Search

Aquaculture practices at sea are far from impact neutral and remain an important source of marine plastic pollution. With projected rapid continual growth in the sector, if left unmanaged, aquaculture pollution can have detrimental environmental and social implications. Using the DPSIR framework, the paper examines current practices and pathways of plastic pollution from marine aquaculture in the NE-Atlantic, drawing on findings from literature, stakeholder consultations and beach litter assessments. Pathways for aquaculture-related litter identified include rough weather, farmer behavior, inadequate access to recycling facilities, low price of consumable plastics and high cost of recycling. Beach litter analyses conducted as part of the study exposed serious issues of under quantification, resulting from difficulties in source identification and a lack of detailed categorization in official monitoring systems. The paper makes recommendations to improve litter quantification and waste management, including the use of local knowledge and experts to identify sources of marine litter.

Lake Urmia has experienced severe environmental degradation, mainly characterized by the enormous reduction of its surface area and water level. This issue has been mainly attributed to land-use and land-cover changes, in particular related to agricultural expansion and intensification. In this study, we used the DPSIR framework (D: driving forces, P: pressures, S: states, I: impacts, and R: responses) to systematically describe the ecosystem service dynamics related to anthropogenic activities and climatic parameters in the region. We reviewed the literature and used remote sensing, agricultural, climatic and hydrological data together with expert knowledge to assess the main driving forces and pressures, resulting land-use transitions and their spatiotemporal impacts on ecosystem services and biodiversity using a matrix-based assessment approach. We identified population growth, economic incentives and climate change as the most important driving forces, leading to altered agricultural activities, numerous dam constructions and droughts. Since 1987 cropland areas doubled at the expense of bare soils and natural vegetation, the lake hast lost more than half of its surface area, urban and freshwater areas increased threefold and by 50%, respectively. This favored crop and freshwater provision, while all other ecosystem services remained nearly constant or decreased, though spatial patterns were heterogeneous. For example, regulating and cultural services, and biodiversity mainly decreased at the shorelines of the lake, while provisioning services increased along the major rivers and close to cities. To address the land-use transitions with the most profound impact on ecosystem service provision, we recommend the following measures: increase the water supply to the lake, reduce cropland expansion, manage existing croplands more sustainably and protect natural vegetation. Our study provides a comprehensive overview of the regional ecosystem service dynamics and a valu

Groundwater and surface water are often closely coupled and are both under the influence of multiple stressors. Stressed groundwater systems may lead to a poor ecological status of surface waters but to date no conceptual framework to analyse linked multi-stressed groundwater – surface water systems has been developed. In this paper, a framework is proposed showing the effect of groundwater on surface waters in multiple stressed systems. This framework will be illustrated by applying it to four European catchments, the Odense, Denmark, the Regge and Dinkel, Netherlands, and the Thames, UK, and by assessing its utility in analysing the propagation or buffering of multi-stressors through groundwater to surface waters in these catchments. It is shown that groundwater affects surface water flow, nutrients and temperature, and can both propagate stressors towards surface waters and buffer the effect of stressors in space and time. The effect of groundwater on drivers and states depends on catchment characteristics, stressor combinations, scale and management practises. The proposed framework shows how groundwater in lowland catchments acts as a bridge between stressors and their effects within surface waters. It shows water managers how their management areas might be influenced by groundwater, and helps them to include this important, but often overlooked part of the water cycle in their basin management plans. The analysis of the study catchments also revealed a lack of data on the temperature of both groundwater and surface water, while it is an important parameter considering future climate warming.

