Ecosystem services is a concept that is gaining increasing attention as a means to link ecosystems and development goals.
The CEDA Environment Commission (CEC) decided to set up a CEDA Working Group (WGES) to explore the subject in the context of dredging.
WGES is to produce a CEDA Information Paper to contribute to the wider debate on the application of ES to dredging and marine construction projects.
This could help bring the discussion on ES from an academic to an applied level.
CEDA members are invited to express interest in participating in the CEDA Working Group on Ecosystem Services (CEDA WGES).
Subjects to be addressed include:
a) Conditions under which dredging can improve Ecosystem Services to achieve sustainability, such as good understanding of the ecosystem and its functioning and of the value of its services clear definition of the amount of ecosystem services needed; this set of goals can be used as a reference to evaluate a project/an intervention,
b) Integration of the Ecosystem Services Approach into the planning, design and execution of dredging and marine construction works to support achievement of sustainable development goals,
c) Use of the currently available (yet limited) Ecosystem Services tools to help implement the Working with Nature philosophy,
d) The need for establishing indicators to describe the type and level of ecosystem services a project aims to deliver and the evaluation of ecosystem functioning in terms of those indicators,
e) Communication that economic and ecosystem services criteria jointly define a dredging or marine construction project.
[mappress]
Dredging Today Staff, March 29, 2012