Evidence on the impact of Baltic Sea ecosystems on human health and well-being: a systematic map.

BACKGROUND: While the unique marine and coastal environment of the Baltic Sea provides numerous ecosystem services, its ecosystems are under pressure due to the intensification and diversification of anthropogenic uses. This present work constitutes a systematic map of the evidence of the impacts of ecosystem services and disservices on human health and well-being. The aim is to create a better understanding of the threats of unsustainable management or the benefits of sustainable management of the Baltic Sea and the impacts these may have on the health and well-being of human populations and present these findings to policy advisors. The mapping process is described, and the characteristics of the evidence base are presented. METHODS: The applied method has been previously published in a systematic map protocol. Literature searches were carried out in English considering published peer-reviewed literature from traditional scientific journals and scientific reports from the grey literature, using synthesis software. A total of 17 databases were searched. Articles were screened in stages at title and abstract stage, then full-text stage. Geographic limitations were placed on the searches in accordance with research funders call, however, watersheds that had an impact on the Baltic Sea marine and coastal regions were considered. We used the more open PEO format, where population (P) included the human populations within the marine and coastal environment of the Baltic Sea region, exposure (E) related to the Baltic Sea ecosystems services and disservices, and the outcome (O) included all aspects of human health and well-being. After full-text screening articles selected for inclusion were searched for metadata connected to bibliographic information, ecosystem services, health and well-being outcomes and policy relevance. REVIEW FINDINGS: Out of 6456 hits only 460 studies discussed either health or well-being indicators to some extent. Of these, only 67 explicitly mentioned ecosystem services and health and well-being indicators. However, few in this subset engaged with the topic of ecosystem services or disservices and health and well-being in depth. Studies are increasingly relating the two concepts but currently it is mainly studies focussed on cultural ecosystem services that deal with the concept of health and well-being to a greater degree. Studies in the medical literature relating to impacts on health from exposure to the Baltic Sea did not relate their findings to ecosystem services. The database of 67 studies is attached as Additional file 5. CONCLUSIONS: Ecosystem services play an important role in human health and well-being; however, we found few studies that explicitly examine these impacts in detail. Further research is needed to link the health and well-being outcomes from the Baltic Sea to the ecosystem services supplied and therefore to demonstrate the benefits and disservices provided by the Baltic Sea ecosystems to human populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13750-021-00244-w.

Data summarizing monitoring and evaluation for three European environmental policies in 9 cases across Europe.

The data presented in this DiB article provide an overview of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) carried out for 3 European environmental policies (the Water Framework Directive, the Natura 2000 network of protected areas, and Agri-Environment Schemes implemented under the Common Agricultural Policy), as implemented in 9 cases (Catalonia (Spain), Estonia, Finland, Flanders (Belgium), Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Scotland (UK), Sweden). These data are derived from reports and documents about monitoring programs that were publicly-available online in 2017. The literature on M&E to support adaptive management structured the issues that have been extracted and summarized. The data is related to the research article entitled "Policy-driven monitoring and evaluation: does it support adaptive management of socio-ecological systems?" [Stem et al., 2005]. The information provides a first overview of monitoring and evaluation that has been implemented in response to key European environmental policies. It provides a structured overview that permits a comparison of cases and policies and can assist other scholars and practitioners working on monitoring and evaluation.

Policy-driven monitoring and evaluation: Does it support adaptive management of socio-ecological systems?

Inadequate Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is often thought to hinder adaptive management of socio-ecological systems. A key influence on environmental management practices are environmental policies: however, their consequences for M&E practices have not been well-examined. We examine three policy areas - the Water Framework Directive, the Natura 2000 Directives, and the Agri-Environment Schemes of the Common Agricultural Policy - whose statutory requirements influence how the environment is managed and monitored across Europe. We use a comparative approach to examine what is monitored, how monitoring is carried out, and how results are used to update management, based on publicly available documentation across nine regional and national cases. The requirements and guidelines of these policies have provided significant impetus for monitoring: however, we find this policy-driven M&E usually does not match the ideals of what is needed to inform adaptive management. There is a tendency to focus on understanding state and trends rather than tracking the effect of interventions; a focus on specific biotic and abiotic indicators at the expense of understanding system functions and processes, especially social components; and limited attention to how context affects systems, though this is sometimes considered via secondary data. The resulting data are sometimes publicly-accessible, but it is rarely clear if and how these influence decisions at any level, whether this be in the original policy itself or at the level of measures such as site management plans. Adjustments to policy-driven M&E could better enable learning for adaptive management, by reconsidering what supports a balanced understanding of socio-ecological systems and decision-making. Useful strategies include making more use of secondary data, and more transparency in data-sharing and decision-making. Several countries and policy areas already offer useful examples. Such changes are essential given the influence of policy, and the urgency of enabling adaptive management to safeguard socio-ecological systems.

The science, policy and practice of nature-based solutions: An interdisciplinary perspective.

In this paper, we reflect on the implications for science, policy and practice of the recently introduced concept of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), with a focus on the European context. First, we analyse NBS in relation to similar concepts, and reflect on its relationship to sustainability as an overarching framework. From this, we derive a set of questions to be addressed and propose a general framework for how these might be addressed in NBS projects by funders, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. We conclude that: To realise their full potential, NBS must be developed by including the experience of all relevant stakeholders such that 'solutions' contribute to achieving all dimensions of sustainability. As NBS are developed, we must also moderate the expectations placed on them since the precedent provided by other initiatives whose aim was to manage nature sustainably demonstrates that we should not expect NBS to be cheap and easy, at least not in the short-term.

Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science.

The number of collaborative initiatives between scientists and volunteers (i.e., citizen science) is increasing across many research fields. The promise of societal transformation together with scientific breakthroughs contributes to the current popularity of citizen science (CS) in the policy domain. We examined the transformative capacity of citizen science in particular learning through environmental CS as conservation tool. We reviewed the CS and social-learning literature and examined 14 conservation projects across Europe that involved collaborative CS. We also developed a template that can be used to explore learning arrangements (i.e., learning events and materials) in CS projects and to explain how the desired outcomes can be achieved through CS learning. We found that recent studies aiming to define CS for analytical purposes often fail to improve the conceptual clarity of CS; CS programs may have transformative potential, especially for the development of individual skills, but such transformation is not necessarily occurring at the organizational and institutional levels; empirical evidence on simple learning outcomes, but the assertion of transformative effects of CS learning is often based on assumptions rather than empirical observation; and it is unanimous that learning in CS is considered important, but in practice it often goes unreported or unevaluated. In conclusion, we point to the need for reliable and transparent measurement of transformative effects for democratization of knowledge production.