Publications in Oceans & Coasts

Environmental Management Needs for Exploration and Exploitation of Deep Sea Minerals

May 2012 - by International Seabed Authority, et al.

The International Seabed Authority in collaboration with the Government of Fiji and the SOPAC Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community held a Workshop on Environmental Management Needs for Exploration and Exploitation of Deep Sea Minerals, in Nadi, Fiji.This initiative reflected the increasing interest in and associated concerns about the potential environmental impacts of deep sea minerals exploration and mining and how competent authorities at the national and international level will regulate this emerging economic development opportunity in a sustainable manner in areas within and beyond national jurisdiction. This document contains the outcomes of the discussions at the workshop.

Coming to the table: Early stakeholder engagement in marine spatial planning

April 2012

From 2009 to 2011, marine spatial planning (MSP) rapidly gained visibility in the United States as a promising ocean management tool. During that same time period, the authors engaged a variety of U.S ocean stakeholders in a series of dialogs with several goals: to share information about what MSP is or could be, to hear stakeholder views and concerns about MSP, and to foster better understanding between those who depend on ocean resources for their livelihood and ocean conservation advocates. The stakeholder meetings were supplemented with several rounds of in-depth interviews and a survey. Despite some predictable areas of conflict, project participants agreed on a number of issues related to stakeholder engagement in MSP: all felt strongly that government planners need to engage outsiders earlier, more often, more meaningfully, and through an open and transparent process. Equally important, the project affirmed the value of bringing unlike parties together at the earliest opportunity to learn, talk, and listen to others with whom they rarely engage.

Why Value the Oceans?

April 2012 - by Yannick Beaudoin and Linwood Pendleton

This discussion paper by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)/GRID-Arendal and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, in collaboration with the UNEP TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) Office and the UNEP Regional Seas Programme, is based on contributions from an international group of experts. It highlights areas of ocean and coastal management for which a better understanding of the economic value of marine ecosystem services could substantially improve the management of critical marine resources; improve governance, regulation, and emerging ocean policy; and provide a better understanding of the potential economic challenges that arise from a rapidly changing ocean environment.

Green Economy in a Blue World

January 2012 - by United Nations Environment Programme, et al.

This report highlights how ecological health and economic productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are currently in decline around the globe, can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic paradigm that taps their natural potential. Released by the United Nations Environment Programme and partners, it further highlights how the sustainable management of fertilizers would help reduce the cost of marine pollution caused by nitrogen and other nutrients used in agriculture, which is estimated at $100 billion per year in the European Union alone.

Financing Options for Blue Carbon: Opportunities and Lessons from the REDD+ Experience

November 2011 - by David Gordon, Brian C. Murray, Linwood Pendleton, and Britta Victor

When development pressures transform mangroves, seagrass, and coastal wetlands, carbon stored in their biomass and soil is released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. One way to counter these pressures and thereby conserve the carbon stored in these habitats (referred to as “blue carbon”) is to provide payments for the environmental services they provide. This paper analyzes current and potential options for carbon mitigation payments as a source of blue carbon finance. With other work that has focused on the payments needed to secure blue carbon, this paper can help stakeholders assess funding gaps and direct scarce resources to those activities that will provide the greatest blue carbon benefits.

Estimating the potential economic impacts of climate change on Southern California beaches

November 2011

Climate change could substantially alter the width of beaches in Southern California. Climate-driven sea level rise will have at least two important impacts on beaches: (1) higher sea level will cause all beaches to become more narrow, all things being held constant, and (2) sea level rise may affect patterns of beach erosion and accretion when severe storms combine with higher high tides. To understand the potential economic impacts of these two outcomes, this study examined the physical and economic effects of permanent beach loss caused by inundation due to sea level rise of one meter and of erosion and accretion caused by a single, extremely stormy year (using a model of beach change based on the wave climate conditions of the El Niño year of 1982/1983.)

Environmental Management of Deep-Sea Chemosynthetic Ecosystems: Justification of and Considerations for a Spatially-Based Approach

June 2011

This report is the result of a June 2010 workshop sponsored by the International Seabed Authority in Dinard, France. Linwood Pendleton, director of ocean and coastal policy at the Nicholas Institute, along with deep sea biologists and policy makers attended and contributed to this report. It presents the first design principles for the comprehensive management of chemosynthetic environments in the global ocean and serves to introduce chemosynthetic ecosystems into the discourse of systematic marine spatial planning.

State of the Science on Coastal Blue Carbon: A Summary for Policy Makers

May 2011 - by Samantha Sifleet, Linwood Pendleton, and Brian C. Murray

The natural science of blue carbon is evolving rapidly, and many policy makers remain uncertain about the biophysical potential of these habitats as engines of carbon storage. To better manage the ecosystem services provided by coastal blue carbon, we need a good scientific understanding of how coastal habitats sequester and store carbon, where on the planet carbon is stored in these habitats, how rapidly the habitats are being modified with a risk of carbon release into the atmosphere or water column, and the mechanisms and rate of carbon emissions that follow habitat conversion. This report examines the current science as it relates to these topics. In doing so, it aims to give policy makers a feel for what is known and unknown about coastal blue carbon.

