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Coral Reef and Coastal Ecosystems Decision Support Workshop April 27-29, 2010 Caribbean Coral Reef Institute, La Parguera, Puerto Rico
Citation:
Bradley, P., W. Fisher, B. Dyson, AND A. Rehr. Coral Reef and Coastal Ecosystems Decision Support Workshop April 27-29, 2010 Caribbean Coral Reef Institute, La Parguera, Puerto Rico. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-14/386, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
The 2010 Guánica Bay Decision-Making Workshop brought together representatives from federal and territorial government agencies, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions, and Guánica Bay watershed citizens to develop a decision analysis framework built upon the Guánica Bay Watershed Management Plan (CWP 2008). The workshop provided a forum for participants to 1) review characteristics of, and threats to the Guánica Bay watershed, coral reefs and coastal ecosystems, and 2) discuss ongoing and future restoration activities in the watershed. The structured decision-making (SDM) approach demonstrated throughout the workshop helps watershed managers to define the problem(s) under consideration, develop a set of management options, determine who should be involved, create a shared understanding of how people with different interests and perspectives view different options, and compare the trade-offs created by each option. This process can be used in other watersheds to achieve similar objectives. The Guánica Bay Watershed project has shown that the watershed approach, which includes stakeholder involvement and management actions supported by sound science and appropriate technology, can be used to protect coral reefs from land-based sources of pollution. Based upon the success of the Guánica Bay Watershed project, the USCRTF has designated two additional priority watersheds - Faga’alu, American Samoa in 2010 and West Maui, Hawai’i in 2011.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Caribbean Coral Reef Institute (CCRI) hosted a Coral Reef and Coastal Ecosystems Decision Support Workshop on April 27-28, 2010 at the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute in La Parguera, Puerto Rico. Forty-three participants, including representatives from federal and territorial government agencies, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions, and Guánica Bay watershed citizens participated in the workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to facilitate development of a decision analysis framework with stakeholder and decision-maker input to help address problems related to ecologically damaging human activities (e.g., agriculture, urbanization, sediment and nutrient loads, stormwater run-off, and wetland loss) in the Guánica Bay Watershed in Southwest Puerto Rico. During the workshop participants reviewed the characteristics and threats to the Guánica Bay watershed, coral reefs and coastal ecosystems and overviewed ongoing NOAA and USDA activities in the watershed. EPA introduced an organizational framework (DPSIR), which can be used to link ecological and socioeconomic factors and to scope the important causal elements of environmental decision-making. The group incorporated knowledge and issues relevant to the Guánica Bay watershed and southwestern Puerto Rico into the framework. Using the Guánica Bay Management Plan as a foundation, EPA applied a structured decision analysis process to the decision-making processes in the watershed. This report serves two purposes: 1) to document the workshop, and 2) to provide a process and tools for implementing some of the approaches used at the workshop. The report provides detailed step-by-step examples, accompanied with graphics, guidance, templates, and discussion of potential software.