Eva Royo Gelabert Project Manager Marine assessments EEA contribution to the EMMA process to support European marine assessments Eva Royo Gelabert Project Manager Marine assessments

Content About the EEA EEA integrated European marine assessments: Present Other (pan) European marine assessments EEA integrated European marine assessments: Future Europe’s Environmental Information System EMMA roadmap and current EEA activities to fulfil it How can this support work by Member States and Conventions?

EEA integrated European thematic assessments Originate in the EEA mandate: “The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy making agents and the public.”

32 Member Countries 300 National agencies 900 Experts EEA main tasks: Networking - Development of a European Environmental Information and Observation Network (EIONET) Reporting on the state and trends of Europe’s environment Providing access to environmental information www.eionet.europa.eu www.eionet.europa.eu/reportnet.html Therefore the EEA is not a regulatory body, it has not been created to control the implementation of environmental policies in Europe, these roles being the responsibility of the European Commission. Given all that, the EEA main tasks are: to report on the state and trends of the environment to establish, develop and make use of the European Environmental Information and Observation Network (EIONET) to facilitate access to data and information supplied to, maintained and emanating from EEA and EIONET, together with access to other relevant environmental information developed by other national and international sources (one stop shop) http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/

EEA integrated European marine assessments: Data EEA collects existing data (does not monitor!) Directly from its Member Countries through EIONET  Data from a ”reporting” information system since 1995, which is used for the production of the (core set) indicators Other information for EEA assessments: International data from ICES, FAO, Eurostat, etc. Regional assessments from Conventions, ICES and international programmes (from e.g. UNEP Global International Water Assessments) Modelled data and research data (from e.g. JRC)

EEA integrated European marine assessments: Indicators A total of 23 could be considered. HOWEVER… Core set: Best quality assurance, policy relevance and data coverage/“completion” Only 6 indicators are directly relevant and used for EEA marine and fisheries assessments at the moment Others: “Candidates” to core set (e.g. hazardous substances) Non "core set": Potential useful indicators if data was there

EEA integrated European marine assessments: Assessments (mostly) Included in the State of the Environment and trends (SoE) Reports on all the themes on which the EEA works every 5 years Last in 2005. Next in 2010 Marine component of the EEA Ecosystem Assessment in 2012 Currently updating the SoE 2005 with an EECCA focus: “Belgrade” (Environment for Europe) Report 2007  Not comprehensive, but overall picture is of growing pressures on the marine environment

Other (pan) European marine assessments Proposed Marine Strategy Directive (MSD)  Building blocks towards pan-European marine assessments, e.g. Member States “initial assessments” in a regional context (Article 7, Annex II) MSD  EC with EEA, Conventions and others will have to do pan-European marine assessments (Article 19) Pan-European marine assessments are also important in the context of the EU Maritime Policy and global processes (e.g. Convention on Biological Diversity)

Future EEA integrated European marine assessments SoER 2010  It will not establish the MSD’s GES baseline for the European region by try to work synergistically with regional sea assessments and draw from them Needs to improve on existing EEA assessments by e.g.: Improving the existing “marine” core set (e.g. coverage) Adding indicators (e.g. EEA core set candidates, from int. processes) More use of operational oceanography products Better link to DPSIR and ecosystem services Policy relevance  Better link to MSD/EMMA Requiring better data gathering, which also has to fit with the EU’s ”Shared” European Environmental Information System development

Evolution of Europe’s Environmental Information System: 2005 – 2010+ “Data centre” concept ”Shared” European Environmental Information System (SEIS)  Distributed system 4 EU bodies to be the gateways to environmental information in Europe Node EEA JRC, Eurostat, DG ENV and EEA

EEA data centre architecture & tools Air Data centres Climate Change Land use Nature and Biodiversity Water EIONET system connections Reportnet data flow tools Spatial data infrastructure Services and analytical tools SEIS elements WISE

WISE - Water data centre (1/2) WISE = Water Information System for Europe Water information from EU-level mandatory and voluntary reporting Driven by the Water Framework Directive implementation process and the EC’s DG ENV EEA involved as water data centre and supported the development of the architecture Exchange of information – shared access to European water data Cover data needs for pan-European reports and assessments, including the EEA’s Launched 22 March 2007 (http://water.europa.eu/)

WISE - Water data centre (2/2) To be noted! This is independent from the MSD development at the moment (timing!) Need to consider how to make it possible Voluntary agreements could be a way of meeting this deadline

EMMA last meeting and roadmap Main aim April 2006 meeting: Developing EMMA roadmap to facilitate, in particular, arriving at the “initial assessment” under the MSD Common understanding  Beneficial to “converge” towards a common set of indicators to support (pan) European marine assessments, including those required by MSD EEA sees a lot of scope of making the most of what exists, and assisting others in doing the same in terms of marine monitoring and assessment in the context of the EMMA process

EEA main activities to fulfil “active” EMMA roadmap objectives (1/3) EEA-led EMMA workshops 2006/7 Looking at increasing efficiency of monitoring  Aiming at simplifying, streamlining and making comparable existing coastal/marine monitoring data at the pan-European level (i.e. better use of what is out there) Contribution to several EMMA roadmap objectives, e.g. “Inventory of monitoring”  Linked to (EMMA-led WS3/6) Report to EMMA Plenary May 2007 to be advised on “next steps”

EEA main activities to fulfil “active” EMMA roadmap objectives (2/3) Three workshops to foster networking towards streamlined monitoring and data collection Operational oceanography: 23-24 October 2006 (to increase dialogue between “users” and “producers” of operational oceanography products) Ecological processes/biological elements: 20-21 November 2006 (we have great “needs”, what can we use already?) Chemical loads and burdens: 17-18 April 2007 (we have been doing this for some time now, how to take it a step further?)

EEA main activities to fulfil “active” EMMA roadmap objectives (3/3) “Convergence” of assessments (i.e. moving in the same direction to support the MSD “initial assessment”) Compiling information of existing indicators: Gradual process starting with what already exists or is being developed now Compilation made with support from Conventions/countries Preliminary analysis to be used in workshops (EMMA-led WS3/3, 4 & 5) Further investigation of suitable indicators, refinement of those in compilation and/or addition to compilation Contribution to several EMMA roadmap objectives e.g. “Inventory of indicators”  Linked to (EMMA-led WS3/3 & 4) Report to EMMA Plenary May 2007 to be advised on “next steps”  How to continue in order to develop a common set of pan-European indicators to be complemented regionally by +/- 2008? Outcomes probably revised after MSD enters into force

How can this work eventually support Member States and Conventions Exchange of experiences and information  Learning from others and together Realising possibilities for: Simplification/streamlining of monitoring Preventing overlapping with other EU and global processes Simplification/streamlining of reporting (WISE) “Importing” indicators developed by others Joint development of new indicators – if needed Refining existing indicators for areas/issues/topics where there might be gaps, or for “new” topics

How can this work eventually support Member States and Conventions Improving use of tools other than in-situ monitoring (e.g. operational oceanography, models) Coherent assessments with those of MSD & EEA: Help for “initial assessment” to be carried out by Member States in a regional context (Art 7, Annex II) More accurate representation of regional sea status in any (pan)European marine assessments (Eventually?) Inspiration for indicators associated with targets towards good environmental status to be developed nationally (Art 9, Annex III)

Thank you very much for your attention! Eva.Gelabert@eea.europea.eu