Working Group on Cumulative Effects Assessment Approaches in Management (WGCEAM)

The goal of the Working Group on Cumulative Effects Assessment Approaches in Management (WGCEAM) is the development of a common and consolidated CEA framework to implement such assessments in different planning and regulatory context considering the different settings regarding data, knowledge, and decision-processes. Case studies are used to further develop the framework. This work is expected to provide guidance on data and knowledge needs to apply such a common CEA framework in different planning and regulatory settings.
In this report a cumulative effects assessment framework for management was developed and two case studies (i.e. North Sea and the Gulf of St Lawrence) were identified for WGCEAM review in 2020. The case studies will help identify knowledge gaps and science needs in the appli-cation of a common CEA framework in a management context.
As developed, this CEA framework is to be primarily used to identify and prioritize the pres-sures that would need to be managed based on the vulnerability of the ecosystem components to those pressures (rather than predicting their effects). The rationale and setting of the framework  means  that  it  differs  from  a  typical  ecosystem  status  assessment  where  the  responses  of  indicators are assumed to show the effects of human pressures. Furthermore, this framework is not  intended  to  guide  regulatory  management  on  a  sector  by  sector  basis,  but  to  identify  the  collective pressures that need to be reduced. Participants summarised current uses and applications  of  cumulative  effects  assessments  in  marine  planning  and  regulatory  processes  in  their  countries, to provide insights into impediments.
The CEA framework assesses the vulnerabilities of ecosystem components to cumulative or collected pressures for a given ecosystem and management context. Following standard risk-based assessment practices, vulnerability is determined from the spatial and temporal overlap of the pressures  and  their  effect  potential.  This  is  based  on  the  pressure  load  and  the  resistance  and  recovery potential of the ecosystem component.