A Pan-European Delimitation of Coastal Waters: Compliance with EU Environmental Legislation

The definition of coastal waters in relation to EU environmental legislation was clearly stated in the Water Framework Directive. In compliance with this Directive, most of the EU Member States delineated their coastal waters¿ boundaries. However, these delineations are not as complete and homogeneous as could be expected. A clear identification of European coastal waters boundaries is crucial for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which depend on an accurate ecological/environmental assessment of those waters. Hence, there is a need for a comprehensive and unambiguous delimitation of European coastal waters. This report aims at bridging this gap providing a pan-European mapping of coastal waters, which cover 553,817 km2 in 30 seaside countries, 340,524 km2 of which pertain to the 22 EU Member States connected to the sea. For this purpose, a comprehensive geographical analysis of the national baselines and transitional waters distribution was performed. A pan-European baseline of 63,340 km was delineated as a basis for the European coastal waters delimitation. The European coastal waters identified in this work show significant differences with the available national declarations (almost 12% of the compared area), the latter defining an additional area of 29,337 km2 with respect to the former. The largest deviations seem to be due to misinterpretations of the definition of coastal waters in the Water Framework Directive, although a number of one-sided national modifications to that definition are also observed. This work provides the geographical basis for a full consultation process and discussion about this subject. Our recommendations include setting a clear geographical limit between the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive jurisdiction, revise the possible exemptions in the definition of coastal waters, and discuss their consequences in the assessment of ecological/environmental status.JRC.DDG.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Spatial distribution of marine ecosystem service capacity in the European seas

Practitioners and policy makers at European Union (EU) and Member States level are increasingly seeking spatially-explicit ecosystem service information to use in decision-making and the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. Whilst under the MAES Action, land-cover data has already been used to map the distribution of several ecosystem services provided over the European land surface, a similar exercise exploiting existing seabed habitat data is still lacking for the European Seas. In this work we map the distribution of seabed-associated ecosystem services capacity by using a methodology that brings together (i) a geospatial dataset representing the broadscale distribution of permanently-submerged seabed habitats with (ii) information on each habitat capacity to provide ecosystem services. A compilation of EUNIS-harmonized broadscale seabed habitat maps based on EMODNET Seabed Habitats and UNEP GSGFM is exploited as the pan-European cartographic basis. The exercise extends out to the limits of the Extended Continental Shelf claims, achieving an areal coverage of approximately 8.7 million km2, i.e., more than 90% of the EU seafloor area in the Northeast Atlantic and adjacent seas. Alongside, expert-based assessments of each marine EUNIS habitat's capacity to provide CICES-harmonized Ecosystem Services are compiled from a literature review into a presence-only lookup table. Overall, the new seabed habitats versus ecosystem services lookup tables relate 33 ecosystem services to 67 EUNIS and 24 non-EUNIS seabed habitats. These results suggest that out of all marine habitats (n=974) in the EUNIS classification (EUNIS A1 to A7), only 14% (n=141) have so far been related to at least one ecosystem service. When all potential connections between the existing seabed EUNIS classes and CICES services are considered (n=104,218), results further show that only 2% (i.e., n=2,241) of the have been addressed qualitatively or semi-quantitatively. Based on this information, a total of 30 CICES ecosystem service categories are mapped: 3 at level 1 (CICES Sections), 5 at level 2 (CICES Divisions), 10 at level 3 (CICES Groups) and 12 at level 4 (CICES Classes). From these maps, area-based indicators of ecosystem service capacity (i.e., extent where each service is potentially provided) are extracted per MSFD region/subregion, Ecoregion, Fishing Area and an approximation of EU Member States (MS) maritime areas in the Northeast Atlantic and Adjacent Seas. Along with the maps, the study presents also some spatial statistics based on the extent over which each service is potentially provided. Different segmentations of the European Seas are used to aggregate these statistics including MSFD region/subregion, Ecological Region, FAO Fishing Area and an approximation of the Member State maritime area. Overall, continental shelves and oceanic elevations (islands, seamounts and ridges) were highlighted as ecosystem services hotspots where a larger number of services could be potentially held. When maps were segmented using MSFD region/subregion limits, the Extended Continental Shelf areas claimed by the EU MS in the Northeast Atlantic, together with the Celtic Seas and the Greater North Sea sub-regions stood as the regions holding most ecosystem service capacity. An ecoregion-based segmentation of the maps emphasized the Atlantic Deep Sea as the major ecosystem service capacity holder, followed by ecoregions containing large shelves, notably the Boreal Proper, the Boreal-Lusitanean and the Western Mediterranean. A disaggregation of the results per Fishing Area highlighted the Northeast Atlantic, namely areas around the British Isles and Macaronesia, as well as the western Mediterranean. When an approximation of EU Member States (MS) maritime areas was used, MS with larger EEZs (namely, UK, IT, PT and ES) came up as holding most of the marine ecosystem service capacity. The new maps and associated area-based indicators provide a first spatially-explicit baseline concerning the EU-wide distribution of marine ecosystem services. They contribute to the marine component of MAES and fulfil key objectives of the JRC’s SEACOAST and BES projects. Options to develop this research line and eventually make it more quantitative are expounded in the discussion and summarized in the conclusions. The new information is of value to practitioners, managers and policy makers, at European or Member State level, seeking spatially-explicit ecosystem service information for marine spatial planning and environmental management. Researchers initiating and developing marine ecosystem service mapping studies are also expected users.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

