Academic editor:
The overall goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity is to halt the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services by 2020. To attain this goal, the international community agreed in 2010 on 20 biodiversity-related goals, the ‘Aichi Targets’. However, mid-term assessments of the progress towards these global targets suggest that, despite the acceleration of policies and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, these efforts are unlikely to improve negative trends in the state of biodiversity or protection coverage targets by 2020 (
This paper introduces a new European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action, ‘Advancing marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas’ (
This paper briefly summarizes the main regulatory framework for marine conservation in this region, outlines the need for maritime (or marine) spatial planning (MSP) and identifies the role of marine protected areas (MPAs). In addition, the key scientific requirements for successful marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas are outlined and the innovations and expected contributions of the action are highlighted. Finally, the issues facing this region and the importance of strong stakeholder networking to help meet international commitments to the conservation of marine ecosystems are summarized.
Efforts to coordinate and advance marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas are conducted under four United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) regional seas conventions covering the North-Eastern Atlantic (OSPAR), the Baltic Sea (HELCOM) the Mediterranean Sea (Barcelona Convention) and the Black Sea (Bucharest Convention) (
These four conventions have historically been important for marine conservation efforts. However, the role of the EU has evolved in recent years and its Directives and Policies have changed the focus of conservation in the European and contiguous seas, particularly for EU Member States and acceding countries. Among the significant Directives and Policies that apply are, the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC), the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC), the Framework for Maritime Spatial Planning (2014/89/EU) and the Common Fisheries Policy (Regulation 508/2014).
Over recent years there has been a move towards a more holistic approach to the management of the marine environment endorsing the ecosystem-based management approach. This is exemplified by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which requires Member States to achieve ‘Good Environmental Status’ (GES) within their seas by 2020. This is in direct coordination with the Aichi Targets. While the goal of achieving GES in EU waters by 2020 is assisted by the definition of 11 descriptors produced by the European Commission, it is complicated by the fact that Member States express different interpretations of what GES means in practice. The absence of effective regional and local marine strategies, supported by sound conservation science, coordinated monitoring and meaningful stakeholder engagement, undermines the potential for consistent conservation within EU waters. Bearing in mind that marine resource management is a politically and culturally driven process this is even more challenging in a region of diverse worldviews, socio-economic development and political systems (
The European and contiguous seas are becoming ever more crowded, and marine resources previously considered difficult to exploit are now becoming available through the advancement of new technologies (
The requirement for the application of some form of order in an otherwise chaotic system is apparent. Maritime (or Marine) Spatial Planning (MSP), which incorporates environmental features and human uses into a coherent and integrated decision-supporting framework, has become a necessity (
Conservation planning and impact-mitigation strategies could greatly benefit from cumulative impact assessments (
The impact of climate change is likely increasing (e.g.,
Rapid globalization and increasing trends of trade, travel, and transport in recent decades have accelerated the rates of marine biological invasions (
A holistic approach to conservation also requires integrated land-sea planning (
The formulation of solutions for managing marine ecosystems and species should involve collaboration between jurisdictions and across boundaries (
The spatial manifestation of conservation planning is invariably protected areas. While MPAs are considered a valuable tool to protect biodiversity in European waters, especially the Natura 2000 networks of the Habitats and Birds Directives, recent figures from the European Environment Agency indicate that the majority of them are ineffective in achieving their biodiversity conservation objectives (
The MarCons COST action will consolidate a network of scientists involved in marine conservation and in the promotion of the sustainable use of marine ecosystem services. MarCons expands on previous related efforts (
MarCons will provide support to decision makers for the development of appropriate European policies for the improvement of marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas. The connective nature of the marine environment requires that European seas are considered together with their contiguous water bodies. Hence, the network established by the MarCons consortium stretches beyond the European territories. This will provide real opportunities for deriving new experience for knowledge sharing and capacity building with the involvement of countries from North Africa, the Middle East as well as North America, and Australia.
The main aim of MarCons is to bridge the gap between science, management and policy, and substantially contribute to the challenge of halting biodiversity loss in the European and contiguous seas by 2020. Hence, MarCons comes at a critical time to inform marine managers and policy makers of Europe and neighbouring countries on the development of marine strategies and marine spatial plans that will effectively contribute to the 2020 objectives.
