Marine Environment and Water Industry Marine Strategy Framework Directive: issues related to ecosystems and their services European Commission DG Environment Unit C.2 Marine Environment and Water Industry Workshop: Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) in the marine environment 19 June 2013, Brussels

Outline MSFD – a brief introduction What can MSFD bring to the MAES process? Where can MAES make a difference?

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive EU’s legal instrument for the protection of our seas Overall objective: achieve or maintain Good Environmental Status (GES) of all EU marine waters by 2020. Adoption of an ecosystem-based and integrated approach to the management of all human activities which have an impact on the marine environment. Overarching Goal: Achieve GES of EU Marine Waters by 2020 Protected Ecosystems    Clean, healthy, productive seas Sustainable Uses of Europe’s marine resources Common Approaches  Cooperation at the EU and regional level Regional approach to implementation, through establishment of Marine Regions and Sub-regions Achieving GES should enable sustainable use of marine goods and services 3

Implementation Steps GES 2020 Main steps of a Marine Strategy: Initial assessment (IA) of current environmental status of MS waters Determination of GES Establishment of environmental targets and associated indicators Monitoring programme for ongoing assessment and regular updating of targets Programme of measures to achieve or maintain GES Review of the different steps Main steps of a Marine Strategy: Initial Assessment, determine GES, set targets 2012 (+ 6 years) Monitoring Programmes 2014 Programmes of Measures 2015 Implementation of measures 2016 Six-year review 2018 – 2021 GES 2020

Regional approach/coordination MSFD regions and subregions Draft map: October 2012 GES is determined at Region or Subregion level (Art. 3.5) Coherent, coordinated and common approaches (Art. 5.2) Achieved through Regional Sea Conventions (Art. 6) & Common Implementation Strategy (CIS)

What is GES? GES definition (Art. 3.5) Ecologically diverse and dynamic seas which are clean, healthy and productive Use of environment is at a sustainable level Fully functioning and resilient ecosystem Biodiversity decline is prevented, biodiversity is in balance and protected Hydro-morphological, physical and chemical state support above No pollution effects

What is GES? – Annex I Descriptors No. Topic 1 Biological diversity 2 Non-indigenous species 3 Commercial fish & shellfish 4 Food-webs 5 Eutrophication 6 Sea-floor integrity 7 Hydrography 8 Contaminants 9 Contaminants in seafood 10 Litter 11 Energy, incl. underwater noise

2012 reporting requirements Article 8 – Initial assessment of MS marine waters Characteristics and status of MS marine waters, based on Annex III, Table 1 Analysis of pressures and impacts, based on Annex III, Table 2 An economic & social analysis, and cost of degradation Article 9 - Determination of GES Based on GES Descriptors (Annex I) and GES criteria (Decision 2010) Article 10 – Series of environmental targets and associated indicators

Reporting status By June 2013, 20 MS have reported on Articles 8, 9 and 10 17 MS reported both paper report and reporting sheets – information available on EEA CDR: http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/recent_etc?RA_ID=608 The reporting shows the huge amount of work that went into preparing these reports in Member States Most recent information on state of marine environment, its pressures and its uses Based on existing assessments or on new assessments New data collation and processing e.g. mapping of pressures and activities (e.g. Harmony project for eastern North Sea) A vast amount of quantitative and qualitative information on the State of European Seas is gathered Comparability of good environmental status, of data and an overall lack of coherence make this information difficult to interpret

Initial Assessment Litter Contaminants Hydrography

Assessing pressures & impacts Key MSFD requirements: To assess scale and levels of impact from pressures To assess status of predominant habitat types of water column and seabed To determine GES at level of region or subregion Major new challenges for Member States at this scale Mapping and modelling are important

HELCOM Baltic Sea pressure index Regional Sea Convention processes to develop common indicators and assessments HELCOM Baltic Sea pressure index

Baltic Sea predominant habitat types

Extent of all benthic habitats impacted by anthropogenic pressures in circalittoral zone Red=high impact Green=low impact Extent of habitat type km2 Broad habitat type

Predominant habitat types MSFD predominant habitat typology Predominant habitat types Substrate Rock Sediment Zone incl. mixed hard substrata, biogenic reefs Coarse Sand Mud Mixed sediment Littoral   Sublittoral - shallow Sublittoral - shelf Bathyal – upper Bathyal - lower Abyssal Water column Marine – Coastal Marine – shelf Marine - Oceanic Zone boundary (approx. m) 50 200 1100 2700 Provisional set proposed by TG1 MAES draft ‘ecosystem’ typology – very broad categories Seabed + water column Equates directly with MSFD predominant habitats 18

MAES marine ecosystem typology inlets Coastal Shelf 50-70m Open ocean/ deep sea 200m 5000m

MAES marine ecosystem typology Mm MAES marine ecosystem typology Marine inlets Estuary Coastal Shelf Embayment Open ocean/deep sea Fjord Lagoon

Next phases for MSFD Monitoring programmes in 2014 Programme of measures by 2015 Key focus on reductions in pressures from human activities to reduce environmental impacts and thus achieve GES

MAES and MSFD Challenges: Where can MAES demonstrate: Definition of GES is unclear Actions needed to achieve GES are unclear Industries may see achieving GES as a ‘burden’ rather than a benefit Where can MAES demonstrate: That achieving GES is important to ecosystem structure and functioning? This, in turn, is important to delivery of ecosystem services (goods and services) Where can MAES demonstrate benefits of a good environmental status?

Thank you for your attention http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine Thank you for your attention