On the Mar Menor site, Ditty project produced very important results at several levels: the specific products and outcomes obtained under each workpackage, the results arising from the integration of several tools and the overall benefits provided by the project taken as a whole. These three-levels results, conclusions and prospects are briefly presented.
The Mar Menor database and the GIS-Mar Menor compiled, for the first time, all available climatic, physico-chemical, biological, lithological, hydrological and socio-economic variables, data and maps regarding the Mar Menor and its watershed. All this information constitute a valuable basis for improving the basic and applied research in Mar Menor site and also a very important tool for the end-users, especially CHS (Confederacion Hidrografica del Segura, the water management institution) and the Regional Office for Environment.
The 0D-ecological model for the lagoon and the integrated watershed model, which includes an hydrological model specifically developed for the Mar Menor watershed, were also very important outcomes, especially taking into account the fact that the modelling background in Mar Menor site was very scarce. These models fully developed under Ditty project have set-up an integrated modelling framework, which allowed their extension and further important applications, which will go far beyond Ditty.
The LOICZ budget was applied for the first time to the Mar Menor, one of the main coastal lagoons in the Mediterranean; this was also an important outcome, which will contribute to the extension and application of a standardized methodology to other coastal systems in Spain. The scenarios analysis emphasised the importance of the joint analysis of current trends (agricultural intensification, urban-tourist development) and different policy-target scenarios aiming at reducing the nutrient loads into the lagoon. Results obtained encouraged a closer integration among institutions, policies and administrative units and this will be one of the key issues in further dissemination activities of Ditty outcomes among local decision-makers and end-users.
The stakeholder analysis revealed the perceptions and preferences of different social sectors regarding the main available options and scenarios for Mar Menor site. These perceptions supported the high priority given by CHS (the end-user partner, the Water Management Office) to the management options aiming at reducing the nutrient loads into the lagoon.
The Cost-Effectiveness Analysis was one of the most valuable outcomes for CHS, since it offered responses to important management issues such as identifying measure or combination of measures, which could achieve the desired goal of reduction of nutrient loads into the lagoon in a most cost-effective way. This question had never been previously addressed.
The work carried out under Ditty project showed that the recovery of wetlands, a management measure which was not initially considered by CHS, constitutes a better option to control nutrient loads into the lagoon and hence the eutrophication risks. The practical insights offered by the combined tools developed and applied under Ditty confirmed to the end-users the interest and usefulness of the overall approach of the project, which in turn encourages further collaboration initiatives and projects using similar approaches.
The application of the Decision Support System to the Mar Menor site, actually in an advanced stage of development, is a very important outcome of Ditty in the Mar Menor site that will allow its use not only by CHS but also by other end-users, such as the Regional Office of Environment and the City councils in the Mar Menor area. Finally, the Ditty project brought other important outcomes. They included the establishment of an informal collaboration framework at Mar Menor site among researchers, the encouragement of an interdisciplinary work at UMU among experts from Ecology, Hydrology and Environmental economics and the strengthening of the applied approaches focusing on the point of view of the end-users and providing new management insights for CHS and other decision makers, such as the Regional Office of Environment.
The creation of RedMarismas, the Spanish National Network on Coastal Lagoons and Wetlands (http://www.irta.es/redmarismas), is a key outcome that will go far beyond Ditty project. Since its foundation in March 2005, during the 5th Steering Committee of Ditty at Murcia, RedMarismas has carried out several steps to consolidate the network: a Co-ordination committee, where UMU is present, was designed and started to work; the first Workshop of RedMarismas was held in December 2005, attended by 45 participants, a second Workshop of RedMarismas took place in December 2006 and several contacts were taken with the Ministry of Environment regarding the implementation of the WFD for transitional waters.