Securing ocean benefits for society in the face of climate change

Benefits humans rely on from the ocean – marine ecosystem services – are increasingly vulnerable under future climate. This paper reviews how three valued services have, and will continue to, shift under climate change: (1) capture fisheries, (2) food from aquaculture, and (3) protection from coastal hazards such as storms and sea-level rise. Climate adaptation planning is just beginning for fisheries, aquaculture production, and risk mitigation for coastal erosion and inundation. A few examples are highlighted, showing the promise of considering multiple ecosystem services in developing approaches to adapt to sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and rising sea temperatures. Ecosystem-based adaptation in fisheries and along coastlines and changes in aquaculture practices can improve resilience of species and habitats to future environmental challenges. Opportunities to use market incentives – such as compensation for services or nutrient trading schemes – are relatively untested in marine systems. Relocation of communities in response to rising sea levels illustrates the urgent need to manage human activities and investments in ecosystems to provide a sustainable flow of benefits in the face of future climate change. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Problem statement Recent disasters such as the tsunami in Japan, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and Hurricane Sandy reinforce understanding of human dependence on the ocean, and how the delivery of ocean services could be affected by multiple environmental stressors, including climate change, contaminants, and increasing coastal development (e.g., [1–4]). Although society receives many natural benefits from ocean ecosystems, from seafood production to shoreline protection to recreational opportunities [5–8], many of these benefits are not valued through markets and thus are not explicitly accounted for in decisions. Consequences of further degradation of marine ecosystems include more expensive and less available seafood, declines in ocean-based livelihoods and cascading social and economic impacts, increases in coastal property damage and risk to human life, and reduced recreation. Climate change affects the biophysical background upon which other human impacts are measured, but because its impacts are perceived to be distant, it is typically ignored in developing day-to-day ocean management strategies. In reality,