient, and
equitable management measures and policies for protecting biodiversity.
The holistic management perspective, which is taken in EBM, allows
trade-offs between ESs to be considered and takes several societal goals
into account. EBM approaches promote the most efcient allocation of -
nancial resources, while contributing to the sustainability of the whole
social-ecological system. Hence, we conclude that this comprehensive ap-
proach has the potential to unveil win-win situations.
There are also strengths from a practitioner's perspective: EBM sup-
ports the integration of objectives and policy coordination, develops and
uses quantitative, qualitative and spatial science, places stakeholders at
the center of biodiversity management, recognises beneciaries beyond
biodiversity for its own sake, considers long-term and transboundary im-
pacts, as well as prioritises evaluation and ongoing adaptive management.
6.Wheretogofromhere?
To facilitate EBM implementation in aquatic systems and across differ-
ent realms, four key challenges need particular attention: 1) Successful
EBM requires well-dened, long-term monitoring and evaluation pro-
cesses, considering time and costs, and relying on consistency in gover-
nance. This is, however, not unique to EBM, but a prerequisite for any
adaptive management process. 2) EBM is not revolutionary, but is likely
Fig. 1. Roadmap to the papers of this special issue. Manuscripts labelled with an asterisk* are deliverables of the project AQUACROSS.
1019Editorial
benecial in most circumstances providing innovative solutions sup-
ported by stakeholders. The conditions under which an EBM process
will yield superior results need to be identied. 3) EBM can appear dif-
cult to practitioners and stakeholders and, therefore, they may hesitate
to use the concept. Hence, EBM applications always need a fair amount
of time to be dedicated to communication and discussions. 4) Tackling
transboundary issues, e.g. across geographic boundaries or legislative
landscapes is supported by EBM, but certainly remains challenging in
practice.
Besides these challenges, integrating biodiversity protection into
sectoral policy agendas and communicating the complex issue of biodi-
versity to different stakeholders generally needs more attention. Fur-
thermore, research has to make an effort to better understand the
links between biodiversity, ecosystemsand ESs, to further develop prac-
tical models capturing the social-ecological system to support effective
decision making across scales, and to support the transition from EBM
as an academic concept to actually implement it on ground. We believe
that EBM shows great potential for managing aquatic systems in a sus-
tainable way, if future research and practical development is able to
meet the remaining challenges.
Acknowledgements
We thank all the authors for theircontributions,the many colleagues
for reviewing manuscripts, and Damian Barcélo and Elena Paoletti for
editing the VSI. This work was funded by theEuropean Union's 2020 Re-
search and Innovation Programme under the grant agreement No.
642317. SDL has received additional funding from the European Union's
Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie
Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 748625. SCJ acknowledges
funding for the GLANCEproject (Global Change Effects in River Eco-
systems; 01 LN1320A) through the German Federal Ministry of Educa-
tion and Research (BMBF).
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1020 Editorial
... To mitigate the ecological harm caused by hydropeaking, the deployment of buffer reservoirs has emerged as a viable solution. The primary objective of buffer reservoirs is to regulate downstream flow rates in a stable manner by temporarily storing or releasing water (Langhans et al., 2019). However, managing these buffer reservoirs is a formidable task due to the presence of stringent operational regulations and inherent uncertainties. ...
... The ES concept helps to bridge social and natural dimensions by describing the various benefits humans obtain from ecosystems. An ecosystem-based management through enhancing the ES provision has therefore become a popular paradigm for environmental management (Langhans et al., 2019). It has already been partly adopted in a few policies (e.g. the EU Biodiversity strategy) and continues to gain significance (Bouwma et al., 2018) but still struggles to address the challenges faced by complex systems, including floodplains (Erős et al., 2019). ...
