Meeting of the Working Group on Strategic Goals and Objectives (SGO)

SGO (1) 04/5/1

Meeting of the Working Group on Strategic Goals and Objectives (SGO)

Brussels, 17 February 2004

European Marine Strategy

- annotated outline of a policy document –

1. Background

1.The communication “Towards a strategy to protect and conserve the marine environment” establishes the foundation upon which a thematic strategy should build and has as the overall objective:

“The Marine Strategy should constitute a contribution to the Community Strategy for Sustainable Development. Therefore, and as indicated in the 6th EAP, it should promote the sustainable use of the seas and conservation of marine ecosystems, including sea beds, estuarine and coastal areas, paying special attention to sites holding a high biodiversity value.”

2.The European Council of Ministers requested that the marine strategy should be based on an integrated approach with a set of ambitious, clear and coherent objectives, quantitative and qualitative targets and timetables to be used as benchmarks to measure and evaluate progress. Moreover it requested the development of a guideline for the implementation of an ecosystem approach and underlined that the policy should fully recognise the regional conditions while taking account of all human activities that are having or could have an impact on the marine environment.

3.Achieving this will require development of a coherent marine policy based upon an ecosystem approach that should build upon existing policies to address all possible threats, a careful assessment of their (potential) negative impacts on marine environment and an identification of emerging threats. In endeavouring to achieve this, (i) the regional diversity in the ecological characteristics of the different seas and their sub-regions, (ii) the actual quality status thereof, (iii) the pressures and threats acting on these seas, (iv) the political, social and economic situations in the different regions and (v) existing international institutional arrangements should be recognised and taken into account.

4.This can “best “be achieved by two step approach whereby as the first step a common strategy is developed that should be applicable to all areas, all users and all sectors. The common approach could take the form of short policy document with a vision, strategic goals and objectives to reach the goals. . The format in which this common approach will be proposed at EU level is still open for discussion. The common approach should be supported by a guideline that will describe what the content of an integrated approach- an ecosystem approach to human activities is and how to implement it. The policy document should also include a commitment to develop, as a second step, regional management or action plans that should embrace the regional diversity taking into account existing conventions, strategies and structures.

5.Based on a document presented at the first meeting of the Ecosystem Working Group (EAM, 16-17 December 2003), EAM concluded that its work should focus on what would constitute the main part of the guideline for an ecosystem approach. It was recognised that a strong and direct relationship was essential to achieve the links required between the vision, goals and objectives, and how this feeds through eventually to indicators and assessment of results. It was also identified that a secondary drafting process would need to take place at a later stage to ensure that close links were made between the outcome of work of the two groups (SGO and EAM) and to bring in any key outputs from the Working Groups on Hazardous Substances, Marine Monitoring and Assessment, and Habitats and Marine Protected Areas, as well as associated work under the WFD and other EU initiatives.

6.EAM also offered some suggestions on possible additional elements to augment the policy document. The full report of the first meeting of EAM will be circulated as a separate document.

2. Introduction

7.This document represents a first draft annotated outline of the marine policy paper for considerations by the Working group on Strategic Goals and Objectives. It reflects the general outcome of the Køge Stakeholder Conference, the conclusions of the Council and opinions of the European Parliaments and Committees. Building on this basis account has been taken of commitments made in the WSSD Plan of Implementation, relevant EU policies and Directives and commitments made in international Conventions. In doing so, the relationships between the Marine Strategy and other policies and instruments are augmented.

2.1The aims of the marine strategy

8.The aim is a marine strategy that should have the following characteristics. It should:

contain a vision, high level principles and strategic goals;

be common across all areas, all uses and all sectors, and acknowledge that people are intrinsic parts of ecosystems;

be characterised by simplicity and be understandable to gain a wide acceptance;

set out land marks and principle routes, with a strategy and guidelines to deliver them;

embrace regional diversity through a regional approach;

embrace the precautionary[1] and polluter pays principles; and

embrace adaptive management as a progressive approach.

2.2 The content of the marine strategy

9.At the Køge Stakeholder Conference the following elements were considered essential components of the roadmap:

A vision

Principles

Strategic Goals and associated Objectives

The properties (environmental, social and economic) sought through the implementation of an ecosystem approach

Operational regionally based objectives

Limits, targets, and indicators

Actions and delivery tools

Assessment, monitoring and scientific research

Pre-agreed risk management actions

10.The first four of these components constitute the marine policy that should be common across all areas, all uses and all sectors. The remaining elements address primarily how the strategic goals and its objectives should be delivered and thus set out the approach for implementing an ecosystem approach through a regionalised implementation of the marine strategy.

11.It is clear that is a strong and direct relationship between the policy (visions, goals and objectives) and how this feeds through regional implementation and eventually to indicators and assessment. This link cannot and shall not be broken. However from a practical point of view it is possible to allocate the tasks to different working groups with the understanding that the outcome must be merged in the final process. The issue of how these links should be presented in the final strategy can at this point in time be left open.

