Enhanced wetland monitoring, assessment and indicators to support European and global environmental policy

SWOS Technical publicationBetween 2015 and 2018, the Horizon 2020 SWOS project has supported policies by developing and applying science-based methods that aim at standardising wetland definition, identification, delimitation, and delineation. The primary outputs of the project are satellite-based monitoring tools (SWOS toolbox1, GEO-Wetlands Community Portal2) to enable improved wetland assessment and monitoring capabilities, as well as their application in management and reporting at different scales, and by different users. In addition, the SWOS project includes a capacity-building component to facilitate the uptake of the tools by users. This report presents the project’s technical results (Chapter 3), as well as applied examples of the improved capabilities for wetland conservation and restoration needs (Chapter 4). These two chapters are preceded by an introduction (Chapter 1) and a review of the global and EU policies related to wetlands, including a perspective on the post-2020 agenda (Chapter 2)

MAES Service Case: Wetland ecosystem condition mapping (v.1.0)

SWOS Technical publicationThe MAES working group is preparing the workshop on “ecosystem condition mapping” to streamline the efforts done so far with regards to the mapping and assessment of the condition of Europe’s ecosystems. The MAES WG has requested directly to SWOS partners a specific document to support the mapping and assessing wetland ecosystem condition for this workshop. This document shall highlight the different elements to take into account for the mapping and assessment of wetland ecosystems with the aim of supporting Member States and the European Commission in their efforts to better describe the situation of wetland ecosystems in Europe. This document represents the major output of the MAES Service case that shall show how SWOS outputs are useful to support the MAES WG with regards to wetland ecosystem mapping and assessment

Subcontractors' liability for project delays

The paper addresses the contractual problem of how main contractors pass on liability for project delays to their subcontractors; a topic that is difficult and has not been grasped properly in the previous literature. The survey reveals that the ‘normal’ approach is illogical and that the issue is misunderstood by a significant proportion of practitioners in the UK

The Status of Coastal Benthic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: Evidence From Ecological Indicators

The Mediterranean Sea is subject to multiple human pressures increasingly threatening its unique biodiversity. Spatially explicit information on the ecological status of marine ecosystems is therefore key to an effective maritime spatial planning and management, and to help the achievement of environmental targets. Here, we summarized scientific data on the ecological status of a selection of marine ecosystems based on a set of ecological indicators in more than 700 sites of the Mediterranean Sea. For Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds, rocky intertidal fringe, and coastal soft bottoms, more than 70% of investigated sites exhibited good to high ecological conditions. In contrast, about two-thirds of sites for subtidal rocky reefs were classified to be in moderate to bad conditions, stressing the need for prioritizing conservation initiatives on these productive and diverse environments. Very little quantitative information was available for the southern Mediterranean Sea, thus monitoring programs and assessments in this area are essential for a representative assessment of the health of marine coastal ecosystems in the whole basin. This overview represents a first step to implement a baseline that, through georeferenced data on ecological status, could help identifying information gaps, directing future research priorities, and supporting improvements to spatial models of expected cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems

The Status of Coastal Benthic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: Evidence From Ecological Indicators

The Mediterranean Sea is subject to multiple human pressures increasingly threatening its unique biodiversity. Spatially explicit information on the ecological status of marine ecosystems is therefore key to an effective maritime spatial planning and management, and to help the achievement of environmental targets. Here, we summarized scientific data on the ecological status of a selection of marine ecosystems based on a set of ecological indicators in more than 700 sites of the Mediterranean Sea. For Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds, rocky intertidal fringe, and coastal soft bottoms, more than 70% of investigated sites exhibited good to high ecological conditions. In contrast, about two-thirds of sites for subtidal rocky reefs were classified to be in moderate to bad conditions, stressing the need for prioritizing conservation initiatives on these productive and diverse environments. Very little quantitative information was available for the southern Mediterranean Sea, thus monitoring programs and assessments in this area are essential for a representative assessment of the health of marine coastal ecosystems in the whole basin. This overview represents a first step to implement a baseline that, through georeferenced data on ecological status, could help identifying information gaps, directing future research priorities, and supporting improvements to spatial models of expected cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems

EU-wide methodology to map and assess ecosystem condition

The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 calls for developing an EU-wide methodology to map, assess and achieve good condition of ecosystems, so they can deliver benefits to society through the provision of ecosystem services. The EU-wide methodology presented in this report addresses this methodological gap. The EU-wide methodology has adopted the System of Environmental Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) as reference framework. The SEEA EA is an integrated framework for organizing biophysical information about ecosystems, adopted as a global statistical standard by the United Nations. The SEEA EA is also the reference framework under the proposal for the amendment of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts. Building on previous work done within the MAES initiative, the EU-wide methodology presents useful insights to operationalise the SEEA EA at EU level by integrating different EU data streams in a consistent way with this global statistical standard to consistently map and assess ecosystem condition in the EU across all ecosystem types. The adoption of the SEEA EA framework offers the flexibility to integrate different data flows, leveraging the use of available EU data, such as data reported by MS under EU legislation and EU geospatial data. The EU-wide methodology. The implementation of the EU-wide methodology, making use of available data, will provide the scientific knowledge base to support a range of policies and legal instruments

Assessing the environmental effectiveness of the Spanish Marine Reserve Network using remote sensing

Healthy marine ecosystems provide a variety of ecosystem services crucial for human wellbeing. Effectively managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly recognized to be an effective measure to protect endangered species and ensuring healthier ecosystems. This study assesses the environmental effectiveness of the Spanish Marine Reserve Network (MRN) with regard to: 1) water quality: chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl-a), sea surface temperature (SST), and Salinity; and 2) protected species conservation: coverage and density of Posidonia oceanica (P. oceanica), using a Multiple-Paired-Before-After-Control-Impact (MPBACI) research design. Water quality and protected species indicators were compared before and after Marine Reserve (MR) designation, inside MRs and in different outer control areas of 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and equal-area buffers, for the whole MRN (Marine Reserve Network), by marine ecoregions and for some specific MRs. We used Copernicus Marine Monitoring Remote Sensing data to ascertain water quality values and validated their accuracy compared to insitu data as well as the reliability of Chl-a concentration derived from Sentinel 2 (S2) images. Water quality results reveal significant differences in mean Chl-a and Chl-a range, mean Salinity and SST range between cases (inside MRs) and 5 km-buffer control areas for the entire MRN. Analyses by ecoregion showed no significant differences in water quality between cases and controls in the Western Mediterranean ecoregion or in the Azores, Canaries and Madeira ecoregion, whereas the Alboran Sea ecoregion MRs had higher mean Chl-a concentration and lower mean Salinity, mean SST and SST range than all controls. Results on P. oceanica beds showed a significant increase in P. oceanica density (almost twice) inside Tabarca MR (TBA) compared to outer control cases, but no significant changes in P. oceanica coverage. Validation of Remote Sensing (RS) data using in-situ measurements demonstrated significant differences for Chl-a concentration and no significant differences for SST and Salinity between both techniques. Chl-a concentration by S2 reveals statistically significant differences with in-situ data. Our findings suggest environmental effectiveness of the Spanish MRs and still limited sensitivity of open source medium resolution RS tools to assess MPA effectivenes