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Floodplains provide an extraordinary quantity and quality of ecosystem services (ES) but are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. The uses and transformations of floodplains differ widely within and between regions. In recent decades, the diverse pressures and requirements for flood protection, drinking water resource protection, biodiversity, and adaptation to climate change have shown that multi-functional floodplain management is necessary. Such an integrative approach has been hampered by the various interests of different sectors of society, as represented by multiple stakeholders and legal principles. We present an innovative framework for integrated floodplain management building up on ES multi-functionality and stakeholder involvement, forming a scientifically based decision-support to prioritize adaptive management measures responding at the basin and local scales. To demonstrate its potential and limitations, we applied this cross-scaled approach in the world's most international and culturally diverse basin, the Danube River Basin in Europe. We conducted large-scale evaluations of anthropogenic pressures and ES capacities on the one hand and participatory modelling of the local socio-ecohydrological systems on the other hand. Based on our assessments of 14 ES and 8 pressures, we recommend conservation measures along the lower and middle Danube, restoration measures along the upper-middle Danube and Sava, and mitigation measures in wide parts of the Yantra, Tisza and upper Danube rivers. In three case study areas across the basin, stakeholder perceptions were generally in line with the large-scale evaluations on ES and pressures. The positive outcomes of jointly modelled local measures and large-scale synergistic ES relationships suggest that multi-functionality can be enhanced across scales. Trade-offs were mainly present with terrestrial provisioning ES at the basin scale and locally with recreational activities. Utilizing the commonalities between top-down prioritizations and bottom-up participatory approaches and learning from their discrepancies could make ecosystem-based management more effective and inclusive.
... Pengelolaan berbasis ekosistem adalah pendekatan manajemen kolaboratif bertujuan untuk memulihkan, meningkatkan dan melindungi ketahanan ekositem atau meningkatkan jasa ekosistem serta melindungi keanekaragaman hayati, sembari mempertimbangkan alam dan masyarakat. Pengelolaan yang dilakukan mendukung integrasi tujuan dan koordinasi kebijakan, mengembangkan dan menggunakan secara kuantitatif, kualitatif dan spasial (Langhans et al., 2019). ...
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The Kendeng mountains, stretching from several regions in Central Java to East Java, have the potential for abundant limestone and groundwater resources. This poses a problem when the government and investors seek to exploit these resources for commercial purposes, while local communities and influential academics choose it as a conservation site. Based on the Governor of Central Java's Decree Number 660.1/17 of 2012 regarding the Environmental Permit for Mining Activities by PT. Semen Gresik (Persero) Tbk, which has been renamed PT. Semen Indonesia since 2012, they have been conducting mining activities in the Kendeng Mountains region. Subsequently, both the local community and environmental organizations have filed lawsuits concerning the feared deterioration of groundwater quality. This research aims to describe the conflicts arising from the rejection of the cement factory construction in Kendeng by conducting a descriptive analysis with data collection techniques from literature studies and content analysis of mass media. Karl Marx's conflict theory is employed to analyze the focus of this research. The conclusion drawn is that despite various legal efforts to address the rejection of the factory construction, in practice, decisions on construction and environmental permits for mining activities are still within the jurisdiction of local authorities.
... Manajemen lingkungan mencakup perencanaan, pengelolaan, dan pengendalian berbagai aspek lingkungan yang terkait dengan kegiatan pariwisata di desa wisata. Hal ini meliputi pengelolaan air, pengelolaan limbah, pemeliharaan keanekaragaman hayati, dan pemulihan ekosistem [7]. Dalam konteks pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan, manajemen lingkungan juga mencakup pengelolaan infrastruktur energi terbarukan, pemantauan dampak lingkungan, serta kebijakan dan regulasi yang mendukung praktik berkelanjutan [8]. ...
