Changing Views of the Interconnections Between the Oceans and Human Health in Europe

Early steps in the emergence of the discipline of “Oceans and Human Health” are charted in the USA and discussed in relation to past and present marine environment and human health research activities in Europe. Differences in terminology are considered, as well as differences in circumstances related to the various seas of Europe and the intensity of human coastal activity and impact. Opportunities to progress interdisciplinary research are described, and the value of horizon scanning for the early identification of emerging issues is highlighted. The challenges facing researchers and policymakers addressing oceans and human health issues are outlined and some suggestions offered regarding how further progress in research and training into both the risks and benefits of Oceans and Human Health might be made on both sides of the Atlantic.     

陆源人类活动对近海生态系统的影响

随着海岸带快速城市化和经济发展,人类活动对近海生态系统的影响日益增加。通过对国内外大量相关文献的分析和与国际专家的研讨,分别从海洋资源开发、海岸带城市化和环境变化等几个方面概述了陆源人类活动对近海生态系统的影响。目前陆源人类活动导致近海生态系统出现的主要问题有:海洋生物资源过度捕捞、海岸带富营养化、海洋酸化、珊瑚礁退化、海洋垃圾、以及海岸带矿产开采等高强度开发活动引发的重金属和持久性有机污染物污染等。这些问题会直接导致海洋生物群落结构变化、影响水质、降低海洋生物多样性,最终影响海洋生态系统服务功能,威胁海洋生态系统健康。这些问题的根源多来自陆地,必须将海洋和陆地作为一个有机整体,整合海陆系统相互作用的科学计划,推进海洋资源和近海生态系统的可持续管理。     

Assessing the Effects of Climate Change on Waterborne Microorganisms: Implications for EU and U.S. Water Policy

Despite advances in water treatment, outbreaks of waterborne diseases still occur in developed regions including the United States and Europe Union (EU). Water quality impairments attributable to elevated concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria, and associated with health risk, are also very common. Research suggests that the impact of such microorganisms on public health may be intensified by the effects of climate change. At present, the major regulatory frameworks in these regions (i.e., the US Clean Water Act [CWA] and the EU Water Framework Directive [WFD]), do not explicitly address risks posed by climate change. This article reviews existing U.S. and EU water quality regulatory legislation for robustness to climate change and suggests watershed modeling approaches to inform additional pollution control measures given the likely impacts on microbial fate and transport. Comprehensive analysis of future climate and water quality scenarios may only be achievable through the use of watershed-scale models. Unless adaptation measures are generated and incorporated into water policy, the potential threat posed to humans from exposure to waterborne pathogens may be amplified. Such adaptation measures will assist in achieving the aims of the EU WFD and US CWA and minimize impacts of climate change on microbial water quality.     

Social and economic policy issues relevant to marine aquaculture

This paper presents a critical review of current social, economic and policy issues relevant to marine aquaculture (mariculture) in Europe. Tools for identifying the full range of social, economic and environmental issues that influence the sustainable development of mariculture are examined. Under present sectoral approaches to policy, investment, development planning and natural resources management, these issues continue to be treated in isolation. The four main challenges presented in this paper are: (i) how to create a more objective information base with which to assess the social, economic and environmental factors that condition the sustainability of mariculture; (ii) how to provide information from different disciplines in an easy to obtain and compatible format; (iii) how to better integrate knowledge and skills from different disciplines to create a holistic and robust framework for assessing options for mariculture development that integrates social, economic and environmental parameters; and (iv) the effective integration of these assessments into the formulation of policy, investment strategies, spatial plans and natural resources management for coastal areas. Specific issues that need to be addressed within the framework for the integrated evaluation of the economic, social and environmental parameters governing the sustainable development of mariculture include: ? development of more accurate information on the economic, social and environmental benefits and costs of well‐planned and managed mariculture; ? clearer definition of gaps in existing knowledge on factors critical to the sustainable and equitable development of mariculture; ? development of pro‐active consideration of the coastal land and water resource requirements of mariculture as part of strategic economic planning, spatial planning and natural resources management; ? the need for more equitable treatment of mariculture regarding rights of access to sites for development and use of resources; ? development of awareness among decision‐makers, planners, and managers from different sectoral agencies of the contribution that mariculture may make in promoting the sustainable use of coastal ecosystems; ? promotion of a shift in emphasis away from controlling the end use of resources and toward a more balanced approach to coastal development where emphasis is also given to maintaining the health and productivity of coastal ecosystems and the resources they generate that sustain different forms of activity, including mariculture.     

