In its efforts to protect the future of its seas, including the Mediterranean, the European Commission has adopted a decision outlining the criteria necessary to achieve “good environmental status” by 2020.
The new criteria form part of the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive and all marine waters in the EU will have to reach certain environmental standards in under a decade.
They will also help member states develop coordinated marine strategies within each regional sea, ensuring consistency and allowing progress to be compared between regions.
The new criteria for the “good environmental status” of marine waters focus on different aspects of marine ecosystems, including biological diversity, fish population, contaminants, litter and noise. They are based on scientific and technical advice provided by independent experts and will now be used by individual member states to determine the environmental status of marine ecosystems.
The Commission said the new criteria built on existing obligations and developments in EU legislation, covering elements of the marine environment not yet addressed in existing policies.
In order to achieve the EU’s objective of “good environmental status” for all marine waters by 2020, member states will have to develop marine strategies that serve as action plans for applying an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities.
“Good environmental status” will be determined at the level of marine regions or sub-regions on the basis of 11 qualitative descriptors of the marine environment specified in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Regional coopera-tion is required at each stage of the implementation of the directive.
Commenting on the decision, European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said the EU wanted its seas to be healthy and productive. “This decision is just a starting point in establishing precise objectives for the achievement of good environmental status,” he said.
According to the directive, member states now have various target dates to meet.
By 2012 they must provide the Commission with a comprehensive assessment of the state of their maritime environment, identifying the main pressures on their sea and defining targets and monitoring indicators.
Member states must develop by 2015 coherent and coordinated programmes of measures, which will take them to try to achieve a “good environmental status” by 2020.