2.3 Vision

12.A simple statement about the purpose that is applicable across Europe, very much in line with what was agreed at the Køge Stakeholder Conference. An example could be: “Our vision for the marine environment is clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas”.

2.4Principles

13.This section should set out the philosophy of achieving a healthy marine ecosystems, governance, sustainable uses, environmental dynamics and management responsiveness. It should build inter alia on what has been agreed at the Køge Stakeholder Conference. These principles might need to be refined in order to best reflect the issues identified during this conference:

The high level of management responsiveness.

The need for adequate empowerment of stakeholders.

The need to address the conservation and recovery of ecosystem structure and function rather than just maintaining degraded ecosystems.

The need for increasing the important role of public awareness.

14.While taking account of the principles identified at the Køge Stakeholder Conference the following should be addressed:

• management of human activities needs to take a long-term perspective
• sustainable human use and ecological values of ecosystem should be central to establishing objectives and benchmarks for use and management of natural resources;

• ecosystems are dynamic; their attributes and boundaries are constantly changing as well as the human use and consequently their interactions are dynamic;
• quality status as well as the dynamic functions of the ecosystem should be addressed in assessments and setting of benchmarks;
• management should be based on shared visions and developments of objectives and benchmarks amongst shareholders;
• adoption of objectives and targets should be based on societal choice being aware of the responsibility for the protection of the marine environment;
• to be successful, management must be adaptive, precautionary and risk adverse and based on best available scientific knowledge, continued learning and indicator based monitoring and assessment.
• to promote good governance and wide stakeholder participation

2.5Strategic goals and objectives

15.This section should explain what strategic goals are: “The desired state and sustainable use if the principles were followed”. The relationship between principles and strategic goals should be explained and highlighted.

16.In this respect it should be emphasized that there is a large commonality among the strategy goals of many different organisations and initiatives. These commonalties could be illustrated by making an overview by cross-tabulating the goals of various international organisations. Such an overview would provide an insight into the suite of objectives that are required in an operational ecosystem approach.

17.In order to structure theobjectives, the following hierarchy of goals is suggested as a starting point. In addition, for each of these goals a first list of issues which should be addressed in the form of objectives (developed to support/ guide the achievement of goals) is included.

STRATEGIC GOALS

1. To protect and restore the function and structure of natural system in order to achieve good ecological status of natural systems through meeting Objectives such as 1-12
2. To ensure that levels of contaminants and radionuclides in the environment do not give rise to significant impacts or risk to human and on ecosystem health through meeting such as Objectives 6,7,8,9,10
3. To ensure sustainable use all services and goods that have an impact on status the marine environment through meeting such as Objectives 2,3,5,6,8,9,10
4. To promote good governance both within Europe and globally through meeting such as Objectives 13-18

18.It should be recognized that the objectives in ‘the Communication’ on the Marine Strategy are addressing different levels of policy. Some of these objectives are largely of a political nature whereas others are closer to scientific statements. It is furthermore emphasized that some of them cover a specific human activity (that has several different impacts) whereas others deal with specific impacts (usually stemming from several different activities). The list of Objectives 1-19 is not meant to be exhaustive, nor is the wording to be taken as final. However, this suite of Objectives, drawn from a variety of policy documents, illustrates well the types and scope of Objectives that will be needed to achieve the Strategic Goals.

OBJECTIVES

1. To halt the halt the biodiversity decline by 2010 and ensure sustainable use of biodiversity;
2. To establish by 2012 a system of representative networks of marine and coastal protected areas covering also the high seas consistent with international law and relevant international instruments;
3. To reduce impacts of behavioural human activities in areas where there are sensitive species and habitats
4. To reverse the decline in fished stocks by reducing fishing pressure to ensure sustainable fisheries and contribute to healthy ecosystems, both in EU and globally with the aim of restoring or maintaining stocks to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yields by 2015;
5. To ensure the consumption, of non renewable recourses does not exceed the carrying capacity of the marine environment and to reduce the environmental impact of use of non renewable resources;
6. To prevent accidental and intentional introduction of alien and invasive species;
7. To progressively reduce discharges, emissions and losses of substances hazardous to the marine environment with the ultimate aim to reach concentrations of such substances in the marine environment near background values for naturally occurring substances and close to zero for man-made synthetic substances;
8. To eliminate human induced eutrophication problems by 2010 by a progressive reduction of anthropogenic inputs of nutrient to areas in the marine environment where these inputs are likely, directly or indirectly, to cause such problems;
9. To prevent pollution from ionizing radiation through progressive and substantial reductions of discharges, emissions and losses of radioactive substances, with the ultimate aim to reach concentrations in the marine environment near background values for naturally occurring radioactive substances and close to zero for artificial radioactive substances. This objective should be achieved by 2020;
10. To ensure compliance with existing discharges limits of oil from ships and offshore installations by 2010 at the latest and to eliminate all discharges from these sources by 2020;
11. To eliminate marine litter arising from illegal disposal at sea by 2010;
12. To reduce the environmental impact of shipping by developing the concept of the “Clean Ship” and promote “safe shipping”;
13. To achieve a quality of the environment where levels of contaminants do not give rise to significant impacts on or risks to human and/or ecosystem health and wellbeing;
14. To implement commitments made in the Kyoto Protocol;
15. To promote cross-compliance with the aim of reducing the impact from all human activities that have an influence on the marine environment;
16. To promote more effective coordination and cooperation between different institutions and regional and global conventions, commissions and code of practice;
17. To promote the application and wider use of management tools such as adaptive management, strategic impact assessment and spatial planning to support the decision making;
18. To promote increased awareness and wide stakeholder participation;
19. To improve the knowledge base (research, monitoring and assessment) on which the marine policy is based.

