February 8, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA is celebrating 10 years of implementing Integrated Ecosystem Assessments—a science and management effort to integrate all components of an ecosystem, including human needs and activities, into the decision-making process. We have published a special issue of the Coastal Management Journal, titled “Ten years of NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment.” It is comprised of seven papers that highlight how, over the past 10 years, scientists have used the IEA approach to build:
- Relationships with other scientists from different disciplines, stakeholders, and managers
- A community of practice and share lessons learned
- An improved process to integrate social, economic, ecological, and physical components of the ecosystem together
This approach is a key part of NOAA’s ecosystem science enterprise. The introduction of the special issue provides a detailed description of each step of the approach.
The IEA approach is executed by scientists across the globe. Our IEA program is a NOAA-wide initiative that oversees the direction and execution of IEAs within U.S. ocean and coastal ecosystems. The program currently has five active regional programs:
Each region executes the IEA approach in different ways depending on the regional issues and needs. One of the many benefits of the IEA approach is its flexibility to meet the goals of the people and ecosystems involved as the environment and human activities change.