GES_11-2014-10

Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)
Common Implementation Strategy
11th meeting of the
Working Group on Good Environmental Status (WG GES)
17 March 2014, 9.30-18:00
Conference Centre Albert Borschette, Rue Froissart 36, B-1040 Brussels (room 5B)
18 March 2014, 9:00-17.00
Maison des Associations Internationales (MAI), Rue Washington 40, B-1050 Brussels (room Washington)
Agenda item: / 10
Document: / GES_11-2014-10
Title: / Outcome of the joint meeting of Nature, Marine and Water Directors, 4 December 2013
Prepared by: / DG Environment
Date prepared: / 28/02/2014
Background: / The extract attached relates to the joint meeting of Nature, Marine and Water Directors.

WG GES is invited to:

  1. Note the outcomes of the Directors' meeting.

Joint Meeting of the Nature, Marine and Water Directors
Meeting of 4 December 2013, Vilnius
“Strengthening consistency, coordination and cooperation between nature, biodiversity, water and marine policy”
Outcome of the 1st joint Directors' meeting
(final version)

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DIKE_9-2014-02

The Nature, Marine and Water Directors (hereafter “the Directors”) recognised the need to further strengthen the coordination and cooperation between the different policy areas and welcomed the opportunity to discuss these matters on the basis of the background document circulated by the Commission and the Lithuanian Presidency and the presentations at the meeting which together with the national experiences shared in the discussion provide a very good basis for this process.

The discussion at the meeting was organised in three parts each which the Presidency and the Commission summarise the main points as follows:

Part 1. Coordinated implementation (of water, marine, nature, and biodiversity legislation and policies)

The discussion:

  • Underlined that a shared and common understanding of issues for which there is a need such as objectives and ecosystem approach as well as joint up monitoring and measures across the different policy areas would greatly facilitate co-ordination and improve the effectiveness of the implementation of EU policy and legislation in the areas of water, marine and nature/biodiversity.The relevant directives objectives should complement each other and furthermore contribute to cross-cutting issues as the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020.
  • Invited the Commission, in close collaboration with the Member States and the EEA, to continue work on the streamlining of data management between BISE and WISE[1] (including marine) based on the results of the on-going project[2] and to make recommendations as to how existing procedures and timetables could be streamlined and made more cost effective within the existing legal framework. This should be done in clear recognition of the difference between binding reporting obligation and sharing informally other information and data to increase our common knowledge base.
  • Recognised that the review and possible revision of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Good Environmental Status (GES) Decision 2010/477/EU could be used to build more systematically on the approaches established under the Water Framework Directive and the Birds and Habitats Directives and align the assessment objectives and framework taking into account the particularities of the marine ecosystem and closely involving the Regional Sea Conventions (which have practical experience in this integration).
  • Welcomed the initiatives to work together on marine protected areas (MPAs) under Natura 2000 and the MSFD with a strengthened Marine Expert Group being the coordinating Working Group for MPAs and encourage the further development of joined-up implementation efforts, in line with respective legal obligations (including the question on how the different assessment systems can be applied in order to use them for designing integrated monitoring and measures for MPAs).
  • Urged the Commission to discuss with Member States the opportunities and challenges stemming from the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) for the achievement of the objectives set by water, marine, nature and biodiversity policy. The Directors should join forces and involve their counterparts dealing with fisheries policy to ensure a coherent and ambitious implementation of the fisheries and environment legislation and therefore welcome the intention of the Commission (DG ENV and DG MARE) to develop recommendations on the basis of the fisheries workshop in April 2014[3] that could be discussed by the Directors later in 2014.
  • Also in the integration of environmental issues into other policy areas such as agriculture, transport, etc., a collective effort should be undertaken to present joint up nature, water and marine policy needs towards these other policies with the view to greening them. This also requires close collaboration with other departments at all levels.

