Deliverable 1.1 review document on the management of marine areas with particular regard on concepts, objectives, frameworks and tools to implement, monitor, and evaluate spatially managed areas

The main objectives if this document were to review the existing information on spatial management of marine areas, identifying the relevant policy objectives, to identify parameters linked to the success or failure of the various Spatially Managed marine Areas (SMAs) regimes, to report on methods and tools used in monitoring and evaluation of the state of SMAs, and to identify gaps and weaknesses in the existing frameworks in relation to the implementation, monitoring, evaluation and management of SMAs. The document is naturally divided in two sections: Section 1 reviews the concepts, objectives, drivers, policy and management framework, and extraneous factors related to the design, implementation and evaluation of SMAs; Section 2 reviews the tools and methods to monitor and evaluate seabed habitats and marine populations.peer-reviewe

Nature-based solutions tools for planning urban climate adaptation : State of the art

Despite the recognized potential of nature-based solutions (NBSs) to support climate adaptation, there are still wide barriers for a wider uptake of such NBS in urban areas. While tailored NBS tools could facilitate and accelerate this process, a comprehensive mapping of their availability and capacity to respond to cities’ challenges is missing. This research aims to provide an overview of tools that intend to facilitate the uptake of NBS for urban climate adaptation supporting cities in overcoming their challenges. To do so, this paper (i) presents the results of interviews and workshops with municipal officers and decision-makers from different European cities that identified the challenges they experience with NBS uptake; (ii) selects and reviews NBS tools and (iii) analyzes them on their capacity to address these implementation challenges. Our research revealed four key challenges that municipal officers experience: resources availability; level of expertise, know-how or competence; the institutional setting, and collaborative governance and planning. The results from the tools’ review show that existing tools can support overcoming a lack of expertise (31), but, to a smaller extent, can also be of use when experiencing the institutional setting (13), availability of resources (11), and collaborative governance and planning (10) as a challenge. This work provides researchers and tool developers with insights into potential market saturation as well as scarcity of certain types of tools that would match cities’ challenges, highlighting needs and opportunities for new tool development

Nature-Based Solutions Tools Catalogue

The Adaptive Cities Through Integrated Nature-Based Solutions (ACT on NBS), EIT Climate KIC project made an inventory and assessment of NBS tools for climate resilient cities. The objectives of the catalogue are: 1) to increase organizational accessibility to data on NBS and climate resilience tools that have been developed and used in Europe and worldwide; 2) that different end-users become aware of several tools that already exist to plan, design, and implement NBS and make use of them to address specific environmental challenges and adaptation measures in their cities, neighborhoods or even regions. The NBS tools catalogue contains 70 tools collected. For this research, a “tool” is understood to be either a methodology, software, catalogue, repository, e-platform, guideline or handbook. The tools were identified through interviews with EU municipalities and workshops organized by ACT on NBS, and by additional desk research. The desk study entailed a combination of reviewing the websites from international organizations and EU granted projects related to cities dealing with NBSs, ecosystem services (ESs), green infrastructure, urban resilience and climate change, and reviewing peer-reviewed scientific journals, reports and grey literature. The latter search was implemented through Google search, Google scholar and Scopus in August 2020. This implies that tools that were developed and published before that date were collected. The search strategy was implemented using combinations of search terms such as: nature-based solutions, NBS, ecosystem-based adaptation, green infrastructure, climate adaptation, climate resilience, ecosystem services, climate hazards, urban biodiversity, urban nature, water and land management “AND” urban areas, cities “AND” tools, software, methodology, catalogue, repository, platform, handbook and guideline. For the assessment, tools were labeled on their descriptive characteristics and potential fields of application. The use of pre-defined indicators was chosen to support the characterization of the tools and to allow for their comparison. The categories and indicators were formulated based on the current literature and refined through expert judgements. The indicators were also, in some cases, further adapted through an iterative process of tools’ analysis