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This study examines the crucial role of sustainable behavior in environmental management for the development of renewable energy-based tourism villages. Sustainable behavior is of utmost importance in creating economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable tourism villages. The aim of this research is to integrate the concepts of sustainable behavior, environmental management, and renewable energy-based tourism village development. The research method employed is a literature review, focusing on relevant scholarly articles published in English or Indonesian after 2018. The findings indicate that sustainable behavior plays a significant role in environmental management within tourism villages, through the sustainable management of natural resources and the implementation of practices that support sustainability. The utilization of renewable energy sources in tourism village development also has positive impacts on the environment. By adopting sustainable behavior, renewable energy-based tourism villages have the potential to serve as inspiring examples in sustainable tourism development that prioritizes environmental preservation and the well-being of local communities. Furthermore, further actions are needed, including educational programs, stakeholder partnerships, the use of sustainable infrastructure, and the empowerment of local communities within the context of renewable energy-based tourism village development. Abstrak-Penelitian ini membahas peran penting perilaku berkelanjutan dalam manajemen lingkungan untuk pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan. Perilaku berkelanjutan memiliki urgensi yang tinggi dalam menciptakan desa wisata yang berkelanjutan secara ekonomi, sosial, dan lingkungan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengintegrasikan konsep perilaku berkelanjutan, manajemen lingkungan, dan pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi literatur dengan mengacu pada artikel ilmiah yang relevan, yang diterbitkan setelah tahun 2018 dan berbahasa Inggris maupun bahasa Indonesia. Hasil pembahasan menunjukkan bahwa perilaku berkelanjutan memiliki peran penting dalam manajemen lingkungan di desa wisata, melalui pengelolaan sumber daya alam yang berkelanjutan dan penerapan praktik yang mendukung keberlanjutan. Pemanfaatan sumber energi terbarukan dalam pengembangan desa wisata juga memberikan dampak positif terhadap lingkungan. Dengan adopsi perilaku berkelanjutan, desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan memiliki potensi untuk menjadi contoh inspiratif dalam pengembangan pariwisata yang berkelanjutan, yang memperhatikan kelestarian lingkungan serta kesejahteraan masyarakat lokal. Selanjutnya, diperlukan tindakan lanjutan seperti program edukasi, kemitraan antar pemangku kepentingan, penggunaan infrastruktur berkelanjutan, dan pemberdayaan masyarakat lokal dalam konteks pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan. Kata Kunci-perilaku berkelanjutan, manajemen lingkungan, desa wisata, energi terbarukan PENDAHULUAN Pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan memainkan peran penting dalam mencapai tujuan pembangunan berkelanjutan. Desa wisata, yang secara umum diartikan sebagai integrasi dari atraksi, akomodasi, dan fasilitas pendukung dalam struktur kehidupan masyarakat yang terintegrasi dengan tradisi dan prosedur yang berlaku, mencakup aspek ekonomi, sosial, budaya, dan lingkungan [1] [2]. Dalam konteks pembangunan berkelanjutan, desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan menawarkan peluang untuk memadukan pemanfaatan sumber daya alam yang berkelanjutan dengan pengembangan pariwisata yang bertanggung jawab. Dengan mengintegrasikan energi terbarukan, seperti energi surya dan energi angin, dalam infrastruktur desa wisata, kita dapat mengurangi ketergantungan pada sumber energi fosil yang terbatas dan mengurangi emisi gas rumah kaca, sejalan dengan upaya mitigasi perubahan iklim global [3]. Selain itu, pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan juga dapat memberikan manfaat ekonomi dan sosial, termasuk penciptaan lapangan kerja baru, peningkatan pendapatan masyarakat lokal, dan pelestarian lingkungan yang berkelanjutan [4]. Dengan demikian, integrasi antara konsep desa wisata dan energi terbarukan menciptakan sinergi yang kuat antara pengembangan pariwisata dan tujuan pembangunan berkelanjutan. Perilaku berkelanjutan mencakup serangkaian tindakan dan keputusan yang diambil oleh individu, komunitas, dan organisasi untuk meminimalkan dampak negatif terhadap lingkungan dan mempromosikan penggunaan sumber daya secara bertanggung jawab [5]. Dalam konteks pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan, perilaku berkelanjutan melibatkan adopsi praktek-praktek ramah lingkungan, seperti penggunaan energi terbarukan, pengelolaan limbah yang baik, konservasi sumber daya alam, dan pemulihan ekosistem yang terdegradasi [6]. Pendekatan ini memastikan bahwa pengembangan desa wisata tidak hanya berfokus pada aspek ekonomi dan pariwisata, tetapi juga mempertimbangkan dampaknya terhadap lingkungan. Selain itu, manajemen lingkungan memainkan peran kunci dalam pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi terbarukan. Manajemen lingkungan mencakup perencanaan, pengelolaan, dan pengendalian berbagai aspek lingkungan yang terkait dengan kegiatan pariwisata di desa wisata. Hal ini meliputi pengelolaan air, pengelolaan limbah, pemeliharaan keanekaragaman hayati, dan pemulihan ekosistem [7]. Dalam konteks pengembangan desa wisata berbasis energi
... Browning alters regulating and supporting ecosystem services in inland waters, with accompanying consequences for aquatic biodiversity Blanchet et al., 2022;Kritzberg et al., 2020). Browning affects provisional ecosystem services by impacting fisheries and recreational uses of waters and by imposing increased costs for drinking water treatment (Blanchet et al., 2022;Forsius et al., 2017;Kritzberg et al., 2020;Langhans et al., 2019). Browning also affects cultural ecosystem services, for example by altering the aesthetic value of waters and by inducing loss of personally valued landscapes. ...
