Session at Ecosystem Service Partnership Conference, 10-14 October, 2022 in Crete.
https://www.espconference.org/europe22
ESP_Session_Book of Abstracts
The proposal of a session “Sustainable spatial planning and management of ecosystem services in coastal areas and marine regions” has been submitted by Dr. Daniele La Rosa (University of Catania, Italy) and Dr. Vincenzo Maccarrone (National Research Council, Italy) and approved by the Scientific Committee of the Conference
ESP conferences represent the most relevant scientific event related to Ecosystem Services topics, gathering around 500-600 scholars and researcher from all Europe.
The session will host contributions from Partner of Mare of Vietnam and Malesia (contributions to be defined in July-august) and will be a great chance to fertilise the MARE research framework with other scholars.
Title Sustainable spatial planning and management of ecosystem services in coastal areas and marine regions
Abstract
There is an increasing concern on exposure and vulnerability of coastal ecosystems to different drivers of changes (e.g. ocean acidification, chemical & waste pollution, overexploitation of fish stocks). The areas on the interface between land and sea, such as coastal zones & deltas, represent a difficult environmental governance challenge, as they concentrate globally over 90% of population greatly relying on marine resources, however vulnerable to sea level raise & and deterioration of marine environments.
Especially in developing countries, such areas bear the price of a fast economic growth, and themselves provide major contribution to ocean pollution, while coastal ecosystems provide barrier, regulation & water purification functions, such as wetlands & mangroves are under the threat of extinction.
Coastal ecosystems provide the complete range ecosystem services on which coastal communities depend for food, economic activities, and cultural enrichment, but at same time represent arenas of strong interests, which often generate relevant trade-offs.
Local issues such as pollution, overfishing and environmental degradation in the coastal zone require immediate action to guarantee the integrity of coastal ecosystem services. Moreover, basic challenges, such as lack of monitoring effort, lack of information and use conflicts, must be overcome in coastal management strategies.
Coastal management is beginning to encompass more integrated strategies, but more holistic and transdisciplinary strategies are also necessary. The ecosystem services approach is a participative and iterative process, which seeks to improve decision-making over a particular issue, with a variety of measurement units (biophysical, monetary or non-monetary) depending on each case, and recognizes that the context in which the environmental assessment is included is important, as well as the demand for services.
Changing the current scenario is a difficult process, which includes changes in current public policies, public awareness and repeatedly producing results that support decisions. However, important first steps have already been taken through simple spatial and quantitative tools, providing clear tools that can be used by decision makers. However, such instruments and methods are required to be tested on the ground.
The scale of these problems urgently calls for research on methods and theoretical approaches that require contamination different disciplines such as ecology, engineering, planning, economy to detect risks and weaknesses of coastal ecosystems. (E)valuation allows the quantitative assessment of different options for planning and management of coastal zones to be implemented by making market and non-market goods and services comparable. Of particular relevance is the valuation of non-market services by coastal ecosystems.
A better understanding about how socio-economic factors interact with coastal ecosystem services will allow to better shape planning decisions and management options to adapt to future global and local changes of coastal ecosystems.
Goals and objectives of the session
This session aims to present current researches related to planning and management of coastal ecosystem services. Possible topics and research questions include:
– how planning of human activities in coastal areas can maximize the overall provision of ES?
– which are the main trade-offs generated by different planning and management options?
– Is it possible thinking to measure environmental performance using methods and indicators coming from science, economy and social world?
– How could be involved coastal citizens in plan for a more resilience and sustainable coastal areas?
– Is quintuple helix approach be useful to fit sustainability conservation and use of coastal resources?
Presentations of case studies are warmly welcome.
Planned output/deliverables
The session foresees two different and practical outcomes, to be decided according to the interest generated among participants.
- Proposal of joint essay/review on coastal management of ES
- Proposal of a book with International Publisher with full contributes from the presentations
Within the framework of the MARE project “Marine Coastal and Delta Sustainability for Southeast Asia” funded by Erasmus+, Faculty of Marine Resources Management, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment held the MARE project meeting on May 5 and May 10, 2022.
The MARE project attracts 13 PCs, which are universities and research institutes from Germany, Italy, Estonia, Vietnam and Malaysia. The objective of the project is to improve the capacity of higher education and postgraduate education in Vietnam and Malaysia, to address the issue of governance and sustainable management of coastal and delta areas.
