MSCG_17-2015-07
Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)
Common Implementation Strategy
17th Meeting of the Marine Strategy Coordination Group (MSCG)
Thursday 05 November 2015 10.30– 18:00
European Commission, Conference Centre Albert Borschette (CCAB)
Rue Froissart 36, B-1040 Brussels, Room 2A
Agenda item: / 5C
Document: / MSCG_17-2015-07
Title: / Proposal for development of technical guidance on Art. 8 assessments
Prepared by: / Drafting Group GES
Date prepared: / 22/10/2015
Background / WG GES 14 considered a proposal by the Drafting Group GES on taking forward the revision of the Common Understanding Document(MSCG-17-2015-05). The proposal includes a suggestion for a technical guidance document on assessment under Art. 8 MSFD in order to translate the conceptual approaches of the EU COM document on cross-cutting issues (MSCG-17-2015-06) into a common practical application.
WG GES 14 asked the Drafting Group GES to submit a proposal to MSCG on the scope of the proposed technical guidance and arrangements for its preparation.
The Members of the MSCG are invited to:
- To endorsein principle the proposal for the development of technical guidance on assessment under Art. 8 MSFD.
- To provide guidance on the proposed scope of the technical guidance and arrangements for its preparation.
Proposal for developing technical guidance on assessments under Art. 8 MSFD
A coherent EU-wide implementation of Art. 8 MSFD requirescommon guidance on how to carry out assessments. The EU COM document on cross-cutting issues (MSCG-17-2015-06) sets out conceptual approaches to a suite of assessments under Art. 8 MSFD, including a concept for an integrated presentation of assessment results relating to good environmental status. To operationalise such concepts, technical guidance is needed.
The purpose of developing technical guidance on assessments under Art. 8 MSFD is to provide Member States and Regional Sea Conventions with a set of standardised principles and methodologies for undertaking the assessments. In doing so, current thinking under development in this field across a range of projects and organisationsneed to be taken into account.[1]The guidance should be designed as a manual guiding implementers step-by-step through the assessment process and include illustrative practical examples.
The guidance should encompass, and where appropriate ensure consistency with
-established assessment frameworks under EU legislation (e.g. WFD, Habitats Directive).
-assessment frameworks (established and under current development) of Regional Sea Conventions (e.g. further development of HELCOM assessment tools HEAT, CHASE, for biodiversity, on pressures and impact indices under HOLAS II; OSPAR assessment work e.g. under ICG COBAM and ICG C; the Black Sea tool for eutrophication), scientific projects (e.g. FP7 DEVOTES, BalticBoost) and the development within the European Topic Center.
The development of guidance should be taken forward in stages in order to take account of existing timelines Member States and Regional Sea Conventions are already engaged in, noting that assessment processes for the 2018 update of the Art. 8 MSFD assessment have already started. A phased approach also recognises that the 2018 update of Art. 8 MSFD assessment will be a transitional step towards more coherent future assessments. This is due to the ongoing revision of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU on criteria and methodological standards for environmental status, Annex III MSFD and electronic reporting requirements, but also due to remaining gaps in assessment tools (cf. development of scientific indicators for the GES assessment).
The phased approach would involve,
- in the first phase(November 2015 – July 2016): the development of guidance on those questions which relate to assessment steps which feasibly can be implemented in the 2018 update of Art. 8 MSFD assessment.
- in the second phase (August 2016 – 2021): the development of guidance on the remaining assessment elements for the third MSFD cycle.
Phase 1: Integrated presentation of assessment results (November 2015 – July 2016)
Scope of first phase module of the guidance
The focus of work should be on the development, by summer 2016, of basic principles to help a consistent implementation of an integrated presentation of assessment results across marine regions and Member States. This involves as a priority principles for the aggregation across scientific indicators and criteria to provide an overview of the state of the marine environment in relation to descriptor-specific pressures and biological elements.