Part 2. Ecosystem services and values

The discussion:

  • Recognised the importance of linking the work on MAES with the work undertaken under the WFD, MSFD and BHD (as part of the streamlining mentioned above) and invite the Commission in collaboration with the Member States and the EEA to review the linkages between the mapping and assessment of ecosystem services (MAES initiative) and these pieces of legislation by mid-2014 and to make recommendations concerning the priority operational actions that should be taken to improve integration and promote synergies.
  • Underlined the importance that the value of ecosystems are generally known and taken into account in political, economic and other decision-making processes. At the same time, adding a “price tag on nature” may not be enough to reach our common objectives and we need to take actions also without having perfect methodologies in place.
  • Underlined that the deployment of Green Infrastructure (GI) can be a very effective vehicle for promoting the achievement of shared policy objectives and for accessing EU funding mechanisms, and stress that the conceptual framework for the deployment of GI in the marine environment, as well as linkages to GI in coastal and freshwater ecosystems, should be further developed.
  • Supported the approach that the 15 % restoration target referred to in Target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy will, with regard to the marine and freshwater ecosystems as well as the habitats and species covered by the Birds and Habitats Directives, be delivered i.a. through the implementation of the existing EU legislation. When assessing progress towards the achievement of the 15% restoration target it is important that the contribution resulting from restoration actions undertaken in the framework of the relevant water, marine and nature legislation is documented and taken into account. The details need to be discussed further in the context of implementation processes for these pieces of legislation.

Part 3. Financing opportunities

The discussion:

  • Recognised that there is a window of opportunity now to seek that the financing needs for the water, marine and biodiversity policy areas are properly reflected in the Partnership Agreements (PAs) and the subsequent Operational Programmes (OPs) under preparation for all relevant Funds[4], taking account, inter alia, the Prioritised Action Frameworks;
  • Recognised that securing funds for environmental objectives in the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) is extremely challenging and that all opportunities should be taken to direct funds to biodiversity (including Natura 2000 and green infrastructures), marine and water related investments through Thematic Objectives (TOs) 5 (climate adaptation), 6 (environment) and other relevant TOs. This will be in particular important for those Member States where thematic concentration requires 80% of funds to be earmarked for TO1 (research & innovation), TO2 (ICT), TO3 (SMEs) or TO4 (low-carbon economy). In the latter cases, Member States should consider pursuing innovation and mitigation also through water, marine and biodiversity policies both within the 80% and the 20% envelope and the Commission can assist in this process.
  • Recalled that the LIFE programme offers new opportunities to finance bigger Integrated Projects, and identifies water and biodiversity as priorities. Moreover, further leverage of private capital will be important and the proposed Natural Capital Financing Facility that the European Commission is currently developing with the European Investment Bank will play an important role[5]. Furthermore, research projects, the prioritised action frameworks (PAFs) or examples for national funds should also factor into this discussion. At the same time, state aid rules may need to be looked at to avoid unnecessasry obstacles in investment in nature, water and marine protection.
  • Suggested to work together towards an effective and efficient use of increasingly limited public financial resources. Close coordination and cooperation in the drafting and implementation of PAs and OPs will be absolutely necessary to maximise the environmental benefits for the terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems. Therefore, the exchange of information on the implementation of the funding instruments, in particular with regard to “success stories” will be useful. Moreover, Thematic Objectives 5 and 6 (adaptation to climate change and environment) offer opportunities for joint support to water, marine and biodiversity policies. In this respect, the initiatives of the Commission on raising awareness on these subjects (such as seminars, handbook on N2000 financing and other supporting tools) are welcome and linking water, marine, biodiversity and nature aspects to facilitate the use of the various financing instruments should be pursued, where possible.