The MARE project meeting with the participation of the two experts Dr. Anton Shkaruba and Mr. Veljo Kabin from the Estonian University of Life Sciences. On the University side, there were the participation of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Quyen, the University’s principal, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Thi Thanh Van, head of the Department of Science, Technology and External Relations, Mr. Le Trung Tri, head of Administration and Equipment Department. Ms. Phan Thi Diem Hanh , Head of Finance Department, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Nguyet, Head of Faculty of Economics, Dr. Duong Thi Thuy Nga, Head of Faculty of Information Systems, Dr. Do Minh Tuan, Head of Department of Geodesy, Cartography and GIS, Dr. Le Thi Kim Thoa Deputy head of Marine Resources management Faculty, teachers and students from the Faculty of Marine and Island Resource Management, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment.
Opening the program, Dr. Le Thi Kim Thoa, MARE project manager introduced the participants and the objectives of the MARE project meeting.
Dr. Le Thi Kim Thoa, project manager of MARE introduces participants and contents of the seminar program
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Huynh Quyen – Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment welcomed two experts from the European Union, teachers of Departments, Faculties and students who attended the meeting. In the opening speech, he emphasized the importance of the MARE project in building and developing the online training management system with a modern approach. This system has met the needs of HCMUNRE in managing and monitoring the teaching and learning quality of lecturers and students. Especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Huynh Quyen – Rector of the University gave the opening speech of the meeting
He hopes that through the report on the implementation of the MARE project and the introduction of HCMUNRE’s e-learning system, the university’s teachers will receive experience sharing about the e-learning system operating at EMU. He also emphasized the discussion, exchange of contents, plans for training trips in the near future, and opportunities for expanded cooperation with member partners in the future.
Representative of European partners, Dr. Anton Shkaruba, Estonian University of Science and Life, thanked the university for the warm welcome. He highly appreciated the results achieved by the teachers in the project, and the school’s efforts in expanding relationships and cooperation with project members, especially during the covid pandemic.
Dr. Anton Shkaruba, Estonia University of Life Sciences speaking at the meeting
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Quyen presents a souvenir to Dr. Anton Shkaruba
Dr. Le Thi Kim Thoa – Project manager, Faculty of Marine Resources Management reported the progress of the MARE project implementation. She said that the MARE project up to now has built and put an e-learning online training system into use for students majoring in Marine and Environmental Management. Besides the achievements, she also presented the difficulties and challenges when implementing the project, especially in the context of the recent covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Le Thi Kim Thoa briefly presented the results of the project and the difficulties in the implementation
of the MARE project
The project staff in turn reported the school’s co-finance, the process of building the e-learning system, cooperation activities, and signing with members in the framework of the MARE project. Results of the implementation of online teaching using the e-learning system; Results of collecting feedback from students, lecturers, stakeholders about online courses on e-learning system.
After the report on the results achieved up to now and the highly agreed responses from students and teachers participating in the e-learning system of the MARE project, the participants discussed and shared the implemented content, exchange issues that need to be overcome and find ways to overcome the limitations of the current e-learning system.
At the end of the first working day, the members attending the workshop took souvenir photos together
On May 10, 2022, the expert delegation returned to Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City to deploy the content of academic exchanges and advanced lesson design training on the Project’s e-learning system for the lecturers of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment.
At the beginning of the working session, Dr. Anton Shkaruba introduced research directions and topics that European experts can share and collaborate with to improve research and teaching capacity for teachers and students of the PCs of the MARE project.
Dr. Anton Shkaruba introduces the main research directions of the European member experts
After that, the lecturers discussed the topics and research directions of interest, and shared ideas and research plans for the possibility of implementing the program for future PhD students.
Staff share interest topics, research directions, and collaborate with project partners
Continuing the presentation of Dr. Anton Shkaruba, IT expert Veljo Kabin, from Estonian University of Life Sciences introduced the e-learning training system at EMU and shared valuable experiences with the teachers participating in the MARE project.
Veljo Kabin presents EMU’s e-learning system and shares experiences
Teachers discussed and asked questions about how to manage and operate the e-learning system at EMU. After that, there was an advanced training session with in-depth content in designing course lectures, methods of assessing students in the learning process as well as organizing final exams, managing transcripts…
After two days of active work, the project meeting ended and was a great success. The Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment is very grateful for the active support of experts in the past few days and we are very grateful to the Erasmus foundation for creating favorable conditions for project members to have the opportunity, extensive cooperation in research and teaching.
