Does the production of marine biological valuation maps (BVMs) give us a false sense of security?

Marine biological valuation maps (BVMs) as a concept was discussed at a workshop on marine biological diversity valuation, held from 6 to 8 December 2006 at Ghent (Belgium). The workshop was a joint venture of the EU CA ENCORA (http://www.encora.org) and the EU NoE MARBEF (http://www.marbef.org). Both Theme 7 within ENCORA and Theme 3 within MARBEF deal with marine/coastal biological valuation and the workshop aimed to reach a consensus on this topic.

This article presents the conclusions on the reliability of such maps.

"Yes, but we can address that by increasing the transparency of the protocol by establishing guidelines, accessible to a wider public, and/or by referring to the experts who made the maps and/or by describing the protocol clearly and by communicating about the reliability and accuracy of the maps."

"As a communication strategy it is suggested to present the biological valuation maps and the reliability maps together."

Notes

These paragraphs reflect the main discussion outcomes of the ENCORA Theme 7-MARBEF Theme 3 workshop on marine biological valuation (6-8 December 2006, Gent, Belgium). (http://www.marbef.org/documents/Theme3/GhentWS/report.pdf)