19.These objectives will need to be further discussed and developed, inter alia, in the light of comments made by the European Council and Parliament and by other organisations. A first compilation of such comments is provided in a separate document (cf. SGO(1) 04/5/Info.1). In the further development of suites of Ecosystem Objectives, it will be helpful to ensure that new or modified Objectives retain the properties of good Ecosystem Objectives, so that they are effective in supporting progress towards the overall Strategic Goals. The document being prepared will include Guidelines about those desirable properties of Ecosystem Objectives, and how those properties can be reflected in the Objectives most efficiently.

The Objectives will have to be interpreted and guide decisions and actions at many scales from European-wide through Regional to local. Some objectives will be readily applicable at many scales, whereas others may require substantial adaptation at progressively finer scales. The document being prepared will include guidelines for recognising which types of objectives are likely to require reinterpretation at different geographic scales, and guidelines to assist in the adaptation process, so the Objectives retain their relationship to the Strategic Goals which they are intended to support.

2.6Ecosystem approach

20.Fundamentally an ecosystem approach aims to manage the human activities and demands that have an impact on the marine environment. It recognises that humans are a part of the ecosystem and is not about managing the ecosystems. An ecosystem approach embraces the elements of the sustainable development and needs to integrate the environmental, social and economic objectives and balance the needs of humans of the living and non-living resources both in short and the long term. The need to have a long –term perspective implies that ecological sustainability is a prerequisite for achieving economic or social sustainability.

21.There are many published definitions of the ‘ecosystem approach’, most with the same general provisions. The definition that has been adopted at the Køge Stakeholders meeting states that the ecosystem approach can be described as

"the comprehensive integrated management of human activities based on best available scientific knowledge about the ecosystem and its dynamics, in order to identify and take action on influences which are critical to the health of the marine ecosystems, thereby achieving sustainable use of ecosystem goods and services and maintenance of ecosystem integrity".

22.This definition clearly places humans as part of natural ecosystems, and stresses that human activities in these ecosystems must be managed such that they are sustainable in the long term, not compromising ecosystem components that contribute to its structural and functional integrity. Many agencies involved in achieving sustainability of human activities and conservation of biodiversity have augmented similar definitions with provisions for inclusive governance systems and equity of distribution of benefits from uses of ecosystems. Such provisions are completely compatible with the definition above, but just governance and equity of benefits are equally compatible with narrow single-use approaches to management as well.

23.A guideline on how to develop and implement an ecosystem approach to human activities is under development by the Working Group for Ecosystem EAM.. The Guidelines to be contained the document are intended for application with ecologically-based Objectives, those intended to contribute to achieving Strategic Goals A, B, and C. The development and application of goals of good governance are issues of policy, and will be addressed elsewhere.

2.7Relation to EU Directives

24.Effective conservation of habitats and associated biodiversity will be achieved through the implementation of an ecosystem approach. This will include ecosystem limits, benchmarks and targets to ensure conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

25.The approach is consistent with the requirements of the Habitat (92/43/EEC) and Water Framework Directives (2000/60/EC) and builds on the concepts of favourable status of conservation and good ecological status as defined in these Directives.The approach will apply to all areas of the marine environment including Exclusive Economic Zones.

26.Where the identification and designation of Special Areas of Conservation under the Habitats Directive impacts on sectoral activities, the strategy describes a process for the integration of nature protection measures into other areas of Community policy. This includes spatial planning and strategic environmental assessment.

27.The Marine Strategy will therefore embrace the same principles and will in the regional implementation develop an ecological quality framework with limits, benchmarks and targets that will be consistent with these Directives. Assessing the structure and the function of the marine ecosystem will require that the framework that goes beyond the current requirements.