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Browning of surface waters, also known as brownification, is a process of decreasing water transparency, particularly in boreal lakes surrounded by intensively managed forests and wetlands. In this paper, we review the ecological consequences and ecosystem‐based management (EBM) of browning through a systematic review approach and adopt an interdisciplinary approach to formulating new governance of this complex phenomenon. To understand the effects of browning on the recreational value of freshwaters, we present primary survey data on public perceptions of recreational fishing tourists on water quality in Finland. We identify a need to develop EBM beyond the EU's Water Framework Directive (WFD) to fully account for the extensive implications of browning. We also highlight the need for a better understanding of the within‐lake microbial processes to estimate the browning‐associated changes in the greenhouse gas balance of lakes. Tourist perceptions of the quality of waterbodies in Finland were largely in agreement with the general proportion of waterbodies classified in a good or excellent ecological status class, but these perceptions may be detached from biological quality assessment criteria. Consequently, we suggest that the EBM of inland waters should improve the utilization of information on not only biogeochemical processes but also users' perspectives on aquatic ecosystems beyond the EU WFD.
... Tourists trample on the soil and vegetation in the site, walk in the water landscape, swim, and discharge wastewater from hotels, restaurants and toilets into lakes without treatment, and garbage is not properly treated. Surface trails were replaced with 60 km of elevated wood boardwalks, limiting visitor capacity, banning private cars and other ecological restrictions and restoration measures, and aquatic ecosystem protection achieved by integrating catchment management [83]. It effectively controls the water pollution of tourism to the environment and guarantees the aesthetic value of the water landscape in the heritage site.The fragility of karst WHSs makes their aesthetic value vulnerable to interference from and destruction caused by natural and human factors. ...
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Recently, research on outstanding universal value (OUV) protection and tourism development at World Natural Heritage sites (WNHSs) has attracted scholarly attention. The aesthetic value of natural landscapes is a powerful driving force for tourism development. Using this approach as an entry point to study aesthetic value protection and tourism development will help to relieve the contradiction between protection and development and promote the sustainable utilization of heritage sites. However, no comprehensive literature review has examined research on aesthetic value protection and tourism development at WNHSs. To fill this gap, we used a systematic literature review framework, and bibliometric analyses of 194 journal articles were collected from the Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The results show the following: (1) the overall fluctuating upward trend in the number of publications indicates that the research in this field is gradually expanding, the regions studied in the literature are mainly focused on China, Italy and Australia, and the research institutions conducting the research are mainly Asian universities. (2) The landmark research achievements mainly focus on theoretical foundation, model construction, monitoring and evaluation, technical measures and other dimensions and the implications for World Heritage karst sites (WHKSs), where theoretical research is the main focus, and that research on monitoring and evaluation, technical measures and model construction is relatively limited. (3) On this basis, 7 key scientific and technological issues are summarized and provide insights into future research directions for the conservation of aesthetic values and tourism development at WHKSs, and future research should strengthen knowledge of natural heritage conservation based on aesthetic value identification and focus on the theoretical basis of the coordination between the conservation of aesthetic value and tourism development at WNHSs. Research should explore the science and technology and measures associated with the coordination between aesthetic value conservation and tourism development, and reveal the mechanisms and paths for coordination between WNHS conservation and tourism development in karst areas.
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Functional traits play a vital role in mediating the responses of ecosystem services to environmental changes and in predicting the functioning of the ecosystem. However, the connection between functional traits and ecosystem services has become increasingly intricate due to climate change and human activities for degraded ecosystems. To investigate this relationship, we selected 27 sampling sites in the Yanhe River Basin of the Chinese Loess Plateau, each containing two types of vegetation ecosystems: natural vegetation and artificial vegetation ecosystems. At each sampling site, we measured ecosystem services and calculated the composition index of community traits. We established a response–effect trait framework that included environmental factors such as climate, elevation and human activities. Our results showed that leaf tissue density (LTD) was the overlapping response and effect trait when responding to climate change. LTD is positively correlated with mean annual temperature and negatively correlated with supporting services. Under the influence of human activities, leaf nitrogen content and leaf dry matter content were carriers of environmental change. Comparing the two vegetation ecosystems, the relationship between functional traits and ecosystem services showed divergent patterns, indicating that human activities increased the uncertainty of the relationship between functional traits and ecosystem services. Trait-based ecology holds promise for enhancing predictions of ecosystem services responses to environmental changes. However, the predictive ability is influenced by the complexity of environmental changes. In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of understanding the complex connection between functional traits and ecosystem services in response to climate changes and human activities.
