Adaptive management institutions at the regional level: The case of Large Marine Ecosystems

A global effort is underway by scientists, stakeholders, resource managers, and multisectoral ministerial representatives (e.g. fisheries, transportation, mining, energy, tourism, environment) from 110 economically developing countries to implement ecosystem-based management at the Large Marine Ecosystem scale. The effort is supported with $3.1 billion in financial assistance from the Global Environmental Facility and World Bank to assess and manage goods and services of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) along the coasts of economically developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe. Through a systematic spatial and temporal scaling across multiple jurisdictions (e.g. community, municipal, regional, national, and international) a generic suite of indicators is applied to monitor the annual changes in LME productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution and ecosystem health, socioeconomics, and governance. Ecosystem-based governance practices are being implemented by Commissions that serve as institutional frameworks for restoring and sustaining transboundary LME goods and services. Under activities guided by LME Commissions, the suites of indicators are analyzed in relation to drivers of change and the results are applied to adaptive management regimes to reduce coastal pollution, restore damaged habitats, recover depleted fisheries conserve biodiversity, control nutrient over-enrichment and ocean acidification, and mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate warming. Application of ecosystem-based adaptive management practices presently underway by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea are discussed for the Yellow Sea LME.