Work Package 1 – Assessing and Valuing Marine Ecosystems

The aim of Work Package 1 was to understand how best to carry out ecosystem service assessments to suit local management needs, and so it concerned the strategic, technical and practical aspects of ecosystem services assessment. The work considered how to select an appropriate focus for an assessment and what methods could be used to define and measure ecosystem services. Empirical evaluations of ecosystem services were undertaken at each of the case study sites using a range of methods to test, and learn lessons from, these different approaches. The Work Package had two key actions, which are described below.

Action 1.1: Developing an operational framework for assessing and valuing marine ecosystem services.

The purpose of this action was to review existing approaches to ecosystem service methodologies and propose a coherent approach to monetary and non-monetary assessment and valuation. This was achieved through collaborative working between social scientists, economists and ecologists to enable best practice to be exchanged at a scale appropriate to the Channel area.

The deliverable from this action was a framework including a set of guidelines for assessing and valuing marine ecosystem services:

A Framework for the Operational Assessment of Marine Ecosystem Services

Action 1.2: Trialling ecosystem service assessments and valuations at pilot study locations.

This action applied the Framework developed in Action 1.1 to the six case study sites to determine relevant valuations for ecosystem services at those sites. The results of these assessments and valuations were then used to inform the development of scenarios in Work Package 3.

The deliverable from this action was a synthesis report of lessons learned and recommendations tailored to the needs of practitioners.

Ecosystem Service Assessment in Practice: Lessons Learned