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In this study, we conducted an analysis of the freshwater fish population in the Riam Kanan Reservoir, a stagnant freshwater body with a diverse array of freshwater fish species with significant importance for fisheries. Our research revealed that the fish species sampled in the Riam Kanan Reservoir totaled 7,577, encompassing 15 families and 30 distinct species. Overall, our findings underscore the richness and diversity of freshwater fish in the Riam Kanan Reservoir, with the Cyprinidae family being the most dominant. The novelty of our research lies in its contribution to information regarding sources of animal protein and its contribution to ensuring food security. Furthermore, our research emphasizes the adoption of environmentally friendly fishing methods in the Riam Kanan Reservoir, promoting sustainability and ecological preservation.
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• Freshwater ecosystems are under a constant risk of being irreversibly damaged by human pressures that threaten their biodiversity, the sustainability of ecosystem services (ESs), and human well‐being. Despite the implementation of various environmental regulations, the challenges of safeguarding freshwater assets have so far not been tackled successfully. • A promising way forward to stop the loss of freshwater biodiversity and to sustain freshwater‐based ESs is by implementing ecosystem‐based management (EBM), an environmental planning and adaptive management approach that jointly considers social and ecological needs. Responsible for considerable recent success in sustainably managing and conserving marine ecosystems, EBM has not yet been championed for fresh waters. • A major reason for the delayed uptake of EBM in fresh waters is likely to be its complexity, requiring planners to be familiar with the latest developments in a range of different research areas. EBM would therefore benefit from becoming more tangible to receive attention on the ground. • To facilitate uptake, eight core research areas for EBM and their innovations are introduced, and the way in which they feed into the workflow that guides the EBM planning stage is explained. • The workflow links biodiversity distributions with ES supply‐and‐demand modelling and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely) target planning, including scenario‐ and cross‐realm perspectives, the prioritization of management alternatives, spatial prioritization of biodiversity conservation and ES areas, and the quantification of uncertainties. Given the extensive resources, time, and technical capacity required to implement the full workflow, a light and an ultralight version of the workflow are also provided. • Applied in concert, the eight well‐known research areas allow for better planning and operationalizing, and eventually for implementing EBM in freshwater ecosystems. EBM has great potential to increase public acceptance by introducing the consideration of human needs and aspirations into typically biodiversity‐driven conservation and management approaches. This will ultimately improve the integrity of freshwater ecosystems.
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The capacity of ecosystems to supply ecosystem services is decreasing. Sustaining this supply requires an under- standing of the links between the impacts of pressures introduced by human activities and how this can lead to changes in the supply of services. Here, we apply a novel approach, assessing‘ risk to ecosystem service supply’ (RESS), across a range of aquatic ecosystems in seven case studies. We link aggregate impact risk from human activities on ecosystem components, with a relative score of their potential to supply services. The greatest RESS is found where an ecosystem component with a high potential to supply services is subject to high impact risk. In this context, we explore variability in RESS across 99 types of aquatic ecosystem component from 11 realms, ranging from oceanic to wetlands. We explore some causes of variability in the RESS observed, including assessment area, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population density. We found that Lakes, Rivers, Inlets and Coastal realms had some of the highest RESS, though this was highly dependent on location. We found a positive relationship between impact risk and service supply potential, indicating the ecosystem components we rely on mostfor services, are also those most at risk. However, variability in this relationship indicates that protecting the supply of ecosystem services alone will not protect all parts of the ecosystem at high risk. Broad socio-economic factors explained some of the variability found in RESS. For example, RESS was positively associated with GDP and artificial and agricultural land use in most realms, highlighting the need to achieve balance between increasing GDP and sustaining ecosystem health and human wellbeing more broadly. This approach can be used for sustainablemanagement of ecosystemservice use, to highlight the ecosystemcomponents mostcriticalto supplying services, and those most at risk <br/
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Global initiatives have been increasingly focusing on mainstreaming the values of biodiversity and ecosystem services into decision-making at all levels. Due to the accelerated rate at which biodiversity is declining and its consequences for the functioning of ecosystems and subsequently, the services they provide, there is need to develop comprehensive assessments of the services and the benefits nature delivers to society. Based on expertevaluation, we identified relevant flow linkages in the supply-side of the socio-ecological system, i.e. from biodi- versity to ecosystem services supply for eight case studies across European aquatic ecosystems covering freshwater, transitional, coastal and marine waters realms. Biological mediated services were considered, as well as those reliant on purely physical aspects of the ecosystem, i.e. abiotic outputs, since both have implications for spatial planning, management and decision-making. Due to the multidimensional nature of ecosystems and their biodiversity, our approach used ecosystem components such as habitats and biota as proxies for biodiversity and as the focal point for linkage identification. Statistical analysis revealed the importance of considering mobile biota in the spatial assessment of habitats. Contrary to literature evidences so far, our results showed signifi cantly different and complementary ecosystem services supply patterns across the continuum of aquatic realms. The implemented score of ecosystem services supply has a high potential for integrated aquatic ecosystem service supply assessments in the context of ecosystem-based management. <br/