The treeline ecotone and all treeline ecosystems (i.e. mountain forests) are important indicators of environmental change. They are heavily affected by environmental drivers, in particular by changes in climate and in land use (the latter change often being land abandonment, resulting in natural reforestation). The Europe COST Action ES1203 (Enhancing the resilience capacity of SENSitive mountain FORest ecosystems under environmental change; SENSFOR) initiative focused on treeline ecosystems in relation to such changes. SENSFOR evaluated drivers and the extent of contemporary and future environmental changes in European mountain forests, and developed methods for estimating forest resilience and defining the consequences for society. The outcome of the SENSFOR initiative provides a scientific basis on which management strategies can be developed and adjusted in cooperation with regional and local stakeholders. In addition, SENSFOR provides recommendations for policy makers at European and national levels. Through application of the DPSIR (Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) framework, the findings of the SENSFOR network (consisting of 24 countries) contribute to strategy development for ecosystem service preservation and biodiversity conservation in sensitive European treeline areas.

The state of, and changes to, altitudinal and polar treeline ecosystems and their services in selected mountain regions in Europe were analyzed using the drivers-pressures-state-impacts-responses (DPSIR) framework. The analysis was based on 45 responses of experts from 19 countries to 2 semi-structured questionnaires on treeline ecosystem services (ESs), stakeholders and the DPSIR factors, and 11 case study descriptions of best management practices. The experts recognized climate and land-use changes as the main drivers, resulting in various pressures that contrasted among the regions. The impacts of the pressures were mainly considered as negative (e.g. loss of biodiversity, root rot diseases, moth and bark beetle outbreaks, wild fires, decrease of (sub)alpine grasslands, browsing), but also as positive (e.g. increase in forested area). The influence of climate warming, altered precipitation regimes, a longer growing season, annual variation in winter climate and increased ground-level ozone concentrations were considered less critical for recent treeline dynamics than land abandonment, increased tourism and livestock pressure. Current policy responses to emerging pressures and stakeholder demands were considered insufficient and incoherent. Mitigation, adaptation and restoration actions were rare and with no evident long-term impact. We conclude that (1) locally-specific human−environment interactions have greater influence on treeline dynamics than global warming; (2) ecological and social sustainability of the treeline areas can be enhanced by simultaneously promoting traditional land use and regulating tourism development; (3) ES users should look for new opportunities arising from environmental change rather than trying to sustain current levels of ESs indefinitely; and (4) to safeguard the unique ecological and social values of treeline areas, more coherent and proactive policies are needed.

The concepts of resilience and ecosystem services broaden the opportunities for assessing sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs). The lack of operational frameworks for assessing the resilient provision of ecosystem services by SESs impedes greater integration of resilience thinking in natural resource governance. The greatest challenge so far has been to understand the capacity of the SES to (re)organize itself and sustain the flow of benefits from nature to people under various global and local pressures and trade-offs between ecosystem services users. To assess the resilience of an SES within a single framework, we propose a new approach which is a combination of: (1) the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework; (2) social-ecological indicators; and (3) scenario building. Practical application of the approach is demonstrated with the example of European polar and altitudinal treeline areas. The DPSIR framework analyzes causal relationships between the components of the SES. Social-ecological indicators quantify processes in the SES and estimate trends in the DPSIR factors. Combined top-down and bottom-up scenarios envision plausible development paths of the SES in the future based on expected global environmental and social changes which create context specific dynamics between DPSIR factors at specific localities. The proposed approach represents the analytical framework of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) action SENSFOR (Enhancing the resilience capacity of SENSitive mountain FORest ecosystems under environmental change) and can be applied to promote systemic resilience thinking in any SES.

[EN] Coastal inshore waters (CIW) are defined as the area of coastal waters between 0 and 200 m from the shoreline. They represent < 1% of coastal waters but are of high ecological, social, and economic importance. However, these waters have been scarcely studied, they are poorly understood. The time series database of the National Catalan Coastal Water Monitoring Program, ongoing since 1990, has allowed characterization of the CIW in the NW Mediterranean Sea. [...], [CAT] Les aigües costaneres interiors (CIW) són aquelles localitzades entre 0 i 200 m del litoral. Representen només un <1% d’aquestes, però tenen una gran importància a nivell ecològic, social i econòmic. Tot i així, no hi ha gaires estudis de les CIW i per tant el coneixement sobre la seva estructura i funcionament és limitat. La base de dades de la sèrie temporal del Programa Nacional de Seguiment i Control de les Aigües Costaneres de Catalunya, que es realitza des del 1990, ha permès caracteritzar les CIW al NO del Mediterrani. [...]

