Charting a Course for Sustainable Prosperity

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is critical to the sustainable use of natural resources; however, taking EBM from the conceptual to operational stage is daunting. “Charting a Course for Sustainable Prosperity” is an intuitive architecture to guide implementation of EBM. The Chart is intended to provide a framework for consistent legislation, planning, regulation, enforcement, monitoring and adaptive management, spanning jurisdictional and geographic scales. By outlining objectives relevant to marine multiple EBM efforts, the Chart acts as a guide for processes in different phases of defining, incorporating, planning, and implementing marine EBM.

The Chart describes strategic outcomes that depend on necessary and sufficient intermediate and primary outcomes. The ultimate desired outcome (i.e., the purpose of marine EBM) is to ensure “sustainable prosperity”. Strategic outcomes necessary to reach this goal have been grouped into the people, planet, and profit categories of the triple bottom-line, in this case termed Sustainable Economies, Human Well-being & Community Resilience, and Ecosystem Health. Enabling outcomes are included in (or between) the capacity areas of Governance, Natural Resources, Knowledge, and Capacity Building.

The architecture of the Chart has drawn upon success stories from the past to guide accomplishments of the future. It can be used in a number of ways, depending on the detail necessary for each management context. In its general form, the Chart can help governments and stakeholders examine key issues and align expectations around EBM components at a broad level. When further articulated in the context of a particular management problem, the Chart will help relate and explain specific aspects of resource use and conservation planning, identify and prioritise important linkages and dependencies, and direct the development of implementation plans.

MEBMI Chart

MEBMI Chart reduced +arrows

The Chart was refined from outputs of the Marine EBM Implementation Workshop by: Heather Coleman (PacMARA), Edward Gregr (UBC IRES), Melissa Evanson (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Nicholas Irving (Parks Canada), Grant Murray (Vancouver Island University), James McIsaac (Commercial Fishing Caucus), Anoma Patirana (Environment Canada), and Norma Serra-Sogas (PacMARA).

To read a short overview of the purpose and how to use the Chart, please click here.

PacMARA Convenes Dialogue on Marine Ecosystem-based Management

On 9-10 March 2010, PacMARA held a Marine Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) Workshop for Canada’s Pacific coast and ocean in Sidney, BC.  Participants from academia, federal government, First Nations, industry, provincial government, and NGOs came together to contribute to the ongoing dialogue known as the Marine EBM Gaps Challenge Dialogue.

The workshop was successful in producing a set of guiding draft Marine EBM Principles relevant to British Columbia, a Logic Model that summarizes rationale, drivers and desired outcomes, and suggested innovative approaches to joint planning, shared governance and enhanced collaboration.

The Working Group was composed of:
Jon Chamberlain, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands; Kai Chan, University of British Columbia; Heather Coleman, PacMARA; Steve Diggon, Coastal First Nations; Dan Edwards, Area A Crab Association; Kim Houston, Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Michelle Molnar and Bill Wareham, David Suzuki Foundation.

Documents available from the Marine EBM Gaps Workshop:

View the Workshop Summary.

View the DRAFT Marine EBM Logic Model

Ecosystem-based management in Canada

Ecosystem-based management in Canada: Trends from a national survey and relevance to protected areas

This document by Michael S. Quinn and Jannette C. Theberge presents results of a nation-wide survey to assess the state of ecosystem-based management (EBM) in Canada. Detailed interviews were completed with at least 10 individuals in each region of Canada, representing government, industry, non-government environmental, and municipal agencies.

Quinn & Theberge (2004) M. Quinn and J. Theberge, Ecosystem based management in Canada: Trends from a national survey and relevance to protected areas. In: N. Munro, P. Deardon, T. Herman, K. Beazley and S. Bondrup-Nielsen, Editors, Making ecosystem based management work: Connecting managers and researchers. In: Proceedings of the fifth international conference on science and management of protected areas, Science and Management of Protected Areas Association, Wolfville (2004).

