MARISCO

Marine Research and Innovation for a Sustainable management of Coasts and Oceans

Rationale

Understanding consequences of human actions for coastal and ocean sustainability has become a cornerstone of environmental research and policy making. Successful strategies for marine ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation must incorporate the ecosystems complex patterns and interactions over temporal and spatial scales. This is all the more important because different aspects of biodiversity change can impact society and Nature's Contributions to People (NCP).

Working with four partners from four continents, MARISCO will globally address the multilayered interactions between biodiversity change and NCP. MARISCO combines interdisciplinary approaches to data synthesis in globally distributed, well-monitored regions, with modelling of positive and negative feedback mechanisms between different aspects of biodiversity and NCP.

Based on a stakeholder-science co-design, and combining natural and social science approaches the project will i) produce the knowledge necessary for defining targets in sustainable marine ecosystem management, and ii) develop the strategies and tools to help implement management approaches that address pressing socio-ecological consequences of human impacts on marine biodiversity.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT

OBJECTIVES

MARISCO starts by acknowledging that drivers of change – biological responses and sustainable management strategies (and even targets) – are multidimensional, but their assessment and implementation in management is often conducted in simplified effect-response frameworks.

Understanding the relative importance of anthropogenic changes in marine communities in terms of composition, richness, dominance and interaction webs.
Quantifying the variety and strength of feedbacks between multiple aspects of biodiversity change and multiple dimensions of Nature’s Contribution to People (NCP).
Co-developing targets and strategies for a sustainable management of coastal marine ecosystems in cooperation with stakeholders.