Current low-carbon city initiatives were evaluated using the DPSIR (Drivingforces-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses) causal-effect framework for investigating interactions between environmental issues and human activities. For effective management towards achieving a low-carbon city, integrating the pressure-based, driver-oriented DPSIR approach could help decision makers examine whether greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction approaches deal with the root causes of GHG emissions and work to-wards low-carbon city development goals. The DPSIR framework was used on 36 global cities to analyse the socio-economic dynamics of GHG emissions and their pressures on the environment, the state of the environment, related climate change impacts and responses from society. The results indicated that numerous cities have awareness of low-car bon plans and that most of these plans are pressure-based and driver-oriented. Most city plans recognise energy, transportation and building as the main driving forces for GHG emissions, which cause environmental pressures, and highlight technical responses to reduce GHG emissions pressures from these root causes. Inaddition, most plans recognise institutional and cognitional responses to low-carbon city development, such as: policies and legislation; departmental planning and cooperation; measuring, monitoring and reporting performance; capital invest-ment; community education and outreach; and stakeholder involvement., QC 20150929

Effective and efficient water management systems require a comprehensive understanding of anthropogenic pressures on the water environment. Developing a broader systems perspective and extended information systems is therefore essential to systematically explore interlinks between anthropogenic activities and impaired waters at an appropriate scale. For this purpose, this paper identifies information dilemmas in contemporary water monitoring and management from an anthropogenic metabolic point of view. The European Drivers-Pressures-State of the Environment-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework was used as a basis for classifying and discussing two approaches to water management, namely state/impacts-oriented and pressure-oriented. The results indicate that current water monitoring and management are mainly state/impacts-oriented, based on observed pollutants in environmental monitoring and/or on biodiversity changes in ecological monitoring. This approach often results in end-of-pipe solutions and reactive responses to combat water problems. To complement this traditional state/impacts-oriented approach, we suggest moving toward an anthropogenic metabolism-based and pressure-oriented (AM/PO) approach to aid in alleviating human-induced pressures on the water environment in a more proactive way. The AM/PO ideas can equally be applied to water-centric sustainable urbanization planning and evaluation in a broader context., QC 20150507