PacMARA presents to the Regulatory Governance Initiative

Executive Director Henry Kucera and Program Director Evert Kenk were invited to an international panel discussion on place-based decision-making entitled “Critical Conversation on Place-Based Decision-Making: The Role of the Federal Government,” organized by the Regulatory Governance Initiative in Ottawa, Ontario on March 22, 2010.  Evert presented “Place-Based Decision Making: Regional Perspectives on Federal Roles.”  The intent of the workshop was to evaluate the federal government’s capacity and role in the support and delivery of integrated landscape management and EBM.

For more information and speaker presentations, see: A Critical Conversation on Place‐Based Decision‐Making

Evert’s Place-Based Decision Making Presentation

Regulatory Governance Brief on Place-Based Decision-Making: The Role of the Federal Government

Marine Ecosystem Based Management Knowledge Gaps Study

The Data Gaps Inventory project identified major gaps in marine data in BC, and was based on an initial scoping study completed in 2004. The goal of this project has been to identify what data currently exist in BC and where they can be found (emphasizing geo-referenced datasets), as well as where the knowledge gaps lie.

The Inventory also identifies older datasets that are not in an accessible electronic format, since they could be valuable sources of data in the future if funding becomes available to convert them into electronic format. Generally, the digitization of data is much less expensive than new surveys, and can add historical perspective. This analysis will help direct future marine research and digitization priorities in BC.

Jacqueline Booth Consulting has completed a study and series of focus groups to determine the general state of readiness for marine EBM in BC. The objective of this report is to help inform the EBM community of practice about information and data gaps existing in the EBM framework in BC marine waters and plan to fill the gaps. Research indicates that gaps exist in the policy framework, management instruments, decision tools and methods and there is no formal performance evaluation framework.

This document provides background material for input to the PacMARA Marine EBM Gaps Workshops. During the workshops members of the marine EBM community of practice will work together to prioritize the gaps and issues that must be resolved to help move EBM forward in the BC marine environment. This document supports that objective employing a four step approach:

1. Identify knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to proceed with EBM in BC marine waters.
2. Catalogue what data / information are currently available to fill these needs for BC marine waters.
3. Determine what data / information gaps exist for implementation of EBM.
4. Research possible methods for addressing the knowledge gaps by prioritizing the filling of needed data / information.

Report: Marine Ecosystem Based Management Knowledge Gaps Study

Appendices: EBM Gaps Appendix A, EBM Gaps Appendix B

Database: EBM Knowledge Gaps Database
Instructions: This database contains the identified data gaps from the PNCIMA EAOR. The gaps can be sorted by topic (biodiversity, habitat, function, stressor, activity) or subtopic (pollutants, invasive species, noise etc).
The database also includes a list of possible participants for the workshops, which has been gleaned from the recent biodiversity and PNCIMA EBM workshops. There are report forms for displaying all of the information.

Marxan Best Practices Presentation

Re-writing the Marxan manual, and creating the Marxan Good Practices Handbook, were all part of PacMARA’s ongoing project to aid in marine planning and decision making good practices. Like to know more? Here is a link to our PowerPoint presentation given April 2007 as part of the international launch of the new manual: Ardron_PacMARA_Apr07_1

Marine Experts Workshop

PacMARA partnered with the B.C. Conservation Planning Tools Committee (CPTC) to lead a workshop with a goal of reviewing current and planned marine biodiversity spatial analyses and conservation planning assessment tools available in BC. The workshop was also held to identify how the tools can be used individually and together as an assessment “system” of the status of marine biodiversity and as a foundation of a conceptual framework to guide conservation planning in BC.

The workshop was funded by GeoConnections and Natural Resources Canada. The summary, completed in November 2005, can be downloaded here.

2009 Marxan Training Session

In May of 2009 David Nicolson coordinated a Marxan Training session jointly delivered by PacMARA, and the Unversity of Queensland.  WWF – Canada provided the training facility and Blain Castle of ESRI Canada provided the ArcGIS licenses necessary for training.

The course attendees received Marxan Software, Digital instructions and the Marxan Good Practices Handbook.