Application of the Ecosystem Base in the Environmental Management of Ports

Abstract

This paper discusses a proposal for integrated and multidisciplinary management for the different port sectors and services of the port of São Francisco do Sul (located in the North coast of Santa Catarina State), Brazil. Factors of port activities related to the Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model were used, aiming at the establishment of an information support Ecosystem-Based needed for a Port Environmental Management System, applied to this case study. This information support was obtained from the methodological proposal by Asmus et al. (2015) and Scherer et al. (2015), which provides a process for the characterization of ecosystems and ecosystem services in the study area; the identification of macro activities present in the port and characterization of the environmental aspects generated by the macro activities of the port; allowed the identification of significant environmental aspects and analysis of the main environmental impacts identified; besides preparing a recommendation proposal of strategies for the port management. The significant environmental aspects for the port of São Francisco do Sul were the discharges and leaks to the water; the effluent releases to marine sediments; the solid waste generation; the interactions that generate structural changes in marine ecosystems; and the interaction with the local port community. We came with suggestions of management tactics towards the specific impacts caused by these aspects, showing how this is a methodology applicable in a concise and practical way, corresponding to Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) basic principles, to attend the economic, environmental and social sectors from the ecosystem services taking into account human activities and the importance of ecosystems.