1. MAES and its relation to marine environmental policies
Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) in the marine environment
- Brussels, 19 June ENV.B.2 – Biodiversity ENV.B.3 – Nature ENV.C.2 – Marine environment

2. EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020: relevant targets and actions
T1: Full implementation of Birds, Habitats Dir.
A1: Complete Natura 2000 network
A4: Improve, streamline monitoring, reporting
T2: Maintain, enhance ecosystems + services
A5: MAES
A6: Restoration
A7: No net loss
T4: Sustainable use of fisheries resources

3. Mapping and assessment of ecosystems + services (MAES)
“Member States, with the assistance of the Commission, will map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory by 2014, assess the economic value of such services, and promote the integration of these values into accounting and reporting systems at EU and national level by 2020.”

4. MAES in the Biodiversity Strategy

5. Biodiversity Strategy: common implementation framework
Overall guidance: BD/Nature Directors (MS + EC)
Joint meeting with Water/Marine Directors (Lithuania, December 2013)
Operational steering: Coordination Group for Biodiversity and Nature – CGBN
Target-specific working groups
Relying on existing structures where possible  WG GES for Target 4
New WGs where needed, incl. on MAES

6. WG MAES
Assembling MS representatives, Commission, EEA, external experts, stakeholders
Supported by MESEU contract
5 meetings to date (+ stakeholder workshop Nov. 2012)
Overseeing development of analytical framework
Launched 6 thematic pilots, incl. marine, to test analytical framework
To take stock of preliminary pilot results in Sept. 2013

7. Overall conceptual framework
Linking the state of European ecosystems to human well-being through the delivery of ecosystem services

8. Typology of ecosystems: 12 broad types
Terrestrial & fresh water
1. Urban
2. Cropland
3. Grassland
4. Woodland & forest
5. Heathland & shrub
6. Sparsely vegetated land
7. Wetlands
8. Rivers and lakes
Marine
9. Marine inlets & transitional waters
10. Coastal
11. Shelf
12. Open ocean

9. 'MAES marine': challenges and opportunities
Concepts
Variety of ecosystem/habitat classifications, not fully adapted to marine specificities
 EEA/ETC-BD cross-walks paper
Data
Current shortage of spatially explicit, three-dimensional information
Important information expected from MS reporting under MSFD
Need to tap also into other reporting streams, incl. under CFP, Art. 17 Habitats Dir.

10. MAES and the MSFD The Marine Strategy Framework Directive aims to:
achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020
through an ecosystem-based approach
enabling sustainable use of marine goods and services
MSFD can contribute to MAES:
Provision of ecosystem state assessments and maps
MSFD can benefit from MAES by:
Linking assessments of ecosystem services to particular components of the marine ecosystems
Demonstrating the benefits of achieving GES for these components/services
Support need for measures to achieve GES through improved ecosystem services (links to costs of a degraded environment)

11. MAES and the MSFD – an example
Achieving GES by 2020 includes:
All commercial fish and shellfish stocks:
Within safe biological limits
Population age and size structure indicative of a healthy stock
All stocks at maximum sustainable yield (MSY)
Compatible goals for CFP and Target 4 of EU Biodiversity Strategy
MAES can:
Link ecosystem service (food provision) to component of the marine ecosystems (fish populations)
Demonstrate benefits of achieving GES (MSY) for fish/food provision
Support need for measures to achieve MSY – healthy stocks, improved food availability, increased efficiency of fishing industry

12. Marine Natura 2000 – background
Habitats and Birds Directives cover some key components of coastal and marine ecosystems
Apply to waters where MS exercise sovereign rights
Designation and management of Natura sites across EU marine regions main tool for the protection/conservation of those features
Link to MPAs under MSFD

13. Currently:
2.341 marine N2000 sites,
km² (= ~ 4 % of EU seas under national jurisdiction)
Ongoing progress but still significant gaps offshore

14. Socio-economic benefits from MPAs under N2000
Marine Natura 2000 areas and the resources they support provide provide a wide range of valuable goods and services:
Fisheries: fish spawning and feeding grounds, seafood
Carbon sequestration, climate regulation
Recreation and tourism
Erosion control
Genetic resources – pharmaceutics
… and related income and employment generated
A study on benefits of MPAs in Scottish waters estimated their goods and services at £6.3 billion - £10 billion over 20 years.

15. Marine features: conservation status

16. Main issues
Conservation status of marine features very much 'unknown' (50-70% of assessments)
Need for more inventories and implementation of appropriate monitoring schemes
… and for more cooperation across borders on monitoring, favourable reference values, status assessment and conservation objectives

17. MAES and conservation status information
EEA & ETC-BD work on grouping of habitats and species of EU interest towards the MAES eco-systems classification & how to work with these as indicators
Challenges for using Art. 17 data:
Scale of the assessment (national biogeographical region/regional sea)
Lack of marine knowledge
EU protected habitats and species are only a part of Europe's biodiversity, particularly in the marine!

18. Conclusions How MAES can support marine environmental policies…
How MSFD, N2000 work can contribute to MAES