Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B NEXT Black Sea Basin

Date of latest update: 2025-03-26

Description

Description (EN):

‘Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems’ addresses the environmental issues of the Black Sea, the shared large marine ecosystem, underpinning the BSB Programme’s overall regional approach. Black Sea environmental problems have received much attention since the end of the last century, alongside political, economic and social hurdles. The main identified transboundary problems are eutrophication, overexploitation of marine living resources, chemical pollution and changes in biodiversity and habitats. Conservation of the Black Sea biodiversity and habitats resonates with the Programme’s specific objective RSO 2. 7. Three other environmental challenges have been pinpointed: preservation of commercially valuable marine living resources, reduction of eutrophication and ensuring good water quality for humans and marine organisms. They also relate to the project’s objective of protecting and promoting biodiversity and the natural heritage by supporting initiatives to conserve the valuable Black Sea ecosystems, as they address the root causes of the problems, the main pressures from human activities: industry, agriculture, domestic wastewater, sea transport (oil spills, ballast water), urbanisation, tourism leading to coastal zone degradation. The overall objective of MARMAPS is to raise awareness of the target groups on the importance of conserving the valuable Black Sea ecosystems, engage them in the creation of decision support system for maritime spatial planning to foster spatial conservation and restoration measures for marine biodiversity, improve their access to open scientific data and tools through environmental electronic eFolio, involve stakeholders in capacity building to ensure the uptake of conservation prioritisation framework for marine protected areas, and exploit the opportunities for cross-border collaboration. The means to achieve this include three main project outputs. First, The MARMAPS partnership will ensure the flow of information, data, skills and experience between four organisations from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Ukraine. It will continue cross-border collaboration between the partners from previous projects. Second, the envisaged environmental electronic eFolio is a key joint output providing a solution for cost-effective achievement of national and regional conservation targets for marine ecosystems and continuous flow and sustainability of natural sources, while accounting for cumulative impacts from human activities and climatic risk. Its main components include decision support system, monitoring protocol templates, citizen science tools and good governance practices for MPAs. Third, a regional networking event at the end of the project will bring together project partners and representatives of target groups involved in marine sustainability biodiversity protection. It will simultaneously popularise the key solution, eFolio, among experts and stakeholders, and ensure the long-term impact of the project through the establishment of a network of actors involved in MPA governance at regional level. The project results include a mechanism for exchange and long-term support between members of the target groups and end-users to promote Black Sea biodiversity and nature protection, endorsed by the lasting and continuous collaboration of the four project partners. A second result is the expanded knowledge of target groups on the use of open scientific data through the eFolio, jointly developed by the partners to demonstrate the designation of new marine protected areas in the Black Sea Basin based on open data for valuable ecosystems, as well as the increased capacity of target groups and end-users to manage MPAs in terms of planning, monitoring, reporting and good governance. Main beneficiaries are environmental and regional development ministries and their regional agencies, MPA managers in the participating countries;, municipal authorities in programme coastal areas; higher education and research institutions related to the sea and its varied resources, schools, educational and training centres; fishermen’s and aquaculture associations, marine sports associations, maritime clusters and tourism associations; environmental NGOs and citizens concerned about the state of the Black Sea environment. The challenges of enhancing marine biodiversity protection on a basin scale demand a cross-border working approach. The partnership adopts a results-oriented approach involving the collaborative efforts of well-established NGOs from three Black Sea countries and a public university from EU country, with experience in work on marine biodiversity and conservation. The approach also involves the engagement of diverse groups of stakeholders and end-users from the project area to address the complex set of issues related to the state of the environment and marine biodiversity protection and conservation.

Actual Achievements (EN):