Perennial biomass cropping and use: Shaping the policy ecosystem in European countries

Demand for sustainably produced biomass is expected to increase with the need to provide renewable commodities, improve resource security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with COP26 commitments. Studies have demonstrated additional environmental benefits of using perennial biomass crops (PBCs), when produced appropriately, as a feedstock for the growing bioeconomy, including utilisation for bioenergy (with or without carbon capture and storage). PBCs can potentially contribute to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (2023–27) objectives provided they are carefully integrated into farming systems and landscapes. Despite significant research and development (R&D) investment over decades in herbaceous and coppiced woody PBCs, deployment has largely stagnated due to social, economic and policy uncertainties. This paper identifies the challenges in creating policies that are acceptable to all actors. Development will need to be informed by measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other environmental, economic and social metrics. It discusses interlinked issues that must be considered in the expansion of PBC production: (i) available land; (ii) yield potential; (iii) integration into farming systems; (iv) R&D requirements; (v) utilisation options; and (vi) market systems and the socio-economic environment. It makes policy recommendations that would enable greater PBC deployment: (1) incentivise farmers and land managers through specific policy measures, including carbon pricing, to allocate their less productive and less profitable land for uses which deliver demonstrable greenhouse gas reductions; (2) enable greenhouse gas mitigation markets to develop and offer secure contracts for commercial developers of verifiable low-carbon bioenergy and bioproducts; (3) support innovation in biomass utilisation value chains; and (4) continue long-term, strategic R&D and education for positive environmental, economic and social sustainability impacts.     

LIPGENE: an EU project to tackle the metabolic syndrome

LIPGENE is a new 5-year sixth framework EU project involving researchers from 14 EU countries. It will contribute to a reduction in the economic and social burden of the metabolic syndrome through research that will optimise the health impacts of dietary fat change. LIPGENE aims to: account for variation in genotype response to fatty acid modification; enable greater availability of food products that can enhance human health; enhance consumer awareness, and motivate adoption of dietary approaches to disease prevention. A truly integrated programme, LIPGENE incorporates human nutrition, animal nutrition, plant biotechnology, and economic and social/consumer sciences. The human nutrition packages will utilise data from an existing prospective study (SUVIMAX) to identify genotype and dietary interactions as risk factors for the metabolic syndrome. A multi-centre intervention will examine the effects of dietary fat on various risk factors for the metabolic syndrome, while molecular investigations will be supported by mechanistic and functional studies. The British Nutrition Foundation, as dissemination partners for this EU programme, is initiating a wide-reaching programme to disseminate information about the project and its findings. Further details, including lists of upcoming project-related events, are available at www.lipgene.tcd.ie and www.nutrition.org.uk/lipgene.     

United States legislation and the polar oceans

The United States has important national interests vested in both the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. Thus, in recent decades the United States has progressively codified its national commitment to conserve and manage both these marine regions and their resources and to protect them from activities that might produce adverse impacts. The U.S. legislation passed since the 1960s selectively affects both polar regions and supports major American policy objectives there: to maintain the Arctic and Antarctic as areas of international cooperation for peaceful purposes; to satisfy economic needs, especially hydrocarbon, mineral, and living resources; to protect opportunities for scientific research; to protect the marine environment; and to conserve living resources in the circumpolar seas. Future trends suggest a shift in U.S. policy attention to the Arctic. Accordingly, new U.S. legislation will be needed to regulate increased activities in the polar north.     

