The Cooperative Participatory Evaluation of Renewable Technologies on Ecosystem Services (CORPORATES)

This report provides the background, the process and the outcomes of an interdisciplinary project entitled “The Cooperative Participatory Evaluation of Renewable Technologies on Ecosystem Services: CORPORATES”, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The aims of the project was to exchange knowledge between researchers and a range of public and private sectors stakeholders around the understanding of marine ecosystem services (ES), in the context marine spatial planning (MSP) decisions around marine renewable energy (MRE). The project developed a pilot study located at the Firth of Forth, Scotland, considering current development of a number of large windfarms in an area important to both fishing and nature conservation. The project included the involvement of a wide range of highly experienced stakeholders over the course of two day-long workshops in November 2014 and March 2015. While the process centred on a ‘live’ decision-making case study, the focus of the CORPORATES project was to provide an example of a decision support tool for knowledge exchange around ES rather than influencing decision-making in the Forth. The project design and delivery was highly transdisciplinary, involving experts with backgrounds in ecology, oceanography, marine management, policy, law, environmental psychology, anthropology and ecological economics as well as public and private sector stakeholders.