5 - Models at the Service of Marine Nature-based Solutions

Summary

A broad marine management goal is to maintain healthy marine social–ecological systems that sustain desirable marine ecosystem services (MES) and have the capacity to adapt to change. Models, as representations of how systems work, are promising tools for understanding marine ecosystem and socio-economic processes (Addison et al. 2017; Zedler, 2017). Marine models can translate alternative scenarios exploring the projected consequences on marine ecosystem function of possible futures for drivers of change such as greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions, coastal development, and market, political and socio-cultural forces on seafood consumption (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), 2005; Inniss et al. 2016; Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 2016; Katona et al. 2017). They can also help decision-makers to evaluate national or local scenarios examining the effectiveness of alternative past or future policy interventions influencing society’s demand for specific ES and their delivery to society (Guerry et al., 2012; IPBES, 2016; Arkema et al., 2017).