Scale and ecosystem-based management: navigating mismatches between socio-ecological systems

Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) is a dynamic process, focused on understanding and managing human interactions with ecosystems across a range of organisational, spatial and temporal scales. Scale-dependency in different disciplines and the interactions between them will affect both the decision-making process and its success. Unsurprisingly, many of the problems encountered by societies in managing natural ecosystems arise because of a mismatch between the scale of management and the scale(s) of the ecological processes being managed. This research therefore aims to produce new knowledge to better understand and communicate scale-dependencies for EBM. We evaluate scale-dependencies in social-ecological systems and provide case study examples where scale is explicitly recognised resulting in ‘scale fit’. Case studies include research that acknowledges ecological heterogeneity when scaling up information and place-based customary practices. We do this against a background of the organisations and legal instruments that are responsible for managing marine systems to ensure social-ecological resilience. Opportunities to align policy and law with marine ecosystems include a series of legal and policy innovations to set high-level, cross-sectoral and cross-scalar policy intention for oceans management which could collectively support EBM approaches across sectors and scales. This research aims to facilitate the development of decision-making practices that explicitly identify scale-dependencies to increase the success of EBM decision-making processes.