ACHIEVING GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS FOR MAINTAINING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES BY ASSESSING INTEGRATED IMPACTS OF CUMULATIVE PRESSURES
GES4SEAS PROJECT AIMS TO INFORM AND GUIDE MARINE GOVERNANCE IN MINIMIZING HUMAN PRESSURES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON MARINE BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING, WHILE MAINTAINING THE SUSTAINABLE DELIVERY OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES.
Coastal and marine waters are vital for the natural balance of our planet and for Human societies. All coastal and marine ecosystem goods and services heavily depend on the level of human and environmental pressures, and their cumulative effects.
GES4SEAS will bring together relevant actors and stakeholders, to develop an innovative, compliant, and flexible toolbox in the context of adaptive Ecosystem-Based Management. Stakeholders and key competent authorities will be integrated in a Practitioner Advisory Board to co-create and validate the toolbox.
11 Learning Sites will be used to test, validate, demonstrate and upscale the toolbox in four European regional seas (Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic and Black) as well as in the French Polynesia.
Through these tools, GES4SEAS will ensure that Good Environmental Status is achieved and support policies at national, European and global levels.
GES4SEAS is structured into 7 work packages (WP), covering the different aspects needed to develop an innovative toolbox, including its testing, validation and demonstration, in the context of ecosystem-based management. HCMR is co-leading WP2 – developing the conceptual framework and knowledge base for ecosystem-based management. (https://www.ges4seas.eu/work-packages/#toggle-id-2-closed)
The GES4SEAS toolbox will be tested and validated in 11 different Learning Sites (LSs). HCMR is leading the Aegean LS. The toolbox developed by WP4 will include methods for analyzing, assessing and mapping (i) cumulative pressures (Cumulative Impact Assessment/Combined Effects Assessment (CIA/CEA)), (ii) MSFD GES and (iii) ecosystem services.
GES4SEAS Infographics, videos and outputs including papers and educational materials