《生物多样性公约》海洋生物多样性议题的 谈判焦点、影响及我国对策

海洋和沿海生物多样性保护和可持续利用等问题是《生物多样性公约》谈判的重要领域。本文梳理了历次缔约方大会的谈判进程, 认为主要焦点议题包括: (1)应对人类活动和全球气候变化对海洋和沿海生物多样性的影响; (2)海洋和沿海生物多样性保护和可持续利用的工具; (3)海洋保护区及具有重要生态或生物学意义的海域。这些议题的讨论将影响包括全球海洋保护区建设在内的海洋生物多样性保护进程, 也将影响全球海洋生物多样性保护国际制度的建设, 以及沿海国家的社会经济。我国应加强履约谈判的技术支持, 加快涉海相关问题研究, 积极参与相关国际谈判, 并大力宣传我国经验。     

Food security and marine capture fisheries: characteristics, trends, drivers and future perspectives

World population is expected to grow from the present 6.8 billion people to about 9 billion by 2050. The growing need for nutritious and healthy food will increase the demand for fisheries products from marine sources, whose productivity is already highly stressed by excessive fishing pressure, growing organic pollution, toxic contamination, coastal degradation and climate change. Looking towards 2050, the question is how fisheries governance, and the national and international policy and legal frameworks within which it is nested, will ensure a sustainable harvest, maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and adapt to climate change. This paper looks at global fisheries production, the state of resources, contribution to food security and governance. It describes the main changes affecting the sector, including geographical expansion, fishing capacity-building, natural variability, environmental degradation and climate change. It identifies drivers and future challenges, while suggesting how new science, policies and interventions could best address those challenges.     

海洋可持续发展目标与海洋和滨海生态系统管理

海洋和海岸带可以为人类提供多种生态系统服务,保护与持续利用海洋资源以促进海洋和海岸带可持续发展已被正式纳入联合国可持续发展目标。实施海洋可持续发展目标面临几大挑战,包括如何减小陆基人类活动的影响、加强海岸带的综合管理、提高海洋资源效率、适应气候变化和提高沿海居民的人类福祉等。为应对这些挑战,需要将海洋和海岸带融合为一个大型生态系统,利用基于生态系统的管理方法,综合考虑各个部门和多种胁迫因素的累积影响,通过建立综合的海洋观测体系,合理划分海洋功能区,按照海洋环境承载力限制陆基人类活动,合理配置并有效利用海洋资源,提升海洋和海岸带生态系统的整体服务功能,从而进一步推进实施海洋可持续发展目标。     

Status of Marine Biodiversity of the China Seas

China''s seas cover nearly 5 million square kilometers extending from the tropical to the temperate climate zones and bordering on 32,000 km of coastline, including islands. Comprehensive systematic study of the marine biodiversity within this region began in the early 1950s with the establishment of the Qingdao Marine Biological Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since that time scientists have carried out intensive multidisciplinary research on marine life in the China seas and have recorded 22,629 species belonging to 46 phyla. The marine flora and fauna of the China seas are characterized by high biodiversity, including tropical and subtropical elements of the Indo-West Pacific warm-water fauna in the South and East China seas, and temperate elements of North Pacific temperate fauna mainly in the Yellow Sea. The southern South China Sea fauna is characterized by typical tropical elements paralleled with the Philippine-New Guinea-Indonesia Coral triangle typical tropical faunal center.This paper summarizes advances in studies of marine biodiversity in China''s seas and discusses current research mainly on characteristics and changes in marine biodiversity, including the monitoring, assessment, and conservation of endangered species and particularly the strengthening of effective management. Studies of (1) a tidal flat in a semi-enclosed embayment, (2) the impact of global climate change on a cold-water ecosystem, (3) coral reefs of Hainan Island and Xisha-Nansha atolls, (4) mangrove forests of the South China Sea, (5) a threatened seagrass field, and (6) an example of stock enhancement practices of the Chinese shrimp fishery are briefly introduced. Besides the overexploitation of living resources (more than 12.4 million tons yielded in 2007), the major threat to the biodiversity of the China seas is environmental deterioration (pollution, coastal construction), particularly in the brackish waters of estuarine environments, which are characterized by high productivity and represent spawning and nursery areas for several economically important species. In the long term, climate change is also a major threat. Finally, challenges in marine biodiversity studies are briefly discussed along with suggestions to strengthen the field. Since 2004, China has participated in the Census of Marine Life, through which advances in the study of zooplankton and zoobenthos biodiversity were finally summarized.     

Predicting and mapping the risk of introduction of marine non-indigenous species into Great Britain and Ireland

Non-indigenous species (NIS) can have adverse environmental, economic and social impacts. Their management is now incorporated into key legislation, including the European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Regulation on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. Prevention of NIS introductions and the early detection of NIS following their introduction are recognised as the most effective approaches for reducing the potential impacts of NIS. This is true for most aquatic environments but especially so for the marine environment, where control and/or eradication are often not achievable. By assessing introduction vector activity, it is possible to identify coastal areas and specific locations where marine NIS may be more likely to be introduced. This study uses data relating to the activity of key introduction vectors; shipping, recreational boating and live animal aquaculture import, to estimate the relative risk of introduction of NIS around coastal regions of Great Britain and Ireland. Spatial analysis was used to create “heat” maps indicating coastal areas of increased relative risk of introduction of NIS by these vectors. The results of the present study will be crucial for the implementation of targeted vector management plans, supporting preventive strategies, and will facilitate a risk analyses of NIS threats to inform monitoring and surveillance programmes.     

Social Impacts in Product Life Cycles - Towards Life Cycle Attribute Assessment

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.017

Background, Aims and Scope

Social impacts in supply chains and product life cycles are of increasing interest to policy makers and stakeholders. Work is underway to develop social impact indicators for LCA, and to identify the social inventory data that will drive impact assessment for this category. Standard LCA practice collects and aggregates inventory data of the form \units of input or output (elementary flow) per unit of process output.\ Measurement of social impacts within workplaces as well as host communities and societies poses new challenges not heretofore faced by LCA database developers. Participatory measurement and auditing of social impacts and of workplace health issues has been shown to provide important benefits relative to external auditor-based methods, including greater likelihood of detecting rights abuses, and stronger support of subsequent action for improvement. However, nonstandardized auditing and metrics poses challenges for the supply chain-wide aggregation and comparison functions of LCA. An analogous challenge arises in the case of resource extractive processes, for which the certification of best management practices provides an important and practical environmental metric. In both the social and resource extraction examples, it may be that attributes of the process are more valuable metrics to measure and incentivize than measured quantities per unit of process output. But how to measure, how to aggregate across life cycles, how to compare product life cycles, and how to incentivize progress as with product policy?

Methods

A methodology is presented and demonstrated which estimates the health impacts of economic development stemming from product life cycles. This methodology does not introduce new social indicators; rather, it works with the already common LCA endpoint of human health, and introduces and applies a simplified empirical relationship to characterize the complex pathways from product life cycles' economic activity to health in the aggregate.

Results

A simple case study indicates that the health benefits of economic development impacts in product life cycles have the potential to be very significant, possibly even orders of magnitude greater than the health damages from the increased pollution. While the simple macro model points up the dramatic importance of socio-economic pathways to health in product life cycles, it lacks any sensitivity to the vitally important, contextspecific attributes of the economic development associated with each process. This result begs the question of how to measure, aggregate, compare, and stimulate society-wide improvement of context-dependent attributes within and across product life cycles in LCA.

Discussion

Before attempting an answer to the question noted above, a brief reconsideration is offered concerning life cycle assessment. Namely, where does it come from, and what does it bring?

Recommendations and Outlook

Finally, the paper concludes by sketching a life cycle approach to promoting localized assessments, to summarizing their results over supply chains and life cycles, and to comparing product life cycles in terms of their results. Often, localized assessments will yield information on the attributes of a process, rather than (or in addition to) the traditional form of life cycle inventory information, which is \units of something per unit of process output.\ The methodology can enable product policy users to promote reporting of basic attributes of processes within supply chains, together with local measurement and reporting of context-relevant impacts. For attributes linked to progress on impacts of local and global concern, promotion of these attributes within supply chain processes will bring strong benefits. In addition, over time it may be possible for researchers to develop and refine models that estimate, based on cross-sectional and time series analysis of attributes and impacts, relationships between attributes and impacts. In any case, while local impacts across supply chains may not be precisely knowable – let alone controllable – by a microdecision maker at the time of their product-related decision, life cycle attribute analysis may give such decision makers an opportunity to empower progress throughout life cycles and supply chains, which is after all a motivating goal of LCA.

