DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
NOAM Ecosystem Choose a Different Future
Abstract: Proposal is highlighted the NOMA wetlands issues related to human activates and comparative interdependence of system that leads NOMA toward sustainability development.
Keywords: sustainability, NOMA, wetlands, system thinking, DPSIR concept map
System Thinking and Transformative Social Systems in
Sustainability
By
Zeljko Del Cukut ID 11B6154586
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Jun 16, 2014
Introduction
The public concern about renewal of natural ecosystems
has increased progressively during the past few decades.
While conservation and preservation of natural habitat is a
key to environmental health, there is growing consciousness
that restoration and preservation are vital to recovery that
have been degraded or disappeared. Over the past two
centuries, the United States’ wetlands and their healthy
conditions significantly have declined. Likewise, southern
Louisiana wetlands in the past century more than 2,3000
square miles of shoreline have been converted to the open
water. Other significant portent was transformed to the
agriculture land, urban development, or dredged for marinas
docs and ports ("Wetland Restoration, Creation, and
Enhancement,") ("Case for Support: Coastal Louisiana Is
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Washing Away,"). Human alteration accelerates much of the
NOMA’s wetland loss. These primary alterations are levees
built, canalized the Mississippi River and oil-gas pipeline
and waterways. Levee systems protect social and economic
development against frequent flooding. Canalization of the
Mississippi River to facilitate overseas ships navigation
stem the fresh water and freshwater sediments intrusion to
replenish and maintain wetlands. Furthermore, thousands of
miles of oil-gas pipelines and water canals that support
national essential energy supply cut through NOMA wetlands,
accelerating soil erosion.
No one society in the U.S. depends on the health
wetland conditions as NOMA dose; because, the NOMA’s
ecosystem reflects directly and indirectly on the social-
economic well being at whole. Wetland's ecosystem provides a
critical service to the community; such as, protection
against frequent water surge and flooding, slows land
subsidence, provide seafood and wildlife habitat, improve
water quality, and decrease soil erosion (Louisiana, 2012).
At the same time, wetlands habitat facilitate nation’s
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
energy, water transportation, and aquaculture. It also
preserves community culture, and enriches tourism diversity
("Case for Support: Coastal Louisiana Is Washing Away,").
Despite these problems, it is still possibility to
restore NOMA wetlands to a sustainable and productive state
that lead NOMA toward sustainable development. However, we
need act properly now. Without appropriate decision-making
approaches, Louisiana shall continue to lose 25 square miles
of land each year. The less than 3/2 of this area belongs to
NOMA ("Case for Support: Coastal Louisiana Is Washing
Away,").
Review of research literature
Ford (2013) describes literature review as tools in
researcher’s hand to review scholar sources relevant to the
topic of interest that synthesis research in wanted topic
and analyzing report of primary learning (Ford, 2013). In
the order to illustrate the theoretical framework of the
proposal study, I define preliminary literature review from
government agency and United Nation report. To illustrate
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
probable achievements of proposal study I investigate
throughout peer-reviewed studies what are research studies
talking about wetland’s impacts; both, positive and negative
to support proposal body. In addition, literature review
reveals possible gaps applying traditional approaches to
restore wetlands and define variables and influential work
that can lead present proposal of sustainability approaches.
The main leading program to restore and preserve
Southern Louisiana coastline are Coastal Wetlands Planning,
Protection and Restoration Act, (CWPPRA) and Louisiana’s
Comprehensive Master Plan for Sustainability Coast, which
emphases that present loss has an average rate of an acre
per 38 minutes are unsustainable anymore. ("Why Protect
Louisiana Wetlands?," 2014) (Louisiana, 2012). These
programs apply the sustainability principles to resort
wetlands as an only reasonable and feasible way to ensure
the long-term social-economic and environment prosperity.
United Nation defines sustainability development as
“development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
own needs” (United Nations WCED, 1987). Wetland as a vital
contributor to protect community and economy against water
surge; such as, hurricanes Katrina 2005 and Gustav, 2008,
healthy wetlands significantly decrease water storm
intensity and act as a flood control buffer like sponge
wetland hold exes water form the river or form the rainfall
("Why Protect Louisiana Wetlands?" 2014).
Secondary sources of investigation illustrate wetland
impacts, both positive and negative, such as wetland as
model to be physical drivers of erosion and sediment loading
well (Jang et al., 2013). Meli et al., (2014) demonstrate
that biodiversity in restored wetlands showed excellent
recovery and that 70 wetlands in their experiment showed…
“36% higher level of provisioning, regulating and supporting
ecosystem services than did degraded wetlands” (Meli, Rey
Benayas, Balvanera, & Martínez Ramos, 2014). Healthy wetland
with significant size positively contributes to decrease
global warming, as Craft (2012) demonstrated that wetland
carbon sequestration, nitrogen and phosphor accumulation on
the bottom of wetlands significantly contribute to decrease
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
impacts of global warming. On the other side Bridgham et
al. (2013) study illustrate that wetlands are the single
largest natural CH4 greenhouse gas sources that impact on
global warming (Bridgham, Cadillo-Quiroz, Keller, & Zhuang,
2013)
Researcher history /preparation
I am doing a job related to the environmental
management/protection, across the world about 25 years.