Since human beings began to use and shape the land, their influence on theirenvironment has kept on growing so that little or no ecosystem in the world is nowconsidered as untouched. This induces pressures on ecosystem health and land scarcity.Africa is of particular concern because it still presents broad undisturbed zones andkey ecosystem services, despite being submitted to increasing anthropogenic pressures.Landscape ecology appears suitable for the study of such phenomena, thanks to its spacebasedintegrative nature and geographical level of focus. It studies the impact of spatialpattern transformation — especially heterogeneity and its components — on ecologicalprocesses and provides powerful analytical tools of landscape anthropisation.The main objective of this thesis is to organise the concepts and methods, fromlandscape ecology and related disciplines, into a consistent logic, to pinpoint missinganalytical frameworks for response-oriented anthropisation assessment, and to apply themto African cases to explore the spatial patterns of anthropisation. In order to addresslandscape anthropisation, we assemble diverse disciplines into a logical network (DPSIR).The new theoretical framework is tested on Lubumbashi (DRC). In order to addressspatial patterns, we first evaluate the thermodynamic connection of the term entropy inlandscape ecology: spatial heterogeneity, unpredictability and scale influence. Then, basedon 20 landscapes, we highlight the complex relationship between spatial heterogeneityand landscape anthropisation. We finally use the modelled relationships to test theanthropogenic origin of the spatial pattern of a land cover class in Lubumbashi.The main results of this research show that several concepts are used to describe differentaspects of anthropisation and that its quantification strongly depends on the reference states.Data formats can be combined into a new assessment method en, Doctorat en Sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The Brazilian estuaries are environments extremely vulnerable due to a combination of their natural intense dynamic and their occupancy non-regulated. This research made a diagnostic about the environmental quality of the Curu river estuary, placed in the western side of the Ceará State, Northeast of Brazil, which experiences socio-environmental transformation. The theoretic-methodological foundation was based on the framework DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State of the environmental, Impacts, and societal Responses), developed by the Organization for the Cooperation and Economic Development. The mentioned framework approaches the analysis of the eco systemic and anthropogenic relations inserted in the environments systems present in the studied area. Thus, the research afforded an integrated analysis of the environmental problems related to the causes which produce them, also includes the answers understood as proposed actions in which could be fomented and developed by the public administration, by the civil society and by the economics sections. It was effected a functional zoning proposal looking for the proper utilization of the natural sources, giving rise to a better organization of the geographic zone of the actuation area of this study., Os estuários brasileiros são ambientes extremamente vulneráveis devido a uma combinação de sua intensa dinâmica natural e ocupação não regulamentada. O estudo realizou diagnóstico da qualidade ambiental do estuário do rio Curu localizado na porção ocidental do estado do Ceará, Nordeste do Brasil, que vivencia transformações socioambientais. O embasamento teórico-metodológico foi alicerçado no modelo conceitual DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State of the environmental, Impacts, and societal Responses), desenvolvido pela Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico. O modelo citado privilegia a análise das relações ecossistêmicas e antropogênicas inseridas nos sistemas ambientais presentes na área de estudo. Desse modo, a pesquisa proporcionou uma análise integrada dos problemas ambientais em relação às causas que os produzem, sendo ainda incluso as respostas entendidas como ações propositivas que podem ser fomentadas e desenvolvidas pelas administrações públicas, pela sociedade civil e pelos setores econômicos. Foi efetivada uma proposta de zoneamento funcional visando à utilização adequada dos recursos naturais, acarretando na melhor organização do espaço geográfico na área de atuação deste estudo

The Brazilian estuaries are environments extremely vulnerable due to a combination of their natural intense dynamic and their occupancy non-regulated. This research made a diagnostic about the environmental quality of the Curu river estuary, placed in the western side of the Ceará State, Northeast of Brazil, which experiences socio-environmental transformation. The theoretic-methodological foundation was based on the framework DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State of the environmental, Impacts, and societal Responses), developed by the Organization for the Cooperation and Economic Development. The mentioned framework approaches the analysis of the eco systemic and anthropogenic relations inserted in the environments systems present in the studied area. Thus, the research afforded an integrated analysis of the environmental problems related to the causes which produce them, also includes the answers understood as proposed actions in which could be fomented and developed by the public administration, by the civil society and by the economics sections. It was effected a functional zoning proposal looking for the proper utilization of the natural sources, giving rise to a better organization of the geographic zone of the actuation area of this study., Os estuários brasileiros são ambientes extremamente vulneráveis devido a uma combinação de sua intensa dinâmica natural e ocupação não regulamentada. O estudo realizou diagnóstico da qualidade ambiental do estuário do rio Curu localizado na porção ocidental do estado do Ceará, Nordeste do Brasil, que vivencia transformações socioambientais. O embasamento teórico-metodológico foi alicerçado no modelo conceitual DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State of the environmental, Impacts, and societal Responses), desenvolvido pela Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico. O modelo citado privilegia a análise das relações ecossistêmicas e antropogênicas inseridas nos sistemas ambientais presentes na área de estudo. Desse modo, a pesquisa proporcionou uma análise integrada dos problemas ambientais em relação às causas que os produzem, sendo ainda incluso as respostas entendidas como ações propositivas que podem ser fomentadas e desenvolvidas pelas administrações públicas, pela sociedade civil e pelos setores econômicos. Foi efetivada uma proposta de zoneamento funcional visando à utilização adequada dos recursos naturais, acarretando na melhor organização do espaço geográfico na área de atuação deste estudo