     

Spatial variation and low diversity in the major histocompatibility complex in walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

Increased global temperature and associated changes to Arctic habitats will likely result in the northward advance of species, including an influx of pathogens novel to the Arctic. How species respond to these immunological challenges will depend in part on the adaptive potential of their immune response system. We compared levels of genetic diversity at a gene associated with adaptive immune response [Class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC), DQB exon 2] between populations of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), a sea ice-dependent Arctic species. Walrus was represented by only five MHC DQB alleles, with frequency differences observed between Pacific and Atlantic populations. MHC DQB alleles appear to be under balancing selection, and most (80 %; n = 4/5) of the alleles were observed in walruses from both oceans, suggesting broad scale differences in the frequency of exposure and diversity of pathogens may be influencing levels of heterozygosity at DQB in walruses. Limited genetic diversity at MHC, however, suggests that walrus may have a reduced capacity to respond to novel immunological challenges associated with shifts in ecological communities and environmental stressors predicted for changing climates. This is particularly pertinent for walrus, since reductions in summer sea ice may facilitate both northward expansion of marine species and associated pathogens from more temperate regions, and exchange of marine mammals and associated pathogens through the recently opened Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the Canadian high Arctic.     

The European Union and Ocean Use Management: The Marine Strategy and the Maritime Policy

Problems resulting from contemporary patterns of ocean use and threats to the viability of the marine environment have led to reconsideration of ocean use governance in a number of states, including the United States, Australia, and Canada. For its part, the European Union has been working on the development of a Marine Strategy to safeguard the environment and a more encompassing Maritime Policy into which the Marine Strategy would be folded. The desired Maritime Policy would reflect a holistic perspective of ocean space, embody an ecosystem-based approach to ocean use management, and provide a broad framework for ocean/coastal management. As has been seen elsewhere, developing such a governance system is difficult both in terms of conceptualization and, subsequently, in operationalization. The June 2006 European Commission Green Paper on Maritime Policy sets the stage for a year of consultations designed to develop an effective governance system for ocean management. Institutional and policy changes will be needed and it will be necessary to balance the objectives of economic growth and protection of environmental sustainability. This article examines current developments in efforts to devise a coherent and integrated European Union approach to ocean management.     

Evidence-informed policy for tackling adverse climate change effects on health: Linking regional and global assessments of science to catalyse action

Robin Fears and co-authors discuss evidence-informed regional and global policy responses to health impacts of climate change.

Summary points

• Effective policy making depends on synthesising and improving the use of existing robust scientific evidence, tackling misinformation, and identifying knowledge gaps to be filled by new research.
• A global project organised by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) is bringing together evidence from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe to evaluate climate change effects on health and to assess policy priorities for adaptation and mitigation solutions. Project design encouraged inclusivity in assessing research from across disciplines and from diverse geographical and socioeconomic contexts encompassing issues for vulnerable groups (including Indigenous Peoples) and integrating outputs at national, regional, and global levels.
• Coordinated policy development approaches across sectors and regions and integration at national–regional–global levels are essential to understand trade-offs, avoid inadvertent consequences, and capitalise on potential synergies for multiple benefits for health, equity, and environment.
• National priorities must include integrating health actions into national climate adaptation plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Regional policy action is important to address cross-boundary issues and to build critical mass for quantifying and implementing solutions.
• A focus on human health can catalyse the strengthening of international coherence and commitment to tackling shared climate change challenges. Health must be prioritised in current global policy initiatives, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Conference of the Parties 26 (COP26), UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties 15 (COP15), and the UN Food Systems Summit. The scientific and health communities have a key role to help lead efforts by engaging at the science–policy interfaces to address barriers to action.