Despite, BS degree in Forestry MNGD, BS in Environmental
MNGD, MS degree in Environmental Sustainability and 32
credits earned from Doctoral CTU Program in DM Environmental
and Social Sustainability I still consider myself in
environmental management better practitioner than a
theorist. By virtue of achieving a new knowledge, as a
researcher throughout CTU program, my profession skill is
improving significantly. Now I can observe a wetland’s
problem as a complex issue that could be resolved applying
system thinking. System thinking … “as a way of thinking
about, and language for describing and understanding, the
forces and interrelationships that shape the behaviour of
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Systems” (Mella, 2006, p 26). System thinking illustrates
wetland’s picture with relative interdependencies and how
these participate in the mosaic of global warming effect.
The Scope and Boundaries
The scope of this proposal study is highlight
interdependencies between NOMA’s ecosystem, social- economic
development and government policy throughout sustainability
science that lead NOMA toward sustainable development.
These interdependencies are critical to achieving the future
NOMA social- economic development based on sustainable
principles, as only feasible way in the long -term
development.
One of the definitions of sustainability science that
best fit to my proposal is that the sustainability science
characterized by problem resulting from human interaction
with the environment seek to preserve the planet’s lifecycle
support systems. (Macagno, 2014). Sustainability science
also is seeking to for social justice to meet the needs of
present and future generations (Macagno, 2014).
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Boundaries of this paper will limit on: NOMA businesses
related to the wetland disappearing as a macro issue,
government policy that regulate the business activates, and
propose future economic development driven by sustainable
entrepreneurs. In order of these boundaries, paper will
analyze business related to the wetland disappearance; such
as, oil and gas activates shipping commerce and tourism.
Oyster farming shall be presented as a micro level issue.
Objective of research proposal
The objective of this proposal is highlighted the
NOMA wetlands issues related to human activates and
comparative interdependence of system that leads NOMA toward
sustainability development.
Outline the project
The proposal employs Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response
(DPSIR) system map to relate NOMA’ human activates to the
state of the wetlands as natural resources. The DPSIR
concept map, see figure 1, includes interdependency between
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stressors and their impacts on ecosystem functions, causes
of stressors, and feasible decision-making actions toward
sustainable development.
According the concept map, the key drivers factors, who
were creating pressure on the NOMA wetlands ecosystem
includes petroleum refinery and oil- gas drilling, tourism
and recreation, aquaculture and water transportation (Del
Cukut, 2014). These pressures cause a change in the State
that produces stress of the NOMA’s ecosystem, such as land
change, physical and chimerical variable and Biotic State.
To favorite water navigation, the U.S. Army Corpus of
Engendering built levee system and maintains existing river
flows. Helicopter’s parking lots and business splay
facilities facilitate the oil-gas activates.
In additional, housing development, hydrological
modification, and air and water discharge cause NOMA’s land
change (Meli et al., 2014). As factors that circumscribe
physical variables in the NOMA wetland are water storms,
wetlands lack of sediment that facilitates salt-water
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
intrusion to expend open water. All these pressures
significantly impact on global warming that reflects as sees
level rising, increase intensity and frequency of water
surge, and increase the temperature. Van Heerden et all.
(2008), Illustrates that the Gulf of Mexico’s sea level has
risen 0.12 meter since the 1960 to 2008, and in the same
period, the entirely NOMA has sunk over 0.46 meter for a
combined change of 0.6 meters relative to sea level (Van
Heerden et all, 2008). The significant changes in chimerical
variables are caused by the contamination from local
farming, oil refineries and nutrient loading from whole
Mississippi River Watershed, as a result, of agriculture
activates. See water intrusion increase wetland’s salinity,
as physical variables changed ("Scientists Foresee Increase
in Sea Levels," 2005).
Biotic and abiotic states change the wetland's
function, such as farming shellfish.
Oysters Impacts
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Despite that oyster is not NOMA’s native species,
oysters farming business in the NOMA has hysterical root
more than 130 years. Oysters asset in the Southern Louisiana
is one of the largest and the most valuable in the nation,
and significant state economic and ecological beneficiary.
The total oyster direct economic benefits from NOMA sits by
the 2011 were about $14 million at dock value (Oyster Stock
Assessment Report 2012).
