Indicators for ecosystem services and vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean Sea. An initial application

Economy and society rely on a healthy marine ecosystem to meet a number of tangible and intangible needs. However, understanding the composition and trends in the exchange between the marine ecosystem and the socio-economic system is key to inform effectively the management of marine resources and the sustainable development of economies that depend on them. The accounting framework applied in marine ecosystems may be useful to calculate indicators that measure ecosystem services flows and vulnerabilities. This is the first INCA pilot study on the Mediterranean Sea applied on the following ecosystem services: biomass for nutrition (i.e. fish provision), biomass for materials (i.e. raw biomass), atmospheric composition and conditions (i.e. carbon sequestration), and physical and experiential interactions (i.e. nature-based recreation). Results include Supply and Use tables (SUTs) in physical and monetary terms, and the complementary tables referring to ES vulnerabilities. After computing two indicators, a few suggestions for the on-going research agenda are proposed for the accounting of ES in marine ecosystems, considering the great interest of developing this tool.