     

Synergistic effects of climate change and local stressors: CO2 and nutrient-driven change in subtidal rocky habitats

Climate-driven change represents the cumulative effect of global through local-scale conditions, and understanding their manifestation at local scales can empower local management. Change in the dominance of habitats is often the product of local nutrient pollution that occurs at relatively local scales (i.e. catchment scale), a critical scale of management at which global impacts will manifest. We tested whether forecasted global-scale change [elevated carbon dioxide (CO₂) and subsequent ocean acidification] and local stressors (elevated nutrients) can combine to accelerate the expansion of filamentous turfs at the expense of calcifying algae (kelp understorey). Our results not only support this model of future change, but also highlight the synergistic effects of future CO₂ and nutrient concentrations on the abundance of turfs. These results suggest that global and local stressors need to be assessed in meaningful combinations so that the anticipated effects of climate change do not create the false impression that, however complex, climate change will produce smaller effects than reality. These findings empower local managers because they show that policies of reducing local stressors (e.g. nutrient pollution) can reduce the effects of global stressors not under their governance (e.g. ocean acidification). The connection between research and government policy provides an example whereby knowledge (and decision making) across local through global scales provides solutions to some of the most vexing challenges for attaining social goals of sustainability, biological conservation and economic development.     

Cumulative Human Impacts on Mediterranean and Black Sea Marine Ecosystems: Assessing Current Pressures and Opportunities

Management of marine ecosystems requires spatial information on current impacts. In several marine regions, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, legal mandates and agreements to implement ecosystem-based management and spatial plans provide new opportunities to balance uses and protection of marine ecosystems. Analyses of the intensity and distribution of cumulative impacts of human activities directly connected to the ecological goals of these policy efforts are critically needed. Quantification and mapping of the cumulative impact of 22 drivers to 17 marine ecosystems reveals that 20% of the entire basin and 60–99% of the territorial waters of EU member states are heavily impacted, with high human impact occurring in all ecoregions and territorial waters. Less than 1% of these regions are relatively unaffected. This high impact results from multiple drivers, rather than one individual use or stressor, with climatic drivers (increasing temperature and UV, and acidification), demersal fishing, ship traffic, and, in coastal areas, pollution from land accounting for a majority of cumulative impacts. These results show that coordinated management of key areas and activities could significantly improve the condition of these marine ecosystems.     

Global biomass potentials under sustainability restrictions defined by the European Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC

The political will to reduce global GHG emissions has largely contributed to increased global biofuel production and trade. The expanding cultivation of energy crops may drive changes in the terrestrial ecosystems such as land cover and biodiversity loss. When biomass replaces fossil energy carriers, sustainability criteria are therefore crucial to avoid adverse impacts and ensure a net positive GHG balance. The European Union has set mandatory sustainability criteria for liquid biofuels in its Renewable Energy Directive (RED) 2009/28/EC to ensure net positive impacts of its biofuel policy. The adoption of sustainability criteria in other world regions and their extension to solid and gaseous biomass in the EU is ongoing. This paper examines the effect of the EU RED sustainability criteria on the availability of biomass resources at global and regional scale. It quantifies the relevance of sustainability criteria in biomass resource assessments taking into account the criteria's spatial distribution. This assessment does not include agricultural and forestry residues and aquatic biomass. Previously unknown interrelations between sustainability criteria are examined and described for ten world regions. The analysis concludes that roughly 10% (98.5 EJ) of the total theoretical potential of 977.2 EJ occurs in areas free of sustainability concerns.     

Considerations in Estimating Social and Economic Impacts of Immunotoxic Agents

To make appropriate regulatory policy decisions, the potential social and economic impacts of the policy must first be established. For environmental and occupational agents, social and economic impacts are derived from animal toxicology and, when available, human studies that serve as the base for risk-benefit analysis (RBA). Because immune function is associated with resistance to infectious disease, developing RBA for data derived from immunotoxicology studies will require determining the changes in the frequency or severity of infectious disease resulting from an exposure. Fortunately, considerable information is readily available for identifying the frequency of infectious diseases in the general population and its social and economic impacts and to assist the risk assessor when conducting RBA for immunotoxicology endpoints. The following is a brief review describing some issues in using immunotoxicity data when conducting RBA. It presents an economic methodology to determine the economic impacts of infectious diseases to society, sources where these types of information are available, and an example using a specific infectious disease, otitis media.