Oyster does not have a significant negative impact on
wetlands and reef areas (Benta et al., 2013). Therefore,
traditional oysters harvesting methodology affect the
wetlands and reef habitats. Chícharo et al., (2002)
illustrates that oysters dredging technique have an adverse
impact on species related to the bottom of wetlands and
reefs. For example, dredging technique decreases the biomass
of potential macrofauna scavengers and increases the
carnivore biomass (Chícharo et al., 2002). Lenihan &
Peterson, (2004) study, established that traditional
dredging also reduced the height of reef habitat by 34%
(Lenihan & Peterson, 2004). On the other side, oyster, as it
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
belongs to a large size of bivalve molluscs family, is a
significant water pacificator for the marine and brackish
water habitat that positively improve water quality (Oyster
Stock Assessment Report 2012). Other oysters’ benefits for
habitats are as a stimulator to grow epifauna, sponge and
macro-algal (Benta et al., 2013) (Carbines et al., 2019).
(This intonation section has been resubmitted from a
previous paper ESS870 Phase2 IP1: NOMA Ecosystem by Zeljko
Del Cukut.( (Del Cukut, 2014).
Applying system thinking throughout the NOMA’s
ecosystem interdependencies government programs such as
CWPPRA and Fishing Management Plan reduced oysters farming
activates by the 23 % in 2012, respectively to 2011 (Why
Protect Louisiana Wetlands? 2014). This action is adapted to
lead NOMA toward sustainable development and meet National
program to decrease global warming. Gradual decreasing
impacts from oyster harvesting will significantly improve
wetland’ services at local level and parallel, at global
level, such as increase wetland’s potential to impound
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nutrients and carbons sequestration. Wetland significantly
impacts on the hypoxia status in Gulf of Mexico.
Other response actions that show concept map need to
be done to achieve fully sustainable development (see purple
collared concept map). Concept map helps in the decision-
making process as a response to the impacts on ecosystem
services and values. All response actions should be applied
to control Drivers, Pressures, Sates, and Impacts by
applying political, economic, regulatory and scientific
approaches. To save NOMA’s wetlands as a critical factor for
NOMA survival and its sustainable oriented develops; the
response must be comprehensive in whole areas that map
indicated.
In this paper, I will underline critical response
that urge immediate actions to reduce wetland’s
disappearing, such us navigation management policy need
reduce the size of the total load per ship. It will allow
more fresh water silt device to build a wetland. Energy
policies should reflect carbon credits simulations,
emissions monitoring, and renewable energy sources. Tourism
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
and recreations management need reflect sustainable
approaches.
Response to control the pressures should consider
technology advance in monitoring and observing activities
and sustainable decision design to adapt human activities
including land use management, discharge limitation and
resources use management.
Conclusion:
The study suggests, and concept map illustrates that
is imperative take the repose in the whole direction that
affect the Sate of the NOMA ecosystem applying
sustainability approaches. Response should be applied to
assess the cost –benefits of any impacts on the prediction
of wetland services through valuation methods that quantify
and qualify the wetland values.
The NOMA DPSIR concept map illustrates
interdependence on each other players and emphasizes that
system in which all stakeholders are seen as having an
interest in sustainable development success. System thinking
is seen a system, as a reason to working together toward
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
multiple stakeholder needs incompetently and cohesive
manners. The proposal suggests; there is no simple set of
solution, rather these solutions could be wary and
extensively form player-to-player and site-to-site.
Appendix 1
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Figure 1 NOMA DPSIR Concept Map. Retrieved from Del
Cukut, 2014.
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References:
Banta, S., Powell, E., & Ashton-Alcox, K. (2003). Evaluation
of dredging effort by the Delaware Bay oyster fishery
in New Jersey waters. North American Journal of Fisheries
Management, 23(3), 732-741.
Bridgham, S. D., Cadillo-Quiroz, H., Keller, J. K., &
Zhuang, Q. (2013). Methane emissions from wetlands:
biogeochemical, microbial, and modeling perspectives
from local to global scales. Glob Chang Biol, 19(5), 1325-
1346. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12131
Case for Suport: Coastal Louisiana Is Washing Away. from
http://crcl.org/images/crcl case for support 2009.pdf
Chícharo. L. et al. (2002). Ecological characterization of
dredged and non-dredged bivalve fishing areas off south
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Portugal. Journal of the Marine Biological Association
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Del Cukut, Z. (2014). IP 4: NOAM Case Study: Shellfish
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Del Cukut, Z. (2014). IP 1: NOAM Ecosystem. Retrieved from
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Lenihan, H., & Peterson, C. (2004). Conserving oyster reef
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Available online at:
http://fishbull.noaa.gov/1022/lenihan.pdf
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DEL CUKUT: PROPOSAL NOMA ECOSYTEM
Meli, P., Rey Benayas, J. M., Balvanera, P., & Martínez
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http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/pdf/pub_wetlands_restore_gu
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