Zandwinning, zandsuppletie en de Kaderrichtlijn Mariene Strategie

Op 15 juli 2008 is de Kaderrichtlijn Mariene Strategie (KRM) in werking getreden. Deze richtlijn heeft een tweeledig doel, bescherming en herstel van de Europese zeeën en waarborgen van een duurzaam menselijk gebruik. In Bijlage I van de KRM worden 11 kwalitatief beschrijvende elementen voor de omschrijving van de goede milieutoestand genoemd, waaronder een element dat betrekking heeft op bescherming van de zeebodem. Dit rapport richt zich op de vraag in hoeverre de verplichtingen van de KRM een belemmering kunnen vormen voor zandwinning en zandsuppleties. Hierbij gaat het zowel om de huidige omvang van zandwinning en suppleties ten behoeve van de kustverdediging en zandwinning ten behoeve van andere doelen (totaal ca. 25 miljoen m3/jaar), als om een mogelijk toekomstige grootschalige uitbreiding van zandwinning en zandsuppleties (ca. 100 miljoen m3/jaar) zoals omschreven in het Concept Nationaal Waterplan. Van de huidige menselijke activiteiten die van invloed zijn op de zeebodem zijn, wordt voor de visserij, zandwinning en zandsuppletie een beschrijving gegeven van de omvang van deze activiteiten. Op dit moment wordt de bodemberoerende visserij beschouwd als de menselijke activiteit met het grootste effect op de bodemgemeenschap. Op Europees niveau wordt gewerkt aan een door JRC en ICES op te stellen advies over de uitwerking van de 11 elementen uit Bijlage I van de KRM. Deze rapportages van JRC en ICES waren echter niet tijdig beschikbaar, en zijn niet gebruikt bij het opstellen van dit rapport. Er is een juridische analyse gemaakt van de betekenis van de KRM voor zandwinning en zandsuppletie. Geconcludeerd wordt dat zandwinning en zandsuppletie verenigbaar kunnen zijn met het doel van de KRM, mits aan bepaalde randvoorwaarden voldaan wordt, zoals duurzaam gebruik en het voorkomen van negatieve effecten op de goede milieutoestand. In bepaalde gevallen, zoals zandwinning en zandsuppletie strikt ten behoeve van de kustverdediging, kan er sprake zijn van dwingende redenen van openbaar belang, waardoor deze activiteiten ook gerechtvaardigd kunnen worden als ze het bereiken van de goede milieutoestand verhinderen. In alle gevallen geldt de verplichting tot het opstellen van plannen, het treffen van maatregelen om effecten te beperken, monitoring en rapportage. Een stappenplan is opgesteld om de juridische randvoorwaarden van de KRM toe te passen op een specifiek project. Over de effecten van zandwinning en zandsuppleties op het ecosysteem is beperkt kennis beschikbaar. Zandwinning en zandsuppletie hebben directe en indirecte effecten op het ecosysteem. Herstel na de ingreep is afhankelijk van verschillende factoren. In het algemeen geldt dat ecologisch herstel enkele jaren kan duren. De huidige kennis over effecten van zandwinning en -suppletie, en over het bentisch systeem van de Noordzee, is gefragmenteerd. Een mogelijke methode om de effecten van menselijke activiteiten op de zeebodem te beschrijven is het inschatten van het verstoorde oppervlak en de duur van de verstoring, in relatie tot het totale oppervlak van de habitat of bodemgemeenschap. Nader onderzoek is nodig om tot een goede begrenzing van gemeenschappen te komen

Ecosystem-based marine spatial management: Review of concepts, policies, tools, and critical issues

Conventional sectoral management and piecemeal governance are considered less and less appropriate in pursuit of sustainable development. Ecosystem based marine spatial management (EB-MSM) is an approach that recognizes the full array of interactions within an ecosystem, including human uses, rather than considering single issues, species, or ecosystem services in isolation. Marine spatial planning and ocean zoning are emerging concepts that can support EB-MSM. EB-MSM is driven by high-level goals that managers aim to achieve through the implementation of measures. High-level goals and objectives need to be translated into more operational objectives before specific targets, limits and measures can be elaborated. Monitoring, evaluation and adaptation are necessary to ensure that marine management measures are both effective and efficient. Solid monitoring frameworks are the foundation of adaptive management, as they provide the necessary information to evaluate performance and the effectiveness of management actions. Marine protected areas (MPAs) - possibly set up in networks - constitute a key component in EB-MSM policies and practises and have been applied as a cornerstone in conservation of marine biodiversity, management of fish populations, development of coastal tourism, etc. Moreover, MPA experiences have provided methods and concepts (such as zoning) to a wider EB-MSM context. The assignment of values to biophysical features of the marine environment allows the direct assessment of related management choices and may assist EB-MSM. A range of monetary valuation techniques have been proposed to reduce attributes of goods and services to a single metric. However, in the marine environment such an approach is often over simplistic, and thus less reductive techniques may be necessary. Rather than producing a single metric, the results of non-monetary assessments guide policy allowing weight to be given as necessary to potential areas of conflict and consensus. Strategies to take into account climate change effects and geohazard risks in EB-MSM have been applied or proposed worldwide. EB-MSM regimes must be alert to such risks and flexible to account for changes

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele