To limit the pressure on the marine ecosystem, the European Unions’ Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) was developed to ensure sustainable use of the marine ecosystem. The goal of the MSFD is to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). To achieve this goal, the MSFD prescribes using Ecosystem-Based …

To support the implementation of the Ecosystem Based approach to Management (EBM), ICES strives to provide evidence-based scientific advice and relevant management options that also assess potential trade-offs among sectors or between environmental status and human uses. To help achieve this, the Workshop …

Decomposition is an ecosystem process, mainly important in the carbon and nitrogen cycles. When looking at what drives decomposition, there are three major drivers. These are plant litter quality, microbes and soil animals (detritivores). A large problem in understanding the decomposition process is …

The Dutch conservation area Oostvaardersplassen was initiated as a rewilding project within the Netherlands’ protected area network. It came under the spotlight when management strategies and practices were criticized by scientists, conservation practitioners, and the public, from a number of perspectives …

Als aardbewoners dreigen we momenteel de zesde massale uitstervingsgolf van biodiversiteit in te gaan. Al eerder kende de aarde uitstervingsgolven, maar wat deze uniek maakt is dat deze door de mens veroorzaakt wordt en ook de mens zelf ernstig bedreigt. Dit geeft aanleiding om met urgentie te zoeken …

There is increasing evidence that humans are not living sustainably. There are three major drivers of the unsustainable approach: population, consumption and the growth economy. There is widespread denial about these issues, but they clearly need to be addressed if we are to achieve any of the possible …

The EU enacted new legislation on regulating access to deep-sea fisheries in 2016. Two important aspects of the regulation are outstanding, namely the establishment of a list of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are known to occur or are likely to occur and the determination of the existing …

Wereldwijd hebben ecologen de gedachte dat invasieve exoten dramatische veranderingen kunnen verrichten aan ecosystemen. Exotische rivierkreeften kunnen desastreus zijn voor ecosystemen, wat leidt tot het verlies van biodiversiteit. Sinds de jaren 70 is er een opmars van exotische rivierkreeften bezig …

Coral reefs are one of the most important ecosystems in the world, in terms of both biological diversity and economy. These ecosystems are under a great amount of threats (e.g. climate change, pollution, coastal development and overfishing), which can lead to reef degradation and decrease of three-dimensional …

This entry begins by reviewing the definitions of “human”, “environment” and “dichotomy”, consequently turning to the debates concerning the human–environment relationship. Synthesizing various studies, the capability of advanced tool use; language, hyper-sociality, advanced cognition, morality, civilization, …