The Contribution of Ecosystem Services in Developing Effective and Sustainable Management Practices in Marine Protected Areas. The Case Study of “Isola dell’Asinara”

Maddalena Floris, Vittorio Gazale, Federica Isola, Francesca Leccis, Salvatore Pinna and Cheti Pira
Additional contact information
Maddalena Floris: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Vittorio Gazale: “Isola dell’Asinara” Marine Protected Area, 07046 Porto Torres, Italy
Federica Isola: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Francesca Leccis: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Salvatore Pinna: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Cheti Pira: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-32

Abstract: Ecosystem Services (ESs) are assuming a constantly increasing importance in management practices due to their key role in ensuring a sustainable future to fauna and flora on Earth. In addition, ES degradation and quality loss jeopardize current human activities. For this reason, it is essential to develop methodologies and practices able to efficiently assess environmental and socio-economic impacts in terms of ES deterioration, especially within protected areas. Norms and regulations have to be able to identify habitat and species categories to be preserved, and to determine the cost of their destruction and decline, according to a holistic vision, which includes social and economic impacts, besides the environmental ones. The paper illustrates the case study of the “Isola dell’Asinara” Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Sardinia, where an experimental methodology was developed with the aim to draw new regulations that integrate conservation measures of Natura 2000 sites included in its territory, provisions determined by the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) protocol and the Standardized Actions for Effective Management of MPAs (ISEA) project. Subsequently, in order to assess the status of ESs and impacts on ESs located within the MPA territory, an ecosystem-based approach was implemented and applied to the actions defined for the new regulation proposal. Results show that regulations are in this way valuably enriched by environmental aspects of the MPA that would otherwise be overlooked.

Keywords: ecosystem services; millennium ecosystem assessment; marine protected areas; Natura 2000 network; integrated coastal zone management; standardized actions for effective management of marine protected areas; sustainable management; agenda 2030 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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