ESTIMAP: Ecosystem services mapping at European scale

Mapping, visualization and the access to suitable data as a means to facilitate the dialogue among scientists, policy makers and the general public are among the most challenging issues within current ecosystem service science and application. Recently the attention on spatially explicit ways to map ecosystem services, at local, regional and global scale is increasing. This report presents ESTIMAP: a suite of models for a spatially explicit assessment of three ecosystem services (recreation, pollination and coastal protection) at continental scale. The main objective of the models is to support EU policies with information on ecosystem services.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Cook-book for water ecosystem service assessment and valuation

This work proposes a methodological framework for the biophysical assessment and the economic valuation of water ecosystem services at the water body, the catchment and the European scale. It suits the intent of understanding how changes in pressures may affect the delivery and the value of these services. We integrated the existing knowledge with experience of experts and operational needs (collected through a consultation), to propose practical methodologies able to address specific objectives. This report is organized as follows. The first section analyses the objectives of an ecosystem services assessment, explains how and why we selected and designed the methodology proposed, and discusses the concepts of ecosystem services and their integrated assessment and valuation. The results of the consultation of the experts are presented in the second section. The third section (‘cook-book’) exposes, in a concise and practical way, the approach and methodologies proposed to assess and value water ecosystem services. Finally, some major issues related to this methodology are discussed in the last section.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

More green infrastructure is required to maintain ecosystem services under current trends in land-use change in Europe

Green infrastructure (GI), a network of nature, semi-natural areas and green space, delivers essential ecosystem services which underpin human well-being and quality of life. Maintaining ecosystem services through the development of GI is therefore increasingly recognized by policies as a strategy to cope with potentially changing conditions in the future. This paper assessed how current trends of land-use change have an impact on the aggregated provision of eight ecosystem services at the regional scale of the European Union, measured by the Total Ecosystem Services Index (TESI8). Moreover, the paper reports how further implementation of GI across Europe can help maintain ecosystem services at baseline levels. Current demographic, economic and agricultural trends, which affect land use, were derived from the so called Reference Scenario. This scenario is established by the European Commission to assess the impact of energy and climate policy up to 2050. Under the Reference Scenario, economic growth, coupled with the total population, stimulates increasing urban and industrial expansion. TESI8 is expected to decrease across Europe between 0 and 5 % by 2020 and between 10 and 15 % by 2050 relative to the base year 2010. Based on regression analysis, we estimated that every additional percent increase of the proportion of artificial land needs to be compensated with an increase of 2.2 % of land that qualifies as green infrastructure in order to maintain ecosystem services at 2010 levels.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

A clear delimitation of coastal waters facing the EU environmental legislation: from the Water Framework Directive to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