Follow up / Next steps

As a result of the discussion, the Directors agreed the following way forward:

  • Welcomed the opportunity to hold this first joint meeting and thanked the Lithuanian Presidency and the Commission for taking the initiative and preparing the debate.
  • Acknowledged the relevant efforts so far (see examples in the annex to the background document) and the many national experiences that were shared at the meeting.
  • Invited the CGBN[6], the MSCG[7] and the SCG[8] to take the role of moving the agenda forward in a step-by-step way and facilitate the cooperation by regularly including issues of joint interest in their agendas. Furthermore, the practical cooperation could be carried out through joint meetings, task forces, workshops, etc., as has already been the case and was also specified in the various implementation work programmes (WFD, MSFD). Wherever possible, the use of existing groups should be preferred also to cover subjects from the other policy areas rather than establishing new, separate groups for the same subjects[9]. This process should also ensure participation from other departments and regional and international organisations (such as marine conventions), as appropriate.
  • Agreed to organise, as a further step, a workshop [during the second half of 2014] with representation from the different policy areas to discuss issues of joint interest (possible issues to discuss at the workshop are listed in the Annex). The preparation of such a workshop should be done jointly by the Italian Presidency, the Commission and interested Member States (Commission, EEA and others).
  • Invited the Commission and the future Presidencies to prepare and discuss the progress in the various areas of cooperation during the Directors meetings' in the second half of each year. The Italian Presidency has prepared the meetings during the same days and has offered the possibility for a joint meeting.
  • Agreed to jointly continue this dialogue and cooperation and therefore welcome the intention of the future Luxembourg Presidency to organise such a joint meeting again where Directors can review progress and decide on future joint actions.

ANNEX

Based on the discussion, the proposed workshop could address a number of issues, such as, e.g.:

  • identify those issues for which there is a need to establish a common understanding across the different policy areas including terminology and make recommendations as to how these issues should be addressed;
  • look at the relationship between the various objectives (good status, favourable status, etc) and exemptions under the various water and marine Directives, e.g. also making the link to air policy and biodiversity protection (using eutrophication as first examples);
  • encourage ways for joint and integrated monitoring and joint up preparation of programme of measures and thereby maximise the ecosystem delivery;
  • reflect on ecosystem services;
  • identify commonalities and differences where they exist (e.g. on timing of cost effectiveness assessment which is different in MSFD and WFD);
  • identify differences between the Directives which need to be factored in;
  • compare and prioritise measures of the Directives, define their scope and contribution to the Directives' objectives and identify synergies as well as possible conflicts;
  • explore the possibility to use strategic environmental assessment (SEA) as a tool to identify and manage cross-cutting issues;
  • discuss improvements to horizontal dissemination of knowledge (i.a. on guidance papers, tool, good practices, research results) and identify concrete and specific joint products that could be developed further (such as joint policy documents, FAQ or other guidance documents);
  • discuss on deadlines and timetables and the potential to streamline public participation processes.

However, further preparation is crucial to prepare such a workshop in an effective and useful way. The aim is to assist in better shaping the future cooperation agenda in a practical and step-by-step way. This could be achieved through the preparatory group.

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[1] Biodiversity and Water Information System for Europe

[2]Project on behalf of Commission, DG Environment C.2 (Marine Environment and Water Industry Unit): " Streamlining and harmonisation of reporting requirements under EU instruments and Regional Seas Conventions" (see under the MSFD CIS work programme.

[4]ERDF (Regional), ESF (Social), EAFRD (Rural Development), EMFF (Fisheries), CF (Cohesion)

[5]The objective of the Natural Capital Financing Facility would be to address existing market failures by supporting through debt and equity instruments projects that are revenue-generating or cost-saving and that promote the conservation, restoration, management and enhancement of natural capital. This would provide cross-sectoral benefits. A first pilot phase is envisaged to demonstrate potential business models, focusing on green infrastructure projects, payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity offsets and innovative pro-biodiversity businesses.

[6]Coordination Group for Biodiversity and Nature

[7]Marine Strategy Coordination Group

[8]Strategic Coordination Group

[9]Good examples are the Marine Expert Group dealing with MPA issues and the Chemicals WG