MarCons will revolve around six main themes (Fig.
trans-disciplinary, combining knowledge from the fields of conservation biology, biogeography, fisheries science, invasions biology, marine ecology, historical ecology, conservation paleo-biology, computational science and modelling, integrated and political geography, spatial planning, environmental sociology, economics, international relations, social-ecological systems and natural resource governance;
trans-boundary, spanning three continents (Europe, Asia, Africa), many countries and various jurisdictions; and,
trans-realm, considering in the conservation planning also terrestrial and freshwater environments, in order to ensure a holistic and inclusive approach to address the challenge.
MarCons will explore the framework and development of cumulative human impact assessments, considering how to factor in their spatial and temporal heterogeneity. It will then integrate this knowledge into conservation planning and action prioritization. In an integrated and dynamic way MarCons will advance the understanding of cumulative impacts of human stressors, considering their additive, synergistic and antagonistic effects and their influence on marine species, communities and ecosystems. It will also progress towards a greater integration of the historical perspective in the delineation of the current status of ecosystems and conservation strategies.
In this context, MarCons aims to apply and further develop new methods to analyse the cumulative impacts on marine biodiversity and ecosystems (e.g., fisheries, pollution, habitat modification, biological invasions), including those related to climate change. New methods will be applied (e.g., the new Ecospace Habitat Capacity model;
In recent years, major advances in conservation biology have been made through a range of dedicated international research projects and initiatives. There is a need to translate these advances into coordinated conservation actions, including tools, which can deal with irreconcilable ideologies. This requires both natural and social scientists to develop an awareness of the underlying assumptions shaping their epistemologies and ontologies (
Another important issue that has been largely overlooked by the scientific community is how to account for biological invasions in marine conservation planning (
MarCons will investigate if approaches applied to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems can be adapted to the marine environment and will develop a methodological framework to effectively account for biological invasions in conservation planning. Furthermore, specific management actions will be proposed to mitigate the impacts of the most invasive marine alien species in European and contiguous seas.
Although MarCons focuses on the marine environment, the connection between terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, and threats spanning across these realms cannot be disregarded. There has been a number of scientific publications pointing out the necessity of identifying and quantifying links between realms when planning for conservation and managing ecosystems (e.g.
MarCons will promote integrated conservation planning by (1) investigating inter-relations among land-river-sea ecosystems, including the natural flows between systems, and cross-realm threats; (2) the development of methods for integrated cross-realm spatial plans, using case studies of coastal zones; (3) the development of methods for integrated cross-realm prioritization of conservation actions to maximize benefits for biodiversity across ecosystems in a cost-effective way (see
The inherent connective nature of marine ecosystems means that transboundary collaboration is critical for successful conservation planning (
Globally, MPAs are regarded as the cornerstone of marine conservation strategies (
Marine conservation in Europe is challenged by knowledge gaps, methodological limitations and heterogeneity in the geographical extent of available data and collaborations. The increasing pressures on marine biodiversity and the drivers behind these pressures cannot be effectively managed with the current
In addition, clearly articulating the social aspects of biodiversity conservation by making explicit the human value systems and worldviews underpinning management strategies and conservation targets would contribute towards transparent and collaborative decision-making (
Given the short time available there is a need for a holistic approach that will capitalize on previous work, combine ongoing studies, catalyse new understanding and therefore impact marine policy development. MarCons aims to bridge the gap between conservation science and policy makers, thereby substantially contributing to the challenge of halting biodiversity loss in the European and contiguous seas by 2020.
This article is based upon work from COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action 15121 ‘Advancing marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas (
European and contiguous seas. The distribution of population in European and adjacent coastal areas is shown as well as the existing Marine Protected Areas (including the Natura-2000 sites; based on the September 2015 version of the World Database on Protected Areas) and the terrestrial and marine borders (not all shown EEZs have been ratified – in the case of non-agreed marine borders the median line is shown in the map).
Schematic representation of the six main themes of MarCons.