An ecosystem-based approach to bivalve aquaculture management is a strategy for the integration of aquaculture within the wider ecosystem, including human aspects, in such a way that it promotes sustainable development, equity, and resilience of ecosystems. Given the linkage between social and ecological systems, marine regulators require an ecosystem-based decision framework that structures and integrates the relationships between these systems and facilitates communication of aquaculture-environment interactions and policy-related developments and decisions. The Drivers-Pressures-State Change-Impact-Response (DPSIR) management framework incorporates the connectivity between human and ecological issues and would permit available performance indicators to be identified and organized in a manner that facilitates different regulatory needs. Suitable performance indicators and modeling approaches, which are used to assess DPSIR framework components, are reviewed with a focus on the key environmental issues associated with bivalve farming. Indicator selection criteria are provided to facilitate constraining the number of indicators within the management framework. It is recommended that an ecosystem-based approach for bivalve aquaculture be based on a tiered indicator monitoring system that is structured on the principle that increased environmental risk requires increased monitoring effort. More than 1 threshold for each indicator would permit implementation of predetermined impact prevention and mitigation measures prior to reaching an unacceptable ecological state. We provide an example of a tiered monitoring program that would communicate knowledge to decision-makers on ecosystem State Change and Impact components of the DPSIR framework.

An ecosystem-based approach to bivalve aquaculture management is a strategy for the integration of aquaculture within the wider ecosystem, including human aspects, in such a way that it promotes sustainable development, equity, and resilience of ecosystems. Given the linkage between social and ecological systems, marine regulators require an ecosystem-based decision framework that structures and integrates the relationships between these systems and facilitates communication of aquaculture-environment interactions and policy-related developments and decisions. The Drivers-Pressures-State Change-Impact-Response (DPSIR) management framework incorporates the connectivity between human and ecological issues and would permit available performance indicators to be identified and organized in a manner that facilitates different regulatory needs. Suitable performance indicators and modeling approaches, which are used to assess DPSIR framework components, are reviewed with a focus on the key environmental issues associated with bivalve farming. Indicator selection criteria are provided to facilitate constraining the number of indicators within the management framework. It is recommended that an ecosystem-based approach for bivalve aquaculture be based on a tiered indicator monitoring system that is structured on the principle that increased environmental risk requires increased monitoring effort. More than 1 threshold for each indicator would permit implementation of predetermined impact prevention and mitigation measures prior to reaching an unacceptable ecological state. We provide an example of a tiered monitoring program that would communicate knowledge to decision-makers on ecosystem State Change and Impact components of the DPSIR framework.

An ecosystem-based approach to bivalve aquaculture management is a strategy for the integration of aquaculture within the wider ecosystem, including human aspects, in such a way that it promotes sustainable development, equity, and resilience of ecosystems. Given the linkage between social and ecological systems, marine regulators require an ecosystem-based decision framework that structures and integrates the relationships between these systems and facilitates communication of aquaculture-environment interactions and policy-related developments and decisions. The Drivers-Pressures-State Change-Impact-Response (DPSIR) management framework incorporates the connectivity between human and ecological issues and would permit available performance indicators to be identified and organized in a manner that facilitates different regulatory needs. Suitable performance indicators and modeling approaches, which are used to assess DPSIR framework components, are reviewed with a focus on the key environmental issues associated with bivalve farming. Indicator selection criteria are provided to facilitate constraining the number of indicators within the management framework. It is recommended that an ecosystem-based approach for bivalve aquaculture be based on a tiered indicator monitoring system that is structured on the principle that increased environmental risk requires increased monitoring effort. More than 1 threshold for each indicator would permit implementation of predetermined impact prevention and mitigation measures prior to reaching an unacceptable ecological state. We provide an example of a tiered monitoring program that would communicate knowledge to decision-makers on ecosystem State Change and Impact components of the DPSIR framework.