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Freshwater biodiversity is declining, despite national and international efforts to manage and protect freshwater ecosystems. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has been proposed as an approach that could more efficiently and adaptively balance ecological and societal needs. However, this raises the question of how social and ecological objectives can be included in an integrated management plan. Here, we present a generic model-coupling framework tailored to address this question for freshwater ecosystems, using three components: biodiversity, ecosystem services (ESS), and a spatial prioritisation that aims to balance the spatial representation of biodiversity and ESS supply and demand. We illustrate this model-coupling approach within the Danube River Basin using the spatially explicit, potential distribution of (i) 85 fish species as a surrogate for biodiversity as modelled using hierarchical Bayesian models, and (ii) four estimated ESS layers produced by the Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) platform (with ESS supply defined as carbon storage and flood regulation, and demand specified as recreation and water use). These are then used for (iii) a joint spatial prioritisation of biodiversity and ESS employing Marxan with Zones, laying out the spatial representation of multiple management zones. Given the transboundary setting of the Danube River Basin, we also run comparative analyses including the country-level purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) and each country's percent cover of the total basin area as potential cost factors, illustrating a scheme for balancing the share of establishing specific zones among countries. We demonstrate how emphasizing various biodiversity or ESS targets in an EBM model-coupling framework can be used to cost-effectively test various spatially explicit management options across a multi-national case study. We further discuss possible limitations, future developments, and requirements for effectively managing a balance between biodiversity and ESS supply and demand in freshwater ecosystems.
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Understanding how changes in biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning is imperative in allowing Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM), especially when addressing global change and environmental degradation. Research into the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) has indeed increased considerably over the past decades. BEF research has focussed on terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems have received considerably less attention. Due to differences in phylogenetic diversity, ecological processes and reported BEF relationships, however, it may at least be questionable whether BEF relationships are exchangeable between these ecosystems (i.e. terrestrial and aquatic). The aim of the present paper was therefore to pinpoint key areas and bottlenecks in establishing BEF relationships for aquatic ecosystems (freshwater, transitional, and marine). To this end, the available literature with special emphasis on the last 10 years was assessed to evaluate: i) reported mechanisms and shapes of aquatic BEF relationships; ii) to what extent BEF relations are interchangeable or ecosystem-specific; and iii) contemporary gaps and needs in aquatic BEF research. Based on our analysis, it may be concluded that despite considerable progress in BEF research over the past decades, several bottlenecks still need to be tackled, namely incorporating the multitude of functions supported by ecosystems, functional distinctiveness of rare species, multitrophic interactions and spatial-temporal scales, before BEF relationships can be used in ecosystem-based management.
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This study provides an integrated perspective to ecosystem based management (EBM) by considering a diverse array of societal goals, i.e. sustainable food supply, clean energy and a healthy marine ecosystem, and a selection of management measures to achieve them. The primary aim of this exercise is to provide guidance for (more) integrated EBM in the North Sea based on an evaluation of the effectiveness of those management measures in contributing to the conservation of marine biodiversity. A secondary aim is to identify the requirements of the knowledge base to guide such future EBM initiatives. Starting from the societal goals we performed a scoping exercise to identify a “focal social-ecological system” which is a subset of the full social-ecological system but considered adequate to guide EBM towards the achievement of those societal goals. A semi-quantitative risk assessment including all the relevant human activities, their pressures and the impacted ecosystem components was then applied to identify the main threats to the North Sea biodiversity and evaluate the effectiveness of the management measures to mitigate those threats. This exercise revealed the need for such risk-based approaches in providing a more integrated perspective but also the trade-off between being comprehensive but qualitative versus quantitative but limited in terms of the “focal” part of the SES that can be covered. The findings in this paper provide direction to the (further) development of EBM and its knowledge base that should ultimately allow an integrated perspective while maintaining its capacity to deliver the accuracy and detail needed for decision-making.