Green Payments for Blue Carbon: Economic Incentives for Protecting Threatened Coastal Habitats

April 2011 - by Brian C. Murray, Linwood Pendleton, W. Aaron Jenkins, and Samantha Sifleet

This report examines the critical question of whether monetary payments for blue carbon—carbon captured and stored by coastal marine and wetland ecosystems—can alter economic incentives to favor protection of coastal habitats such as mangroves, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes. This idea is analogous to payments for REDD+ (reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation), an instrument of global climate policy that aims to curtail forest clearing, especially in the tropics. Like payments for REDD+, incentives to retain rather than emit blue carbon would preserve biodiversity as well as a variety of other ecosystem services at local and regional scales.

Climate Ready Estuaries: A Blueprint for Change

March 2011 - by Bill Holman and Amy Pickle

Initially conceived as an outreach pilot to increase public and local government awareness in five counties of the Albemarle-Pamlico region, our Blueprint summarizes the initial outreach efforts, includes findings and recommendations for increasing the region’s climate resilience, compiles a resource of up-to-date science on sea-level rise impacts, and serves as a first step in educating the public and decision makers about the opportunities and challenges of becoming a climate ready estuary.

Size Matters: The Economic Value of Beach Erosion and Nourishment in Southern California

March 2011

Despite the widespread use of nourishment in California, few studies estimate the welfare benefits of increased beach width. This paper relies on panel data funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies. Beach choices of respondents were combined with beach attribute data to reveal how changes in width affect choice and the economic value of beach visits. We use a random-utility approach to show that the value of beach width varies for different types of beach uses: water contact, sand-, and pavement-based activities. We also find that the marginal value of beach width depends on initial beach width.

Stakeholder Participation in Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning

January 2011 - by Morgan Gopnik, Clare Fieseler, and Larry Crowder

Beginning in July 2009, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, in collaboration with Duke’s Center for Marine Conservation and the Meridian Institute, convened a series of meetings to discuss coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) with a variety of ocean stakeholders. Four of the meetings included only representatives from ocean industries, two included only environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs), and the final two meetings included stakeholders from all constituencies. The purpose of the meetings was to share perspectives, discover areas of agreement, and identify potential conflicts; no attempt was made to reach consensus among the participants. To supplement discussions at the meetings, the Nicholas Institute also conducted in-depth phone interviews and administered a web-based survey for the meetings’ participants.

Measuring and Monitoring the Economic Effects of Restoration: Recommendations from a Blue Ribbon Panel

December 2010

The recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has highlighted how important the region's coasts are to the economy. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has long been measuring the ecological successes of its marine and coastal restoration efforts, but a new panel offers ideas on how to also measure the economic impact of restoration.

Payments for Blue Carbon: Potential for Protecting Threatened Coastal Habitats

November 2010 - by Brian C. Murray, W. Aaron Jenkins, Samantha Sifleet, Linwood Pendleton, and Alexis Baldera

Coastal habitats worldwide are under increasing threat of destruction through human activities such as farming, aquaculture, timber extraction, or real estate development. This loss of habitat carries with it the loss of critical functions that coastal ecosystems provide: support of marine species, retention of shorelines, water quality, and scenic beauty, to name a few. These losses are large from an ecological standpoint but they are economically significant as well. Because the value of these ecosystem services is not easily captured in markets, those who control these lands often do not consider these values when choosing whether to clear the habitat to produce goods that can be sold in the marketplace. This is a form of market failure that leads to excessive habitat destruction. As a result, scientists, policymakers, and other concerned parties are seeking ways to change economic incentives to correct the problem. This is a revised version of a previously published policy brief.

Allocation Across the Regional Fishery Management Councils

November 2010 - by Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum

This report contains short profiles of each regional fishery management council’s experiences with allocation, highlighting recent allocation decisions as well as qualities of the allocation decision-making process that managers and stakeholders have identified as important to the region. Prepared for the September 2010 Fisheries Forum in Monterey, CA.

Rethinking the Funding and Management of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway: Policy Lab 1 Executive Summary

November 2010 - by Linwood Pendleton

On July 28 and 29, 2010, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University hosted a policy lab in Washington, D.C., to bring together professionals from different sectors and representatives of different states in the South Atlantic region to discuss the history of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) and its uses, identify management challenges, and develop innovative solutions to these challenges. Participants were encouraged to think of creative new policy alternatives to effectively manage and fund the AIWW. This document highlights the most important topics of discussion.

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