Aquaculture and Nature-based Solutions: new report
A new report from the AquaCoCo project works to identifysynergies between sustainable development of coastal communities,aquaculture, and marine and coastal conservation. It examines the emergingconcept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) andthe ϲʿֱֳ Global Standard for NbSwhenapplied to socio-ecological systems thatincludeaquaculture production. The report was developed under theAquaCoCo project and financed by the French Development Agency.
Woman holding sea cucumber, Zanzibar
Photo: Raphaela Legouvello
Scottish Salmon Farm
Photo: https://www.scottishsalmon.co.uk.png
Aquaculture production has very significantlyincreased in tonnage and value over the lastdecades. It has beenseen as a potential solutionto replace declining wild fishery stocks, addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 offood safety, andmany other SDGs. However, this impressive growth inworldwide aquaculture production has alsobeen associated with critical environmentaland social drawbacks,highlighting the need for new approachesreconciling aquaculture with conservationand societal benefits.
The potential of Nature-based Solutions
NbS potential is examined by looking at the ϲʿֱֳ definition, principlesand criteria proposed by Cohen-Shacham etal, and the recently developed ϲʿֱֳ Global Standard for NbS (ϲʿֱֳ, 2020a). are shown as having a stronganthropogenic connotation,and they highlightthat the central scientificconcept of NbS is embedded in ecosystem-basedapproaches and management.
Instruments for the evaluation of ecosystemservices (ES)and the degree of ecologicalengineeringare essentialparts in NbSdesign and assessment. In this context, the report then reviews the eight criteria of the GlobalStandard, taking into consideration theprevailing issues in aquaculture, such as the Ecosystem Approach forAquaculture (EAA).
NbS and Aquaculture
The study then examines the NbS framework as an opportunity to enhance the sustainabilityof aquaculturesystems by focusing on threeaspects:
- The Global Standard may provideopportunities to re-establish and furtherdevelop traditional local savoir-fairein aquaculture, as advocated by . The restorationof traditional coastal ponds in Hawai’iillustrates this situation.
- EAA being widely recognisedas being so far disappointing in itsactual implementation and expansionsince its launch 10 years ago and exploring howthe releaseof the Global Standardcouldoffer an opportunity in ‘reinvigorating’EAA and reduce weaknessesthat have been acknowledged.
- The Global Standard could providenew opportunities to explore synergiesbetween aquaculture and marineprotection. One of the expected positive outcomes,when the NbS framework is applied toaquaculture, is its ability to translate thecomplexity of assessing the sustainabilityof coastal social-ecological systems,including an aquaculture component, intopractical, local and specific terms.
Do aquaculture systems qualify?
Several examples ofaquaculture systems indicate thatsome may be considered as potential
NbS. This isprovided that a full and holisticassessment is made on each aquaculture-relatedsolution, which subsequently shows that acandidate meets all eight NbS criteria and isdocumented to an acceptable level toassess benefits, impacts, trade-offs, andpositive and negative externalities.
However, the report argues that the type and role of engineering and human intervention are still being debated among various authors, so a discussion and clarification are therefore still needed to determine whether aquaculture-related systems are considered as acceptable NbS, considering the extent of human-based artificial inputs and actions involved in the system. It may be difficult in aquaculture to distinguish between a solution that is dependent on ‘natural’ ecosystems, and a solution that is based upon a quite artificial aquaculture system, well managed, but decoupled from ‘naturalness’..
Similarly, it might also be critical forsome aquaculturesystems to provideclear evidence of a ‘net benefit’ for
biodiversity as required by Criterion 3 ofthe Global Standard.For instance, even for seaweed farmingin coastal conditions, the Zanzibarcasestudy shows that precautionsneed to be taken in the managementof aquaculture activity regarding theintegrity of seagrass beds.
The full report and its development support
Please click
The report, published by ϲʿֱֳ, wasdeveloped in the context of the and financed by the , under the umbrella of the , under the lead of experts from the of the ϲʿֱֳ Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM).
Learn more:
ϲʿֱֳ CEM Ecosystem-based Aquaculture Group (E-bAG)
For more information, please contact:[email protected]
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