About Us

Although tools have been developed to model biological interaction on an ecosystem level, tools incorporating socio-economic considerations are not widely used by EBM practitioners. It is not clear at this stage whether such tools do not yet exist or if they have just not been integrated into the suite of tools typically used by EBM practitioners and researchers. To address these issues, a social science working group has been formed by EBM Tools Network members to investigate the existence, possible uses and needs for social science based EBM tools.

The goals of the Social Science Tools Working Group include:

• compiling information on existing social science (SS) EBM tools
• promoting the development of new tools if the existing pool does not seem adequate to address the needs of EBM practitioners and researchers
• working to increase the awareness of SS EBM
• determining if there are relevant SS tools in other areas that could be applied to EBM with some work

Please contact Megan Bailey (m dot bailey at fisheries dot ubc dot ca) to join the Social Science Working Group or to inform us about relevant tools.

Two of the greatest needs for implementing ecosystem-based management (EBM) in coastal-marine environments are the ability to predict the effects of land use/land cover changes (from development, conservation, restoration, disturbance, and succession actions) on marine ecosystems and the ability to mitigate the potential negative impacts of sea level rise and other coastal hazards such as storms and tsunamis on coastal communities and ecosystems.  Few tools have been developed to meet these needs because crossing the land-sea interface requires spatial analyses that incorporate both terrestrial and hydrological processes.  The lack of tools in this area has ramifications for both land use and conservation/restoration planning.

The goals of the Integrated Land-Sea Planning Working Group parallel the goals of the EBM Tools Network:

• promote the development of tools for integrated land-sea planning;
• increase awareness of these tools
• promote the effective use of these tools

The philosophy of the working group is that developers of integrated land-sea planning tools and methods should be communicating with potential users of the tools throughout the tool scoping and development process to understand the needs and constraints of tool users and ensure that the tools that they are developing meet those needs and constraints.

Some near-term objectives and relevant activities of this working group include:

• Working with potential users of integrated land-sea planning tools and methods (such as municipal officials, natural resource managers, and conservation practitioners) to understand their needs and constraints for tool use and learn how tools can actually be used in EBM process.
• Developing a knowledge base of existing tools and methods for estimating the impact of land use/land cover changes on marine ecosystems.
• Disseminating knowledge of existing tools/methods to EBM practitioners

Please contact David Stoms (stoms at bren dot ucsb dot edu) with questions about or to provide your input on the Integrated Land-Sea Planning Working Group.

The EBM Tools Network is an alliance of EBM tool developers, practitioners, and training providers to develop EBM tools and support their use in EBM implementation in coastal and marine environments and the terrestrial environments that affect them (watersheds).  Network members include ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Boston University, Brown University, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, Center for Watershed Protection, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Conservation International, Conservation Planning Institute, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, DHI, Duke University, Ecotrust, Environmental Protection Agency, Florida Sea Grant, Intelligent Marine Planning, MarineMap,  Memorial University, National Center for Coral Reef Research, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Economics Program/Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, The Nature Conservancy, NatureServe, Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) Network, Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association (PacMARA), PlaceMatters, the Sea Around Us Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Queensland , and University of Texas Marine Science Institute, World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  The Network is coordinated by NatureServe with support from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation.

The objectives of the EBM Tools Network are to:

Current and planned Network activities include:

• Maintaining a knowledge base of existing EBM tools
• Providing outreach for existing EBM tools and toolkits
• Assessing tool needs of EBM practitioners and gaps in tool functionality
• Developing software engineering guidelines to promote tool utility, sustainability, and interoperability
• Developing interoperability between tools, both methodological and engineered, to promote multi-objective decision making
• Supporting tool development and maintenance to fill tool needs and increase usability of existing tools
• Providing tools training and toolkits
• Providing support for on-the-ground EBM projects using tools
• Evaluating effectiveness of tool use in projects
• Developing best practices for using tools