Coastal & Maritime Research - PEGASO See project brochure

THE CHALLENGE

Many efforts have been deployed for developing Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Both basins have, and continue to suffer severe environmental degradation. In many areas this has led to unsustainable trends which have impacted on economic activities and human well being. An important progress has been made with the launch of the ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean Sea in January 2008. The ICZM Protocol offers, for the first time in the Mediterranean, an opportunity to work in a new way, and a model that can be used as a basis for solving similar problems elsewhere, such as in the Back Sea. PEGASO is consistent with the frameworks of the Barcelona and Bucharest Conventions which seek to achieve a coordinated approach to sustainable resource management and development, and to protect these regional seas and the quality of life of their peoples. It also continues ICZM efforts, supporting new marine and maritime policies.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The main objective of PEGASO is to build on existing capacities and develop common novel approaches to support integrated policies for the coastal, marine and maritime realms of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Basins in ways that are consistent with and relevant to the implementation of the ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean.

METHODOLOGY

PEGASO will use the model of the existing ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean and adjust it to the needs of the Black Sea through three innovative actions: -Constructing an ICZM governance platform as a bridge between scientist and end-user communities, going far beyond a conventional bridging. The building of a shared scientific and end users platform is at the heart of our proposal linked with new models of governance.

• Refine and further develop efficient and easy to use tools for making sustainability assessments in the coastal zone (indicators, Accounting methods and models, scenarios). They will be tested and validated in a multi-scale approach for integrated regional assessment.
• Implementation of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), following INSPIRE Directive, to organize and standardize spatial data to support information sharing on an interactive visor, to make it available to the ICZM Platform, and to disseminate all results of the project to all interested parties.

CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE OF PEGASO GOVERNANCE PLATFORM

EXPECTED RESULTS

POLICY	Identifying common or complementary issues	PEGASO Contribution
EU ICZM Recommendation (2002-2007)	Already deals with land and its interface to the sea	Review of the set of ICZM indicators
ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean	Modern policy and binding: linkages with ecosystem approach, maritime activities, spatial planning at land and sea, climate change impacts and risks, socioeconomic development, cultural identity, and their relationship to the sustainable development of the coast	Update of the ICZM indicators to measure sustainable development of the coast and building of an indicator of progress in ICZM Stocktaking to know how countries are prepared for implementation Governance Platform, sustainability tools and SDI
Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development	Link with the Mediterranean Action Plan and the ICZM Protocol	Design and implementation of indicators for sustainable development
Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)	Ecosystem based, look for sea ecosystem	Gathering sea bed maps Developing a spatial indicator for "ecological potential" Measuring impacts from some maritime activities
Maritime Spatial Planning	Linked to ICZM. Key instrument for MSFD. MSP is used in some countries to implement MSFD (i.e. measuring impacts on ecosystems)	Stocktaking of maritime activities and future scenarios Identification and assessment of cumulative impacts on key spaces Participative decision making for spatial maritime planning
Climate change adaptation (EU Green Paper)	Impacts of climate change on costal settlements, activities and maritime uses Adaptative responses needed	Methodology for the vulnerability and risk assessment in coastal zones Guidelines for adaptation and mitigation strategies
Halting biodiversity loss by 2010	SEBI 2010 indicators for the coast and sea	Implementing the relevant SEBI indicators in the Mediterranean and Black Sea
Habitat Directives and Bird Directive	-Natura 2000 sites aims to protect habitats and species, included birds -National designation sites	Accounting for biodiversity loss in wetlands, islands and Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Urban impacts and intensive agriculture impacts on designated sites
WFD	Water and ecosystem quality standards	Development of indicators Development of land-sea scenarios on water and ecosystem quality
Fisheries (specially ecosystem based management)	Relation between fisheries, water quality and seascapes Special emphasis will be put on aquaculture practices.	Spatial integrated indicators and assessment on this issue Accounting ecosystem services such as aquaculture
Horizon2020	Stop pollution in the Med in 2020	Mapping of urban growth and scenarios Water use and management
SEA Directive	Plans and projects need a specific impact assessment to avoid degradation of landscape and ecosystems.	Development of impact indicators Identification of main future threats and priorities to mitigate them or to adapt Producing tools to be used in assessments
Cohesion Funds	Requires a clear vision of what is needed where, and a sustainability assessment to make a robust follow up of actions and investments.	Identify most vulnerable areas and issues for funding Identification of potentialities to be developed