Workshop on the World Ocean Assessment

17

Amendments to the Methodology

Adopted Amendments

derstanding the application of three spatially-based indicators (Best10%, Most, Worst10%) to these pres- sures. Instead, a short list of selected examples of the likely social and economic impacts created by the ef- fects of the pressures on the ecosystems and biodiver- sity was recorded into the scoring matrix, in associa- tion with the relevant pressure. Suggested Amendments Several other changes were suggested for adoption, although they could not be applied because there was either a lack of agreement amongst the experts, or they could not be applied in mid-workshop because of the significant investment in the existingmethodology activ- ity up to that point. Each of the suggestions not adopted were carefully considered by the workshop organisers, and while some of the variations could have value at the national level of assessment, they were ultimately not considered to be likely to improve the assessment outcome of either this workshop or a full regional inte- grated assessment approach.

Throughout the workshop, a number of suggestions were made by experts about improving the focus and effectiveness of the overall methodology, and sharpening the approach to be more functional in the specific regional context of the South China Sea. Changes adopted included: Condition: The workshop did not have any available time to consider both Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) – SCS and the Gulf of Thailand – as was originally pro- posed. The scoring and grading system was therefore constrained specifically to the boundaries of the SCS LME. The matrices and summary outcomes reported here only refer to the defined area of the SCS LME. Pressures: it was agreed that the social and eco- nomic implications of the pressures on the environ- mental and biodiversity values of the SCS would not be scored, because of a lack of appropriate exper- tise available at the workshop, and difficulty in un-