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Reviewing the EBSA process: Improving on success

Reviewing the EBSA process: Improving on success
Reviewing the EBSA process: Improving on success
This paper reviews key aspects of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) process to date, anticipating global marine coverage of that process in so far as is possible by the end of 2018. EBSAs merge marine and coastal physical, biological and biogeographical information held by States, diverse scientific institutions and individual experts to identify inherent value of marine biodiversity, as well as providing a focus for either States or international organisations with sectoral competences to apply potential management measures to protect and sustainably manage biodiversity. In assessing information made available at dedicated EBSA Regional Workshops, several common patterns emerged, both in the data made available and in the gaps in information. The latter include missing information, representation of taxa and features of interest, and specialist expertise. The review exercise detailed here has highlighted the value and efficacy of the EBSA process and the information it has generated, despite some recognised shortcomings. It further suggests that there is potential to strengthen the EBSA portfolio by (i) adding some selected new areas yet to be described, (ii) revisiting existing EBSAs to add both new and existing information, and (iii) reconsidering some areas previously deemed to not meet the EBSA criteria by incorporating both new and existing information. Improving the systematic assessment of areas against the EBSA criteria could be achieved using a combination of (i) spatially precise systematic conservation approaches, supported by (ii) predictive modelling and biogeographic multi-criteria approaches based on expert judgement.
0308-597X
75-85
Johnson, David E.
ac1c7dcb-a817-47bc-aaaa-4a0e268c27d0
Barrio Froján, Christopher
4935e7ee-ac0f-41bd-b00b-2c5806561d74
Turner, Phillip J.
f431dc56-23e0-4f15-bdc2-758aa2b410b6
Weaver, Philip
8ba26937-b62e-474b-bc48-59a7eb5587ea
Gunn, Vikki
0f16df06-486e-4307-8860-cb3663e9d440
Dunn, Daniel C.
562e41b2-c06d-481a-aa9b-91fdf4f2b6a8
Halpin, Patrick
23fbbeb1-bcf2-405d-866e-4c1c6ea48f73
Bax, Nicholas J.
8cfe08e2-8d45-453c-a108-4b0ab12d4d04
Dunstan, Piers K.
0d54a6a9-91cc-4aca-9656-e43cef92c924
et al.
Johnson, David E.
ac1c7dcb-a817-47bc-aaaa-4a0e268c27d0
Barrio Froján, Christopher
4935e7ee-ac0f-41bd-b00b-2c5806561d74
Turner, Phillip J.
f431dc56-23e0-4f15-bdc2-758aa2b410b6
Weaver, Philip
8ba26937-b62e-474b-bc48-59a7eb5587ea
Gunn, Vikki
0f16df06-486e-4307-8860-cb3663e9d440
Dunn, Daniel C.
562e41b2-c06d-481a-aa9b-91fdf4f2b6a8
Halpin, Patrick
23fbbeb1-bcf2-405d-866e-4c1c6ea48f73
Bax, Nicholas J.
8cfe08e2-8d45-453c-a108-4b0ab12d4d04
Dunstan, Piers K.
0d54a6a9-91cc-4aca-9656-e43cef92c924

Johnson, David E., Barrio Froján, Christopher and Turner, Phillip J. , et al. (2018) Reviewing the EBSA process: Improving on success. Marine Policy, 88 (2), 75-85. (doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2017.11.014).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper reviews key aspects of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) process to date, anticipating global marine coverage of that process in so far as is possible by the end of 2018. EBSAs merge marine and coastal physical, biological and biogeographical information held by States, diverse scientific institutions and individual experts to identify inherent value of marine biodiversity, as well as providing a focus for either States or international organisations with sectoral competences to apply potential management measures to protect and sustainably manage biodiversity. In assessing information made available at dedicated EBSA Regional Workshops, several common patterns emerged, both in the data made available and in the gaps in information. The latter include missing information, representation of taxa and features of interest, and specialist expertise. The review exercise detailed here has highlighted the value and efficacy of the EBSA process and the information it has generated, despite some recognised shortcomings. It further suggests that there is potential to strengthen the EBSA portfolio by (i) adding some selected new areas yet to be described, (ii) revisiting existing EBSAs to add both new and existing information, and (iii) reconsidering some areas previously deemed to not meet the EBSA criteria by incorporating both new and existing information. Improving the systematic assessment of areas against the EBSA criteria could be achieved using a combination of (i) spatially precise systematic conservation approaches, supported by (ii) predictive modelling and biogeographic multi-criteria approaches based on expert judgement.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 13 November 2017
Published date: 1 February 2018
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 479868
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479868
ISSN: 0308-597X
PURE UUID: be41aee7-2162-4b1e-8ac3-447e66173b15
ORCID for Christopher Barrio Froján: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5562-5508

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Date deposited: 27 Jul 2023 16:28
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:17

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Contributors

Author: David E. Johnson
Author: Christopher Barrio Froján ORCID iD
Author: Phillip J. Turner
Author: Philip Weaver
Author: Vikki Gunn
Author: Daniel C. Dunn
Author: Patrick Halpin
Author: Nicholas J. Bax
Author: Piers K. Dunstan
Corporate Author: et al.

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