Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MARBEFES (MARine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning leading to Ecosystem Services)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-09-01 bis 2024-02-29
The European citizens have a fundamental need to understand how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning must be maintained to ensure that they deliver ecosystem services, goods and benefits, which in turn must be sustainably used by society. Central to this the Member States (MSs) need to value these natural and social capital aspects of ecosystems. MARBEFES aims to use unified system to assess the value of European marine biodiversity in terms of natural goods and services, seen as economic, social, cultural/spiritual and biological phenomena.
We will progress beyond the current state-of-the-art understanding of the causes and consequences
of the maintenance, loss and gain of biodiversity and ecological and economic value and the repercussions of this for the management and governance of European seas. Involving 23 highly experienced partners, the project outputs and outcomes are based on developing and validating a set of ecological, economic and socio-cultural valuation tools using existing and new information and data in 12 Broad Belt Transect (BBTs) case studies. These cover the breadth of European marine biodiversity, from the Arctic to semi-tropical areas, across dominant habitats and iconic species, and from shallow to deep areas and encompass a range of socio-economic contexts. As such, and through stakeholder co-creation for policy relevance, MARBEFES shows the tools to value different natural capital resources and inform planning from financial allocations to management and with monetary and non-monetary benefits. In this, the project advances our knowledge through linking marine biodiversity and its ecological structure and functioning to ecological and economic valuation.
We will progress beyond the current state-of-the-art understanding of the causes and consequences
of the maintenance, loss and gain of biodiversity and ecological and economic value and the repercussions of this for the management and governance of European seas. Involving 23 highly experienced partners, the project outputs and outcomes are based on developing and validating a set of ecological, economic and socio-cultural valuation tools using existing and new information and data in 12 Broad Belt Transect (BBTs) case studies. These cover the breadth of European marine biodiversity, from the Arctic to semi-tropical areas, across dominant habitats and iconic species, and from shallow to deep areas and encompass a range of socio-economic contexts. As such, and through stakeholder co-creation for policy relevance, MARBEFES shows the tools to value different natural capital resources and inform planning from financial allocations to management and with monetary and non-monetary benefits. In this, the project advances our knowledge through linking marine biodiversity and its ecological structure and functioning to ecological and economic valuation.
For the four regions and 12 BBT, we have collated available information on marine biodiversity (species and habitats distribution). The guidelines for the valuation were prepared and large set of socio-economic interviews was collected from all regions. Results of the specific case studies are being prepared for publication (or published). Some of these involve the following:
• Over the 12 BBTs in total 174 stakeholders were interviewed or surveyed. The stakeholders perceived Nature, Biodiversity, Economy, Large-scale Tourism, and Pollution to be the most important factors in their socio-economic and ecological environment. For many environmental factors a clear north-south gradient in the importance was clear. In south and north Europe conservation, protected areas, and iconic or exotic species, are more important than in the middle of Europe. Many economic activities, as large-scale fisheries, harbour activities, infrastructure and transport, are more important In the middle of Europe than in the south and north of Europe. Whereas small-scale local economic activities, as small-scale tourism or local fisheries, and socio-cultural factors, as societal integrity, are more important in the south and north of Europe.
• Guidelines for assessing geochemical/physical and ecosystem organisation in BBTs drafted
• Protocol has been developed for a metric of habitat function.
• Guidelines for ecological and economic valuation of biodiversity, societal goods and benefits prepared and valuation is being conducted in BBTs Initial mapping of ecosystem services priorities for BBTs done.
• ‘Quality assurance/risk management plan’, ‘Data Management Plan’, ‘Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Strategy and Plan’ prepared and accepted by the Consortium, delivered to the EU Portal.
• Over the 12 BBTs in total 174 stakeholders were interviewed or surveyed. The stakeholders perceived Nature, Biodiversity, Economy, Large-scale Tourism, and Pollution to be the most important factors in their socio-economic and ecological environment. For many environmental factors a clear north-south gradient in the importance was clear. In south and north Europe conservation, protected areas, and iconic or exotic species, are more important than in the middle of Europe. Many economic activities, as large-scale fisheries, harbour activities, infrastructure and transport, are more important In the middle of Europe than in the south and north of Europe. Whereas small-scale local economic activities, as small-scale tourism or local fisheries, and socio-cultural factors, as societal integrity, are more important in the south and north of Europe.
• Guidelines for assessing geochemical/physical and ecosystem organisation in BBTs drafted
• Protocol has been developed for a metric of habitat function.
• Guidelines for ecological and economic valuation of biodiversity, societal goods and benefits prepared and valuation is being conducted in BBTs Initial mapping of ecosystem services priorities for BBTs done.
• ‘Quality assurance/risk management plan’, ‘Data Management Plan’, ‘Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Strategy and Plan’ prepared and accepted by the Consortium, delivered to the EU Portal.
For the first time, representative set of European coastal marine waters will be presented in an unified method that allows to compare different aspects of marine ecosystem valuation, including biological, economic and socio-cultural aspects. The current dataset shows importance of case-to-case analyses and shows how the same biotic element may reach different values even in neighbouring areas.