Frédéric BrochierUNESCO/IOC Consultant

Main Objectives

Provide an overview of the relevant marine assessments on European seas which could contribute to the UN Regular Process based on the GRAME Database and further additional assessments (covering 2008-2012).

Provide a meaningful basis for discussion Contribute to the updating of the GRAME Database Provide a first attempt towards the identification on main gaps

related to the issues covered by the 4 building blocks of the UNRP outline namely (i) ecosystem services ecosystem services from the marine environment (other than provisioning services); (ii) food food securitysecurity; (iii) Marine biological diversity and habitats Marine biological diversity and habitats and (iv) human activitieshuman activities impacting on the marine environment

Methodology – approach taken

Desk-based research carried out over May -June 2012 GRAME Database as a key primary information source Web-based search to cover assessments over 2008-2012 Main focus on assessment “products” for European seas Data holding have not been taken into consideration Give priority to documents that broadly meet the three main

conditions encompassed in the definition of assessment (Mitchell, et al. 2006) namely that the piece of work is ‘formalformal’, it assembles ‘selected knowledgeselected knowledge’ and it is ‘publicly availablepublicly available’.

Policy analysis, Guidelines and Strategy documents have been excluded

Use of a specific template for individual assessment analysis (ANNEX 2)

INDIVIDUAL TEMPLATE(a) Agency conducting the assessment; (b) Intended users and the uses (c) Scale and frequency (d) Issues covered (e) Types of data and Indicators(f) Trends and methods employed; (g) Integration (social, economic and ecological info)(h) Evaluation benchmarks(i) Forecasts, projections, and scenarios (j) Data-assessment limitations (k) Relevance (l) Capacity needs (m) Source

INDIVIDUAL TEMPLATE(a) Agency conducting the assessment; (b) Intended users and the uses (c) Scale and frequency (d) Issues covered (e) Types of data and Indicators(f) Trends and methods employed; (g) Integration (social, economic and ecological info)(h) Evaluation benchmarks(i) Forecasts, projections, and scenarios (j) Data-assessment limitations (k) Relevance (l) Capacity needs (m) Source

MOST RECENT MARINE ASSESSMENTS AVAILABLE

(i)(i) Ecosystem services Ecosystem services (ii)(ii) Food securityFood security(iii)(iii) Marine biological diversity Marine biological diversity

and habitats and and habitats and (iv)(iv) Human activitiesHuman activities..

(i)(i) Ecosystem services Ecosystem services (ii)(ii) Food securityFood security(iii)(iii) Marine biological diversity Marine biological diversity

and habitats and and habitats and (iv)(iv) Human activitiesHuman activities..

4 BUILDING BLOCKS UNRP outline

The Global and Regional Assessments of the Marine Global and Regional Assessments of the Marine Environment Database Environment Database – GRAMED

Main aim: to provide support to the regular process for the global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment

Started in 2003 – covers assessments until about 2008-2009 1023 activities registered including assessments, scientific research

studies and data holdings Covers the 21 AoA regions of the world ocean Of the records included in the database, 269 have been reviewed as

part of the 2007-2009 Assessment of Assessment Process

The GRAME Database

Number of assessments in GRAMED

The number of assessments for the European seas represent 22.5 % of all GRAMED assessments.

The number of assessments for the European seas represent 22.5 % of all GRAMED assessments.

The Black sea is the less represented sea with only 18 assessments recorded

The Black sea is the less represented sea with only 18 assessments recorded

Classification of assessments

Broad assessments represents 32% of the assessments for Europe - close to the global average (31%). The Black Sea has the higher number of broad assessments with 56% while 28 % of assessments are classified as Narrow Assessment

Scale of assessments

Over 2008-2012

A sample of 63 assessments collected and analysed by means of individual templates (Annex 2)*

14 are broad assessments 52 are at regional level (82 %), 7 at supra-

regional level (Europe) and 3 at global level

*not pretended to be exhaustive…. more coastal and marine assessments may be found at supra-regional, regional, and national level (See ANNEX 3 for some examples).

Date of publication and main issues covered

ICES 2003: Environmental status of the European seas –

Global and Supra-Regional level

ESF- Marine board 2011: Monitoring Chemical Pollution in Europe’s Seas

The Census of Marine Life (2000–2010) was the largest global research programme on marine biodiversity

EEA 2010: Marine and coastal environment - SOER 2010 thematic assessment

UNEP, 2009. Marine Litter: A

Global Challenge.

ICES 2003: Environmental status of the European seas

Regional (sea) level

OSPAR 2010: Quality status report

Black Sea Commission 2009: Marine Litter in the Black Sea Region

HELCOM 2010: Ecosystem Health of the Baltic Sea HELCOM Initial Holistic Assessment

UNEP/MAP 2012: State of the Mediterranean coastal and marine environment

UNEP/MAP PlanBleu 2009: SOED

Gap analysis (1/2)

\

Ecosystem

Services

Food S

ecurity

Gap analysis (2/2)M

arine Biological diversity

Hum

an Activities

Some concluding remarks

Under regional sea convention framework, regular monitoring and assessment cycle are well-established

There is a great deal of information. The trend towards more regular and comprehensive assessments is ongoing.

Integrated (broad assessments) are generally well publicized Thematic assessments (pressure based) are prevailing Assessment practice is undergoing a transition towards an ecosystem-

based approach Progressive shift from pollution control to issues related to protection of the

marine environment and in particular biodiversity and ecosystems. There is a growing attention over assessments on Supra-regional issues such

as Climate change, marine litter and invasive species Integration level of socio-economic issues appears to be still weak in spite

of some recent progresses Assessment of impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems is still too

much based on qualitative information and data

Moving forward

The achievement of regional comparability is challenging: huge differences between regions, spatial and temporal coverage, etc.)

Lack of comparable data across all seas still a major constraint

Compatibility of Assessments to be better analysed Regional sea conventions versus MSFD: key for the

production of future assessments (Scale integration, Timing of assessments, etc.)

Improved understanding of cumulative effects Further consideration on the definition of «assessment»

would facilitate the identification (and exclusion) of relevant reports