MARMAPS aims to improve knowledge on how to conserve the valuable ecosystems of the Black Sea by providing an open environmental eFolio for collaborative maritime spatial planning and marine biodiversity restoration. During the first four months of the project implementation the partnership has taken consistent steps towards achieving the project's specific objective. A methodological framework has been developed by AUTH to facilitate a comprehensive review of existing knowledge and the current state of conservation planning in the Black Sea region. As part of this framework, project partners were given clear guidance on the collection and standardisation of datasets from national databases, reports, publications in national languages and other internal resources or ongoing projects. Each partner started to compile data sets on biodiversity and pressures on the marine environment in the Black Sea. The two-day regional kick-off meeting in Thessaloniki in early October introduced all project partners to marine protected area (MPA) designation, biodiversity protection, landscape and seascape connectivity and the outline of the environmental electronic eFolio. The eFolio would contain maps, environmental data, management documents and other resources relevant to MPAs. An important part of the meeting was training to develop skills in spatial data processing, which is an essential part of the main project outputs. The kick-off meeting established a detailed plan and timeline for the implementation of the upcoming activities, which are dedicated to the design and production of the main components of the eFolio, consisting of a decision support system, monitoring protocol templates, citizen science tools and good governance practices for MPAs. Cross-border cooperation was ensured by BSNN through regular meetings, task sharing and communication within the project consortium. The efficient flow of information, data, skills and experience between the four organisations from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Ukraine was regulated by the Partnership Agreement, which focused on the implementation of the project, and the Cooperation Agreement, which aimed to sustain the results of the project. Monthly online meetings and the face-to-face kick-off meeting in Thessaloniki ensured continuous exchange and coordination between the project partners. During the first months of implementation, a Joint Project Steering Committee (JPSC) was formed with representatives from all partners to guide the project strategy and implementation of activities. In addition, the LP developed a set of management documents: Internal Communication Rules, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, Risk Management Plan and a Communication Plan for external audiences. The management and communication documents were endorsed by the JPSC during the kick-off meeting in early October. Communication activities targeting stakeholders and external audiences started with the design of basic visibility tools, such as a project logo, document templates, and a project poster. The project website and LinkedIn profile were launched to provide more detailed information on MARMAPS objectives and activities. MARMAPS was showcased at the Black Sea Common Maritime Agenda Stakeholder Conference in Chișinău on 11 September. A press release in English and the national languages was distributed and together with promotional events and interviews provided by team members reached over a dozen media publications in national media across the region. All partners have published regular updates on their own websites and shared posts across social media platforms. The first four months have given the project a good start and established working channels of communication and coordination in the project partnership.

Project outputs: MARMAPS partnership(EN)
Environmental electronic eFolio(EN)
Regional networking event(EN)

Thematic information

Coastal management and maritime issues

Priority: (VI-B_BSB_P2) Clean and Green Region

Priority specific objective: RSO2.7. Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO2 A greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, risk prevention and management, and sustainable urban mobility

Type of intervention: 171 Enhancing cooperation with partners both within and outside the Member State

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Сдружение "Черноморска мрежа на неправителствените организации"

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 998202945

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 130173429

Department: Main office

Address: Dr Zamenhof, 9000 Varna, Bulgaria

Department address: Dr Zamenhof, 9000 Varna, Bulgaria

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: https://bsnn.org/

Total budget: EUR 138 096.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 124 286.40

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 90.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 13 809.60

Чорноморське Відділення Української Екологічної Академії наук

Name: Чорноморське Відділення Української Екологічної Академії наук

Department: Main office

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 929576706

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 20973495

Address: Frantsuzskyi Boulevard, 65044 Odesa, Ukraine

Department address: Frantsuzskyi Boulevard, 65044 Odesa, Ukraine

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: https://www.facebook.com/blackseabranch

Total budget: EUR 108 962.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 98 065.80

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 90.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 10 896.20

Organizatia Neguvernamentala Ecologista Mare Nostrum

Name: Organizatia Neguvernamentala Ecologista Mare Nostrum

Department: Main office

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 968769071

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 7015190

Address: Tomis, 900647 Constanta, Romania

Department address: Tomis, 900647 Constanta, Romania

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://www.marenostrum.ro

Total budget: EUR 115 500.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 103 950.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 90.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 11 550.00

ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΕΙΟ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ - ΕΙΔΙΚΟΣ ΛΟΓΑΡΙΑΣΜΟΣ ΚΟΝΔΥΛΙΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ

Name: ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΕΙΟ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ - ΕΙΔΙΚΟΣ ΛΟΓΑΡΙΑΣΜΟΣ ΚΟΝΔΥΛΙΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ

Department: Department of Ecology, School of Biology

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999895692

Partner’s ID if not PIC: EL090049627 | N/A | N/A (EN)

Address: Tritis Septemvriou, Panepistimioupoli, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece

Department address: Panepistimioupoli, 54142 Thessaloniki, Greece

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.bio.auth.gr/en/content/department-ecology

Total budget: EUR 135 800.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 122 220.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 90.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 13 580.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Black Sea Branch of Ukrainian Environmental Academy of Sciences

Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Partners and Projects info

Ecological Non-governamental Organization Mare Nostrum

Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Partners and Projects info

ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI, SPECIAL ACCOUNT FOR RESEARCH FUNDS (ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS - EIDIKOS LOGARIASMOS KONDILION EREVNAS)

Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Partners and Projects info

Black Sea NGO Network

Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Project acronym: MARMAPS

Project ID: BSB00113

Project start date: 2024-06-20

Project end date: 2025-12-19

Project status: ongoing

Relevant linked projects:

RESPONSE, Building Response Frameworks under existing and new Marine Pollution Challenges in the Black Sea, EMFAF-2023-PIA-FLAGSHIP-2-BLACK, to be contracted, 36 months (EN) | RESPONSE involves AUTH as leader, BSNN and BSB UEAS as partners. The project will develop and test new training schemes and curricula for the monitoring, reporting, management and mitigation of marine pollution, with particular attention to pollution caused by armed conflicts. Envisages co-creation of framework for the establishment and operation of an advanced training system. Synergies with MARMAPS can be sought in the aspects of examining climate change and marine pollution impacts, mitigation and adaptation measures for marine protected areas. (EN), SOS-ZEROPOL2030, Source to Seas – Zero Pollution 2030, period of implementation 2022—2026 – Horizon Europe 2.6 – Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources (EN) | Black Sea NGO Network is partner in SOS-ZEROPOL2030 developing a holistic zero pollution framework to guide the process towards achieving zero pollution in European seas by 2030. SOS-ZEROPOL2030 will co-design, co-produce, and co-deliver a stakeholder lead European Seas zero-pollution framework that provides practical guidance from source to sea addressing shortcomings in marine pollution management and governance. This holistic approach is based on best practice, with an emphasis on human behaviour, socio-economics and governance; and is underpinned by understanding of current barriers to effective and efficient prevention, reduction, mitigation and monitoring of marine pollution in European Seas. Synergies with MARMAPS can be sought in the aspects of interaction to advance current knowledge and tools for the Black Sea to better understand cumulative impacts of human pressure on key ecosystem components, with the capacity to deliver goods, services and benefits, informing the implementation processes of relevant EU and Regional Strategies, and considering the changing climate. (EN), Project #TedJusticeRoll, programme “Together for ecological democracy, justice and the rule of law in Ukraine”, supported by international charity “Ecology – Law – Human” and US Government (EN) | BSB UEAS in the framework of the ongoing project are collecting evidence about the changes in the state of the Black Sea area as a result of the war in Ukraine. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in the general improvement of the knowledge base about environmental problems in the region and the provision of some information about the concrete situation in the partner country and the assessment of cumulative impact of pressures of war on the environment. (EN), FutureMARES – Climate Change and Future Marine Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity, Horizon 2020 (EN) | AUTH is involved in FutureMARES, an EU-funded research project examining the relations between climate change, marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. FutureMARES provides socially and economically viable actions and strategies to support conservation of marine biodiversity. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge to partners and stakeholders in the Black Sea Basin. (EN), GES4SEAS – Achieving Good Environmental Status for maintaining ecosystem services, by assessing integrated impacts of cumulative pressures, HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-04 (EN) | AUTH is involved in the project. GES4SEAS aims to inform and guide marine governance with a view to minimising these pressures and their impacts to ensure provision of ecosystem services. It develops, tests, demonstrates and upscales a toolbox relevant to adaptive ecosystem-based management. This will support Good Environmental Status in the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and support policies at national, European and international levels. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge about adaptive management to partners and stakeholders in the Black Sea Basin. (EN), MarinePlan – Improved transdisciplinary science for effective ecosystem-based maritime spatial planning and conservation in European Seas, HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-12 (EN) | AUTH involved: MarinePlan targets to apply maritime spatial planning. It evaluates existing governance settings, recommend adaptations to foster spatial planning, and identifies pathways for transdisciplinary knowledge to support integrated planning across European sea. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge about spatial planning to partners and stakeholders in the Black Sea Basin. (EN), INCENTIVE – Establishing Citizen Science Hubs in European Research Performing and Funding Organisations to drive institutional change and ground Responsible Research and Innovation in society, Horizon 2020 (EN) | AUTH is involved in the project. INCENTIVE aims to demonstrate the potential of citizen science and stimulate and support excellent citizen science for a number of environmental and social dimensions. Towards this direction it aims to develop tailored governance and operating models, incentives and activities for the Citizen Science projects. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge about spatial planning to partners and stakeholders in the Black Sea Basin. (EN), Iliad – INTEGRATED DigitaL Framework FOR Comprehensive MARITIME DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICES, Horizon 2020 (EN) | AUTH is involved in Iliad, which aims at establishing an interoperable, data-intensive, and cost-effective Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). It capitalises on the explosion of new data and advanced computing infrastructures (cloud computing, HPC, Internet of Things, Big Data, social networking, and more) to address all Earth Data challenges. It will contribute towards a sustainable ocean economy as defined by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Ocean, a hub for global, multistakeholder co-operation. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge about spatial planning to partners and stakeholders in the Black Sea Basin. (EN), EcoScope – Ecocentric management for sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems, EU Horizon 2020 (EN) | AUTH is involved in EcoScope that develops an interoperable platform and a robust decision-making toolbox, available through a single public portal, to promote an efficient, ecosystem-based approach to the management of fisheries. EcoScope seeks to address ecosystem degradation and the anthropogenic impacts that are causing fisheries to be unsustainably exploited across European Seas. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge about spatial planning to partners and stakeholders in the Black Sea Basin. (EN), DOORS, Developing Optimal and Open Research Support for the Black Sea, EU Horizon 2020, Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (EN) | Mare Nostrum is involved in DOORS aiming to make operational the Black Sea SRIA, support the successful Blue Growth implementation and contribute to a healthy, productive and resilient Black Sea. Synergies with the current proposal can be sought in general terms in the development of capacity for project implementation and the transfer of specific knowledge about scientific data use to partners and stakeholders. (EN)

