COAST: COnservation of mArine ecosystems around Santo AnTão, Cabo Verde: implications for policy and society

佛得角是非洲的一个群岛，在很大程度上依赖海洋资源。其沿海地区通过资源可获得性(例如食物)和就业机会确保人类福祉。然而，佛得角沿海地区高度暴露于自然灾害和与人为活动有关的多重压力，包括为农业开垦湿地、水污染和塑料污染。因此，它们非常需要与海洋有关的活动部门的可持续发展，即蓝色增长。在佛得角，蓝色增长可以帮助解决当前的问题，如高贫困率，同时建立在当地经济利用海洋环境的悠久传统的基础上。然而，没有关于其海洋生态系统环境状况的有价值的基线知识，这妨碍了制定确保可持续利用、管理、养护和恢复海洋生态系统的措施。关于海洋生物栖息地的信息很少，而且没有对海洋资源进行综合评价，以支持以知识为基础的关于可持续利用海洋资源的条例和准则，以符合国家发展趋势。圣安东尼奥群岛贫困率最高，收入不平等，非常容易受到极端自然现象的影响。海岸项目将大大有助于了解佛得角圣安东奥岛周围海洋系统的现状和功能，因为它对该国的经济做出了贡献。该项目旨在实现5个主要目标：(A)描述和绘制圣安东尼奥的中上层和底栖生境以及人为压力；(B)根据生境特征估计海洋群落的多样性格局；(C)通过应用风险评估模型，评估所研究的群落在环境和人为压力下的脆弱性；(D)根据前三个目标的结果，对选定的生境/生态系统采取养护和恢复行动；(E)提供基线数据，为决策者、当局、机构和从业人员有效地养护和恢复这些生境提供信息，并证明拟议办法在其他区域的可重复性。将开展专门的科学调查，在跨学科和综合框架下收集圣安东尼奥周围海洋生态系统的数据，重点是选定的感兴趣区域。我们将应用最先进的技术，将视觉和声音观测与物理采样、建模和遥感相结合。根据利益攸关方和当地社区的需要，圣安提奥岛海洋生态系统预计将改善目前对圣安托岛海洋生物栖息地的了解，并为其可持续发展提供有效的管理建议，以及针对全球变化影响的缓解计划。

The Republic of Cabo Verde is an African archipelago, which depends largely on marine resources. Their coastal areas ensure human wellbeing through resources availability (e.g. food) and jobs. However, coastal regions in Cabo Verde are highly exposed to natural hazards and to multiple pressures associated with anthropogenic activities, including reclamation of wetlands for agriculture, water contamination and plastic pollution. They are, thus in an enormous need for sustainable development of activity sectors linked to the sea, i.e. Blue Growth. Cabo Verde is a country where Blue Growth can help to contribute with solutions for current issues, such as high poverty rates, while building on the long tradition of local economical use of the marine environment. However, no valuable baseline knowledge on the environmental status of their marine ecosystems is available, hampering the development of measures ensuring their sustainable use, management, conservation and restoration. Information on marine habitats is scarce and there is no integrated evaluation of marine resources to support knowledge-based regulations and guidelines for their sustainable use, in line with the national development trends. Santo Antão has the highest poverty rate of the Archipelago and income inequalities and is highly vulnerable to extreme natural phenomena.The COAST project will significantly contribute to understanding the status and functioning of the ocean system around Santo Antão island in Cabo Verde, as its contribution to the country’s economy. The project aims to achieve 5 main objectives: a) to characterize and map pelagic and benthic habitats, as well as anthropogenic pressures of Santo Antão, b) to estimate patterns of diversity in marine communities in relation to habitat features, c) to assess the vulnerability of the studied communities to both environmental and anthropogenic pressures, through the application of risk assessment models, d) to implement conservation and restoration actions for selected habitats/ecosystems based on the results of the first three objectives, e) to provide baseline data that inform policymakers, authorities, institutions and practitioners towards effective marine conservation and restoration in these habitats and demonstrate the repeatability of the proposed approach in other regions. Dedicated scientific surveys will be conducted to collect data from the marine ecosystems around Santo Antão under a transdisciplinary and integrated framework, with a specific focus on selected areas of interest. We will apply state-of-the-art technology, combining visual and acoustic observations with physical sampling, modelling and remote sensing. COAST expects to improve current knowledge on marine habitats of Santo Antão island and to provide efficient management recommendations for their sustainable development, along with mitigation plans for the effects of global changes, in line with the needs of stakeholders and local communities.