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Large river-floodplain systems are hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services but are also used for multiple human activities, making them one of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. There is wide evidence that reconnecting river channels with their floodplains is an effective measure to increase their multi-functionality, i.e., ecological integrity, habitats for multiple species and the multiple functions and services of river-floodplain systems, although, the selection of promising sites for restoration projects can be a demanding task. In the case of the Danube River in Europe, planning and implementation of restoration projects is substantially hampered by the complexity and heterogeneity of the environmental problems, lack of data and strong differences in socio-economic conditions as well as inconsistencies in legislation related to river management. We take a quantitative approach based on best-available data to assess biodiversity using selected species and three ecosystem services (flood regulation, crop pollination, and recreation), focused on the navigable main stem of the Danube River and its floodplains. We spatially prioritize river-floodplain segments for conservation and restoration based on (1) multi-functionality related to biodiversity and ecosystem services, (2) availability of remaining semi-natural areas and (3) reversibility as it relates to multiple human activities (e.g. flood protection, hydropower and navigation). Our approach can thus serve as a strategic planning tool for the Danube and provide a method for similar analyses in other large river-floodplain systems.
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Aquatic ecosystems are under severe pressure. Human activities introduce an array of pressures that impact ecosystems and their components. In this study we focus on the aquatic domains of fresh, coastal and marine waters, including rivers, lakes and riparian habitats to transitional, coastal as well as shelf and oceanic habitats. In an environmental risk assessment approach, we identified impact chains that link 45 human activities through 31 pressures to 82 ecosystem components. In this linkage framework >22,000 activity-pressure-ecosystem component interactions were found across seven European case studies. We identified the environmental impact risk posed by each impact chain by first categorically weighting the interactions according to five criteria: spatial extent, dispersal potential, frequency of interaction, persistence of pressure and severity of the interaction, where extent, dispersal, frequency and persistence account for the exposure to risk (spatial and temporal), and the severity accounts for the consequence of the risk. After assigning a numerical score to each risk criterion, we came up with an overall environmental impact risk score for each impact chain. This risk score was analysed in terms of (1) the activities and pressures that introduce the greatest risk to European aquatic domains, and (2) the aquatic ecosystem components and realms that are at greatest risk from human activities. Activities related to energy production were relevant across the aquatic domains. Fishing was highly relevant in marine and environmental engineering in fresh waters. Chemical and physical pressures introduced the greatest risk to the aquatic realms. Ecosystem components that can be seen as ecotones between different ecosystems had high impact risk. We show how this information can be used in informing management on trade-offs in freshwater, coastal and marine resource use and aid decision-making
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The Baixo Vouga Lagunar (BVL) is part of Ria de Aveiro coastal lagoon in Portugal, which is classified as a Special Protection Area under the European Habitats and Birds Directives. This part of the system, corresponding to the confluence of the Vouga River with the lagoon, is very important culturally and socioeconomically for the local communities, taking place several human activities, especially agriculture. To prevent salt water intrusion from the Ria de Aveiro into agriculture fields, a floodbank was initiated in the 90's. In frame of ongoing changes in Ria de Aveiro hydrodynamics, the existing floodbank will be now extended, introducing further changes in the ecological dynamics of the BVL and its adjacent area. As a consequence, the water level in the floodbank downstream side is expected to rise, increasing the submersion period in tidal wetlands, and leading to coastal squeeze. The aim of this study is to apply an ecosystem based-management approach to mitigate the impacts on biodiversity resulting from the management plan. To do so, we have modelled the implications of the changes in several hydrological and environmental variables on four saltmarsh species and habitats distribution, as well as on their associated ecosystem services, both upstream and downstream of the floodbank. The ecosystem services of interest were prioritized by stakeholders' elicitation, which were then used as an input to a spatial multi-criteria analysis aimed to find the best management actions to compensate for the unintended loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the BVL. According to our results, the main areas to be preserved in the BVL were the traditional agricultural mosaic fields; the freshwater courses and the subtidal estuarine channels. By combining ecology with the analysis of social preferences, this study shows how co-developed solutions can support adaptive management and the conservation of coastal ecosystems.
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