Towards effective ecosystem services assessment in marine and coastal management

Despite facing increasing pressures and natural threats, complex marine and coastal ecosystems provide a large diversity of services which directly and indirectly contribute to our wellbeing. Assessing the socioeconomic importance of these ecosystem services has been increasingly recognised as a potential argument to support sustainable management of marine ecosystems. A diversity of qualitative and quantitative methodologies and tools has been used including monetary and non-monetary approaches. One way of scoping and simplifying assessments is to start with a clear focus on the management questions that could benefit from a better understanding of ecosystem services. Such a demand-driven approach requires an ecosystem service assessment that begins with the stakeholders. Expert scientific knowledge can be used to identify what data and types of assessment are actually needed to inform management decisions, and also what, practically, can be undertaken in terms of assessment. This chapter presents a stepwise process, called the ‘triage,' that creates a transparent and strategic process engaging practitioners to determine where best to focus the effort of both natural and social scientists involved in a marine and coastal ecosystem services assessment.