1. HOLAS II: project to develop a 2nd Holistic Assessment of the Ecosystem Health of the Baltic Sea
Ulla Li Zweifel, Professional Secretary

2. HELCOM Assessment System
Attachment 3, HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (2013).
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

3. Core indicators Form the basis for thematic and holistic assessments.
Should have a quantitative definition of Good Environmental Status (GES) (boundary or range).
Regularly updated HELCOM core indicator reports to be published on the HELCOM web-site.
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

4. Holistic assessments
Cover all aspects of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) and MSFD
Inform on:
the status of the Baltic Sea,
pressure and resulting impacts and effects including cumulative and synergetic effects,
social and economic aspects.
Provide a basis for formulation of supplementary national and regional policies and measures.
Assess the risk of not reaching the objectives and targets related to achieving and maintaining good environmental status.
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

5. 1st HELCOM holistic assessment (2010)
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

6. Ecosystem health of the Baltic Sea
Presenting results from the respective assessment of biodiversity, eutrophication, hazardous substances
Based on grouping of indicators representing biological features, chemical features, supporting features
BSEP 122
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

7. HELCOM BSII and BSPI Pressure data layers (intensity)
Ecosystem component data layers (presence)
Impact (weight scores)
Pressure data layers (intensity)
”Average” impact (weight scores)
Baltic Sea Pressure index
Korpinen S, Meski L. Andersen JH, Laamanen M, 2012, Human pressures and their potential impact on the Baltic Sea ecosystem, Ecological Indicators 15:
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

8. HOLAS II project
Update/develop HELCOM status assessment tools and the Baltic Sea Pressure and Impact Index
Contribute to HELCOM assessments being fully operational and increasingly automated
Carry out project according to the DPSIR framework
Develop the HELCOM 2nd holistic assessment to serve as a joint “roof report” for 2018 reporting of Marine Strategy Framework Directive, considering e.g.;
the 11 MSFD descriptors,
Commission Decision on criteria and methodological standards on good environmental status of marine waters,
the characteristics, pressures and impacts defined in MSFD Annex III.
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

9. Project management Chair and HOLAS II Core Team Coordinating function
Lead Country A3
Lead Country A4+A5
Expert workshops
Project Researcher/ Consultant A1
Coordinating function
Main activities
Input from
HELCOM WGs, projects, expert groups
Project Coordinator
A6 Solutions
Project Researcher/ Consultant A2
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

10. Tentative time-line for the production of the 2nd HELCOM Holistic assessment
Development of tools and concepts
Improvement of data flows
Operalization of core indicators
Carrying out assessments
Prepare draft report
Consultation period
Finalizing report
Possibility to update the assessments with more recent data?
Assessment period (aim):
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

11. Contributing assessments
MORS EG: Thematic assessment of long-term changes in radioactivity in the Baltic Sea
FISH-PRO II: Thematic assessment of the status of coastal fish
MARITIME: Thematic assessment on maritime activities and response to pollution at sea
Pollution Load Compilation 6
Ecological coherence of HELCOM MPAs
Assessment of Pharmaceuticals
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

12. Draft outline 0. Executive Summary 1. Introduction 2. Methods section
3. Assessment of the status of ecosystem health
4.”Inputs” (pressures) and human activities acting on the environment
5. Social and economic aspects
6. Measures towards reaching GES
7. Conclusions and future outlook
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

13. Status
State based descriptors; separate assessment of major biological elements (D1, parts of D3, D4, part of D6)
Pressure based descriptors (D2, part of 3, 5, parts of 6, (7), 8+9, 10, 11)
Selection of trends in key parameters
Supporting parameters to interpret result of the assessment tools (e.g. change in climatic factors between assessment periods).
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

14. Pressures
Spatial distribution and trends of main human activities and pressures, including core pressure indicator(s)
Cumulative assessment of pressures using the BSPI/BSII
Climate change
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

15. Impact and response Social and economic aspects
Cost-of degradation of the environment, benefits of mitigating environmental problems
Measures towards reaching GES
Regionally agreed targets
Existing and planned measures
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

16. Indicators - terms Core indicators: agreed as common HELCOM indicators
Baltic wide whenever ecologically relevant,
Parameters required for the core indicators are/will be monitored by all Contracting Parties when ecologically relevant.
Pre-core indicator: identified as necessary for BSAP and MSFD purposes
under development
not yet adopted as a core indicator.
Candidate indicator: living list of indicators identified to cover gaps in the BSAP and MSFD follow-up
not yet a common understanding on the concept for the indicator
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

17. Indicators - status
CORESET II and EUTRO-OPER: Core indicator operationalization
Developing the concept, target, data-flow etc
status
pressure
Core 29 1 30
Pre-core 4 2 6
Candidate 15 21 48 9
TOT 57
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

18. Core indicator reports
Regularly updated HELCOM core indicator reports to be published on the HELCOM web-site.
Key message
Indicator concept
Results
Monitoring requirements
Data and confidence
Publications and archieve
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

19. Sub-divisions of the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is sub-divided for monitoring and assessment purposes (HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy 2013).
Four hierarchical scales are used:
the whole Baltic Sea,
dividing of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins,
further division of the 17 sub-basins into coastal and off-shore areas
further dividing the coastal areas into (138) water bodies or types according to the WFD.
Other assessment units can be used provided they use the agreed boundaries and remain within the boundaries.
Appropriate assessment level is defined for HELCOM status core indicators.
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

20. 2. Sub-basins Proposed e.g. for core indicators
Population trends and abundance of seals
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

21. 3. Offshore sub-basins and coastal areas
Coastal areas proposed for e.g. core indicators:
Abundance of key coastal fish species
Abundance of coastal fish key functional groups
(coastal areas: extending to 1 nm seaward from the baseline), off-shore area: waters beyond 1 nm seaward from the baseline)
NB. Example - not actual status.
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

22. 4: Offshore sub-basins and coastal areas divided into WFD waterbodies/-types
Proposed e.g. for indicators
Lower depth limit distribution of macrophytes
used for assessing eutrophiction (DIN, DIP, chl-a, secchi depth)
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

23. HELCOM Eutrophication assessment
HEAT 3.0: Indicators are grouped under the MSFD criteria (2010/477EU) 1) Nutrient levels, 2) Direct Effects and 3) Indirect effects
In each assessment unit:
For each indicator: calculate a ratio between current status and GES for the indicators (GES/sub-GES indicator)
For each criterion: calculate a weighted average of ratios of individual indicators (GES/sub-GES criterion)
For theme/descriptor: use one-out-all-out principles between criteria (GES/sub-GES for eutrophication)
Assessment of eutrophicaton status (BSEP 122) in offshore sub-basins and coastal areas.
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

24. Status of assessment tools
HEAT (eutrophication): Current version 3.0. Aligned with MSFD - is currently further tested in EUTRO-OPER.
CHASE (hazardous substances): Updated in HARMONY – will be updated in HOLAS II.
BEAT (biodiversity): will be further developed in HOLAS II based on existing tools e.g from HELCOM, EU-project DEVOTES, Marmoni project
BSPI and BSII (Baltic Sea Pressure and Impact Index): Updated in HARMONY – need further development for Baltic Sea.
HOLAS (integrated assessment): Has not been further developed since last the holistic assessment; required?
Ulla Li Zweifel
EEA RSCs, 15 April 2015

25. Name
Surname