Issues to be covered by the guidance include:
- Linking criteria (and associated scientific indicators) to state-related GES elements and pressure-related GES elements, covering such issues as:
-Clarification how the criteria fit with the different state-related and pressure-related GES elements, using COM Decision 2010/477/EU, its envisaged revision and agreed regional indicators as a basis
-Common solution for difficulties in linking criteria with states-related and pressures-related GES elements
-Solutions to avoiding assessing one aspect more than once
-Solutions how to make most use of regionally developed scientific indicators.
- Setting out aggregation rules for the state-related GES elements, taking into account existing experience of integration of scientific indicators (e.g. the FP7 DEVOTES project on biodiversity assessment and the EEA/ETC –review on multi-metric tools). This covers such issues as:
-Rules for integrating scientific indicators and criteria per species group. This builds on the planned contribution of ICES on aggregation rules for species groups (Workshop in May 2016)
-Rules for integrating scientific indicators and criteria per habitat group
-Coherence of aggregation resultswith protection levels of other Directives, taking into account the different geographic scales at which they apply:
- Habitat-/Birds-Directive and other special protection regimes for species and habitats
- WFD
-Solutions to issues arising from integrating scientific indicators and criteria at different geographic scales, based on the nested approach and determined geographic scales by RSCs and emerging revised COM Decision
- Setting out aggregation rules for the pressure-related GES-elements within each descriptor
- Tackling gaps in the integrated presentation of assessment results:
-Principles whether and how to aggregate and present status for pressure-descriptor elements and biological elements in cases where assessment results for individualscientific indicators or criteria (or components thereof) are not available
-Principles how to aggregate across status and trend criteria and scientific indicators
Arrangements for first phase module of the guidance
Drafting Group GES oversees and supports the development of the technical guidance.
Drafting of the guidance should be taken forward through external support and in close collaboration with the assessment processes in the Regional Seas Conventions. The EU Commission is considering whether it can offer support for developing the guidance within their consultancy capacities.
Work plan:
-A first draft of the first phase module of the guidance (except aggregation rules for species groups) will be available by end of February 2016 for discussion by WG GES at a Workshop.
-A WG GES Workshop is planned for end of March / beginning of April 2016. Alongside the draft guidance, selected worked-up examples will illustrate the application of proposed principles and methods in practice. The focus of the workshop could be on D5, D8 and habitat groups. The purpose of the workshop is to seek expert agreement on the proposed principles and methods. Given its cross-cutting nature, WG DIKE and WG ESA should be advised of the workshop.The Drafting Group will submit a draft Workshop Programme to WG GES 15 for consultation.
-The first phase module of the guidance will be consolidated following the workshop to report progress to MSCG in May 2016.
-Aggregation rules for species groups will be developed by ICES and discussed at a planned workshop in May 2016. The results of this strand of work will be taken up in finalizing the first phase module of the guidance.
-The first phase module of the guidance will be finalised by July 2016 for use by Regional Sea Conventions and Member States in their assessments under Art. 8 MSFD.
-WG GES will be consulted at its meetings in January and April 2016 on progress of the work and will be kept informed by correspondence. WG GES will be consulted in written procedure infinalizing the first phase module of the guidance.
-The first phase module of the guidance will be submitted to MSCG November 2016 for endorsement.
WG GES will be regularly informed about progress. A close link should be made between the work on the assessment guidance (WG GES)and developing reporting for Art. 8, 9 and 10 MSFD (WG DIKE).
Phase 2: Guidance on individual assessment elements (August 2016 – 2021)
In the second phase, the guidance should be developed to address the individual assessments of uses/activities, pressures, impacts and state, and methods for setting those assessments into relation to each other.
Developing the guidance will build on the experience of the 2018 update of Art. 8 MSFD assessments and methodological progress madee.g. by Regional Sea Conventions.
Drafting should be taken forward through external support.
Drafting Group GES oversees and supports the development of the technical guidance.
Drafting Group GES will submit a proposal for the further development of the guidance to WG GES in autumn 2016.
1
[1]For aggregation rules take account of e.g. Deltares 2014: Coherent geographic scales and aggregation rules for environmental status assessment within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Towards a draft guidance. Deltares/AZTI/HCMR, Report 1207879-000-ZKS-0014 to the European Commission, Delft, 43 pages.