No more muddy
waters
Ren Kolman explains why applying Ecosystem Services to the
maritime industry benefits the industry, the client and the consumer
Dredging is (too) often seen as an invasive activity.
Working on the seabed, more or less invisible to
those on land, the industry is sometimes suspected
of disrupting the planets marine life, the flora and
fauna beneath the seas, and creating turbulence or,
as it were, muddying the waters.
But in fact, the opposite is true. For years the major private
international dredging companies and their umbrella industry
organisation, the International Association of Dredging Companies,
have invested heavily, not only in remedying the perception of being
environmentally unfriendly, but in seeking transparency and indeed in
becoming an environmentally conscious and friendly industry. Largely
unacknowledged are the intensive, multi-year-long environmental impact
assessments that take place before dredging starts and the meticulous
and high tech adaptive or feedback monitoring that is ongoing during
a project, and continues for significant timeframes after a projects
completion.
Yet, admittedly, solutions that give equal weight to the care of the
environment and economic progress are not simple. Birds and boats
clearly we need them both. Recently a new analytical instrument has
been added to the arsenal supporting decision making which leads to a
sound balance: Ecosystem Services.
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What is Ecosystem Services?
Ecosystem Services (ES) aims to make a fair comparison between
the economic contributions of businesses versus the intrinsic value of
ecosystems and biodiversity. ES does this by giving nature a monetary
value, i.e., defining it as natural capital. In this way, stakeholders,
government and owners of infrastructure can compare apples with
apples. They can better determine what we gain and what we lose
by building a new port or extending an old one, or by replenishing an
eroded beach, which may also be a coastal defence against rising sea
levels.
An ecosystem is defined as the animals and plants found in a
particular location. Although their biodiversity is crucial to the overall well
being of the environment, ecosystems are subject to many pressures,
both natural and human. Natural pressures include weather, climate in
general and the topography of the region as well as the competition
between species. Human pressures include the introduction of
non-native species through global shipping traffic, the construction of
maritime infrastructures, dredging and climate change.
The launching pad for ES and the monetary valuation of our
ecosystems was the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) (2005).
The MA is an analysis by some 1300 international scientists on the state
of Earths ecosystems. The report concluded that human activities are

having a very significant and not-so-positive impact on the biodiversity
of global ecosystems; that people, as individuals and as corporations,
are contributing to the reduction and the lack of resilience and bio-
capacity of ecosystems. The result is a growing loss of natural capital.
Preserving natural capital
Natural capital is defined as the resources of the planets lands, waters
and its biodiversity. Ecosystem Services are the benefits, which derive
from natural capital. It includes such obvious resources or assets
as clean water and fresh air, agricultural crops for food, wild life and
plants as well as fossil fuels and minerals necessary for economic
development. The MA defines four basic categories of Ecosystem
Services:
l Provisioning, products supplied from ecosystems, such as food,
water and fuel;
l Regulatory, the benefits derived from regulating water, erosion,
flooding, climate and air quality control;
DREDGING
Main photo and left: Aerial view of the coral reefs, red
mangrove and the luminous lagoon which are located in
close vicinity to the project footprint of the cruise terminal
in Falmouth, Jamaica. As a mitigation measure, coral was
detached from the cruise terminal access channel prior to
dredging and reattached in a comparable nearby marine
environment
Above: During the dredging of a cruise harbour in Jamaica,
coral was transferred by being loaded into hanging baskets
and then walked by divers to the designated reattachment
area or towed by a boat when weather conditions allowed it
Left: Close up of a hard coral colony detached and in a basket
ready for transfer.
l Life-supporting, the long-term significance of nutrient cycles,
photosynthesis and crop pollination; and
l Cultural, such as educational, spiritual and recreational
enhancements.
How does this affect the maritime industry?
The oceans are both key to sustaining life on Earth and simultaneously
they are a conduit for 90 per cent of the worlds trade and for
connecting people and markets. How do we combine these two basic
necessities?
Ports and other maritime infrastructure construction projects
regularly encounter resistance from stakeholders wishing to conserve
valuable habitats. Internationally, this has led to the adoption of multiple
layers of legislation for instance, the RAMSAR Convention on
Wetlands (http://www.ramsar.org) and the European Unions Habitat
Directives to protect and conserve fauna, flora and their habitats. Many
other countries have their own list of regulations guarding natural
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 dredging
Main photo: Le coeur de Voh, New Caledonia, the world
famous mangrove in the form of a heart, is located only a
short distance from the project site for a new port. In 2008, a
large part of the lagoons surrounding New Caledonia were
inscribed on the list of UNESCO-IUCN World Heritage sites
resources and assets as they interact with the maritime industry. But
these regulations, as useful as they are, have proven to be insufficient.
A new, bolder step was needed and that has given impetus to the
Ecosystem Services approach.
Co-operation is better than co-existence
Recently a number of maritime organisations have been focusing on
the subject. The Central Dredging Association issued a white paper on
ES, PIANC is examining how to apply the concept, and the IADC has
also issued a Facts About Ecosystem Services and Dredging (http://
tinyurl.com/njlzdzs). The knowledge institute EcoShape Foundation
(www.ecoshape.nl) is a public-private group which for several years has
operated a research programme Building with Nature, through which it
conducts pilot projects that aim to make the ecosystem the focal point
of a project rather than an after-thought.
But how do natural assets weigh against concrete business assets?
If the loss of natural capital reduces essential long-term benefits to
people and the planet, can this loss (and conversely gain) be defined in
financial terms?
An important step forward in creating a valuation framework is
the recent formation of the Natural Capital Coalition (http://www.
naturalcapitalcoalition.org/). In 2007 a global initiative was launched by
Germany and the European Commission known as The Economics
of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) supported by UNEP (United
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Above: Divers near the New Caledonia port construction
site are measuring the coral to check compliance with the
thresholds outlined in the Environmental Management Plan.
Environmental monitoring was continuous
Nations Environment Programme). As of January 2014, TEEB has been
rebranded as the Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) and continues its
co-operation with UNEP. NCC is working with key stakeholders from
business, government and civil society, and the ultimate goal is to
achieve a shift in corporate behaviour to preserve and enhance rather
than deplete natural capital. Its first aim is to develop a harmonised
valuation system for natural capital in business decision making, e.g.,
supply chain management, financial accounting, corporate reporting and
disclosure.
This effort to provide practical market tools marks a new path
beyond contentious co-existence to actual co-operation. Since dredging
contractors already implement processes for project management,
which reflect a deep concern with ecosystem preservation, taking the
next step embracing Ecosystem Services and the natural capital
approach is a logical move. n
Ren Kolman is secretary general of the International Association of
Dredging Companies (IADC). IADC is the global umbrella organisation
for contractors in the private dredging industry. As such the IADC is
dedicated to not only promoting the skills, integrity and reliability of its
members, but also the dredging industry in general. IADC has over 100
main and associated members. Together they represent the forefront of
the dredging industry. For further information, visit:
www.iadc-dredging.com.