Kira Gee

Conceptualizing the link between marine ecosystem services and human well-being: the case of offshore wind farming

Although the concept of ecosystem services has drawn a prolific amount of recent research, little work has been done on the links between marine ecosystem services and coastal human well-being at a regional scale. Key questions in this context are that of appropriate categories for assessing human well-being and how to link different determinants of human well-being to specific ecosystem services supplied in adjacent marine areas. This paper presents the results of a case study that links tangible and intangible ecosystem benefits to a range of material and immaterial factors constituting human well-being. Determinants of human well-being were defined and indicators selected to make these linkages traceable. Ecosystem services were assessed for the offshore environment along the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, based on the assumption of strong future development of offshore wind farming and considering the environmental and socio-economic impacts of such developments on the coastal region. This paper illustrates some conceptual problems in linking ecosystem benefits to human well-being. Based on an economic analysis and a questionnaire survey, two examples are presented where an evidence-based link could be demonstrated between an ecosystem service impacted by offshore wind farming and change in human well-being. The results presented should be understood as an analytic framework and precondition for gathering empirical data.

Marine spatial planning and Good Environmental Status: a perspective on spatial and temporal dimensions

The European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires the Good Environmental Status of marine environments in Europes regional seas; yet, maritime activities, including sources of marine degradation, are diversifying and intensifying in an increasingly globalized world. Marine spatial planning is emerging as a tool for rationalizing competing uses of the marine environment while guarding its quality. A directive guiding the development of such plans by European Union member states is currently being formulated. There is an undeniable need for marine spatial planning. However, we argue that considerable care must be taken with marine spatial planning, as the spatial and temporal scales of maritime activities and of Good Environmental Status may be mismatched. We identify four principles for careful and explicit consideration to align the requirements of the two directives and enable marine spatial planning to support the achievement of Good Environmental Status in Europes regional seas.

Establishing the Resilience of a Coastal-marine Social-ecological System to the Installation of Offshore Wind Farms

Offshore wind farming is a contentious new form of sea use and a prominent driver of change across Europe. Drawing on the results of the research program Zukunft Kuste Coastal Futures, this contribution considers the resilience of the social-ecological system to the introduction of offshore wind farming in a northern German case study region. We do so by focusing on regime shifts and cross-scale effects, described through the concepts of adaptive cycles and ecosystem services. Offshore wind farming is shown to lead to a potential slow regime shift in the marine ecosystem, as well as a more rapid regime shift in the seascape. These shifts lead to changes in the available ecosystem services and conflicts between new and traditional sea and seascape values. We then explore the impact of these changes on the socioeconomic system on the coast. Against the background of the system’s current state and constraints, we argue this impact could be creative and innovative, but this trajectory depends on an internal socio-political shift and willingness to change.

Resilience and the Cultural Landscape: Offshore wind farming on Germany’s North Sea coast: tracing regime shifts across scales

Introduction Ecosystems have been converted in many parts of the world to meet human needs (MA, 2005). A rather new development has been the increasing exploitation of marine areas for human activities (Kraberg et al ., 2011). Offshore wind farming (OWF) introduces significant new dynamics in the social–ecological systems concerned (Punt et al ., 2009). Given the complexity of coastal and marine systems, and the fragile balance that exists in these systems between use and overuse, it is important to understand the potential consequences of OWF development and the processes that lead to system change. A key question is how OWF-induced changes manifest themselves in the ecological and social subdomains and whether changes in one domain can trigger changes in the others (Kinzig et al ., 2006). Offshore wind farming has already been shown to have multiple impacts on marine ecological systems (Wilhelmsson & Malm, 2008), but how does this relate to changes in the marine landscape (seascape) and the socioeconomic system on the coast? This chapter embeds OWF in a complex social–ecological system, which consists of marine ecosystems and planned OWF sites in the North Sea on the one hand and the administrative districts of North Frisia and Dithmarschen (Germany) on land on the other (Figure 11.1). The dynamics of the OWF system can be characterised broadly as follows. Nationally, economic instruments such as the German Renewable Energies Act provide a stimulus to private sector agents to invest in large-scale OWF projects (Figure 11.2), which then affect the integrity of marine ecosystems. This, in turn, impacts on the production of ecosystem goods and services utilised by humans, with attending impacts on human well-being (Busch et al ., 2010; Kannen & Burkhard, 2009). Impacts on human well-being include direct impacts of OWF on the coastal economy through employment and income generation, but also indirect impacts on personal well-being through changes in marine ecosystem service provision. Using resilience and ecosystem services as conceptual background, this chapter focuses on possible regime shifts in the sea and effects across scales that may be triggered by OWF. It questions how regime shifts and their consequences can be traced and whether the resilience of a particular system should be encouraged.