The definition of coastal waters in relation to EU environmental legislation was clearly stated in the Water Framework Directive. In compliance with this Directive, most of the EU Member States have delineated their coastal waters¿ boundaries. However, these delineations are not as complete and homogeneous as could be expected. Hence, there is a need for a comprehensive and unambiguous delimitation of European coastal waters. This paper aims at bridging this gap, providing a pan-European mapping of coastal waters, covering 553,817 km2 in 30 seaside countries, 340,524 km2 of which pertain to the 22 EU Member States connected to the sea. For this purpose, a comprehensive geographical analysis of the national baselines and transitional waters distribution was performed. A pan-European baseline of 63,340 km was delineated, together with the coastal waters delimitation. The results show significant differences between the available national declarations of coastal waters and the areas identified in this work (almost 12% of the compared area), the former defining an additional 29,337 km2 of coastal waters with respect to the latter. The largest deviations seem to be due either to misinterpretations of the definition of coastal waters, or to one-sided national modifications. A clear identification of European coastal waters boundaries is crucial for the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive implementations, which depend on an accurate ecological/environmental assessment of those waters.JRC.DDG.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Institutional and policy framework: environmental regulations applicable to coastal zones at EU and national levels

The deterioration of coastal waters, mainly due to the excessive inputs of nutrients from river basins, was the issue of concern in the AWARE project. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the policy framework regulating the quality of coastal waters in the EU including international regional sea conventions. It also illustrates the current status of implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Integrated Coastal Zone Management recommendation in the Member States, as well as the institutional framework in the three AWARE case studies. Then, it analyses the state of compliance and the results of the present policy framework identifying the main gaps in the legislation. Finally, it includes some insights and perceptions on this topic from the AWARE experience.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

Going Green? Ex-post valuation of a Multipurpose Water Infrastructure in Northern Italy

A contingent valuation approach is used to estimate how households value different multipurpose infrastructures (conventional or green) for managing flood risk and water pollution. As a case study we consider the Gorla Maggiore water park located in the Lombardy Region, in Northern Italy. The park is a neo-ecosystem including an infrastructure to treat waste water and store excess rain water, recently built on the shore of the Olona River in an area previously used for poplar plantation. A novel aspect of our research is that it not only considers the values people hold for different water ecosystem services (pollution removal, recreative use, wildlife support, flood risk reduction), but also their preferences for how those outcomes are achieved (through conventional or green infrastructures). The results indicate that the type of infrastructure delivering the ecosystem services does have an impact on individuals' preferences for freshwater ecosystem services. Households are willing to pay from 6.3 to 7.1 euros per year for a green infrastructure (compared to a conventional one), with a premium up to 16.5 euros for a surrounding made of a park. By considering the type of infrastructure within the choice model, we gain a richer understanding of the relationship between social welfare and freshwater ecosystem services.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Securing water as a resource for society: an ecosystem services perspective

Freshwater ecosystems are crucially important providers of ecosystem services as they provide clean water for multiple uses including water for drinking, irrigation or recreation. This study presents a spatially explicit assessment of the benefits of water services at the scale of Europe. We mapped simple indicators for water provision, water regulation by soils, and water purification by river networks. Both the capacity to provide services as well as the actual flow of services were quantified in biophysical terms. Subsequently the monetary value of water purification was assessed for northern Mediterranean river basins using avoided treatment costs. This type of assessment is considered a valuable communication tool to integrate scientific disciplines and to facilitate the collaboration between experts, policy makers and citizens in the field of water management. Moreover, it is argued to be a useful and feasible alternative to manage water resources in developing countries.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

A way to map the value of ecosystem services delivered by lakes in Europe

This study provides the first assessment of the economic value of ecosystem services provided by lakes at the large scale (Europe). We rely on a meta-analytic benefit transfer approach based on a new meta-database consisting of 107 observations for 35 distinct lakes located in 12 different European countries and delivering 8 different ecosystem services. Our value function transfer makes a distinction between the value of the biophysical potential of a lake to generate ecosystem services, and the value of the effective delivery of ecosystem services to local populations. We provide high-resolution maps of the economic value of lakes at the European scale and we discuss how this mapping may support water policy-makers. A scenario analysis shows that an improvement of the ecological conditions of all European lakes to a moderate status at least would generate an aggregated benefit of 5.9 billion EUR per year. This gain corresponds to 12,184 EUR per ha of restored lake per year, a figure significantly higher than the cost of lake restoration reported in the literature. This study grounds conservation and restoration measures of lakes on an economic analysis of the benefits they provide to citizens and, therefore, is relevant to the implementation of the EU water policy.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource