Integrated assessment of Qatari coral ecosystems. Towards an Ecosystem-based Approach for management

The Qatari coastal zone is rich in a variety of productive but sensitive ecosystems, i.e. coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves. The ecosystem services they provide to Qatari society include provision of food, healthy coastal waters and tourism. The maintenance of such ecosystem services to future generations will depend on developing wise management and policy tools to accommodate human uses and mitigate impact, ensuring ecosystem health and resilience. This project aims to develop knowledge-based Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) of targeted Qatari coastal ecosystems to overcome the shortfalls of traditional, single-sector management. EBM is a comprehensive approach to managing people's impacts on the ocean with the goal of sustaining a healthy ocean and its ecosystem services To move EBM from concept to practice in Qatar, the core elements of EBM will be addressed for two coastal ecosystems (coral reefs and seagrass meadows) by implementing a 4-phased approach: 1. To understand the social component of coral reef and seagrass bed ecosystems by soliciting management objectives and goals for these resources from key Qatari stakeholders, including government agencies. 2. To characterize coral reef and sea grass communities, their health, associated biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. 3. To evaluate the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs and seagrasses to Qatar. 4. To develop and share with key decision makers and key stakeholders a process for enhancing ecosystem based management strategies that contribute to the sustainability of these two coastal ecosystems In the first phase, guidance on goals and objectives will be solicited through both qualitative data gathering and desktop literature within the Qatar context and beyond. Indicators for monitoring progress towards achieving agreed goals and objectives will also be identified. In the second phase, scientific evidence will be acquired on how living and non-living components generate nature's services in the focal geographic area. Biodiversity and ecological linkages will be examined to understand the functioning of each of the ecosystems, the interdependencies between key components and their resilience. In the third phase, the valuation of the provided services to society will be achieved and the potential impacts of ecological changes on human well-being will be assessed. The valuation of ecosystems allows the incorporation of such information at all governance levels (from policy to decision-making to communication with stakeholders). Finally, the interface between the acquired scientific knowledge with the policy-level decision making process will be bridged by using a linked-socio-ecological indicator framework that provides management guidance for the linked sea grass beds-coral reef ecosystems. This will serve to establish the process by which key ecological and socio-economic linkages should be given special consideration in policy setting and decision-making.