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 498 358.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 448 522.20

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 90.00%

Co-financing sources:

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

SeaBasinStrategyBlackSea The Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea (CMA) is central strategic and policy document, a macro-regional strategy for the development of the larger region. It involves 7 countries: Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine that endorsed CMA and represents a voluntary, bottom-up regional cooperation framework on maritime affairs and blue economy driven and owned by the participants involved. The CMA overarching objective is to reinforce regional dialogue between countries and stakeholders to jointly address the challenges and opportunities of blue economy sectors in the area, ensuring environmental sustainability while encouraging growth and promoting blue economy projects. The three CMA main goals are: healthy marine and coastal ecosystems, innovative and sustainable blue economy and fostering investment in the blue economy. The selected programme priority, objective and field of action and the related MARMAPS project objectives and activities envisaging conservation and designation of marine protected areas contribute directly to the first main goal with support to joint nature protection and marine conservation activities aiming to improve the state of the marine environment with involvement of three participating countries, supported by EU member partner. The project activities are also relevant to the second goal contributing to sustainability, correlating MPAs with control of pressures from human activities. The CMA encourages the production, management and sharing of marine and coastal environmental knowledge for effective environmental monitoring and observation by actions such as encouraging science-based policy making process and marine data collection and sharing through existing databases, all in line with MARMAPS contribution. One of the pillars of the CMA, the Black Sea Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) promotes research and innovation to enable sustainable growth in the region, supported by MARMAPS.
EUStrategyDanubeRegion EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) is the largest and multi-dimensional EU macro-regional strategy, with Action Plan including a total of 12 priority areas and 85 defined actions in the revised Action Plan of the Strategy. EUSDR territorial coverage overlaps with the Black Sea Basin programme area related to four countries. Three of the MARMAPS partners from Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine are situated in the EUSDR region and their joint environmental actions under MARMAPS are relevant to Priority Area 6 (PA6) Biodiversity and landscapes, quality of air and soils of EUSDR and create synergies with its actions. Issues like valuable marine ecosystems protection and conservation, especially on the north-western shelf naturally relate to the Danube River with its enormous impact on the quality of waters in the Black Sea and on the state of ecosystems and biological diversity in general. The project MARMAPS creates synergies with a few PA6 objectives actions related to biodiversity protection and conservation and prevention of introduction of invasive species: protection and reintroduction of Danube sturgeon species, control and prevention of invasive alien species. Synergies with MARMAPS can be sought also in PA6 cooperation between protected areas to improve ecological connectivity and in terms of capacity development for planning, in the creation of masterplan for preservation and strengthening biodiversity along the Bavarian Danube. Synergies with MARMAPS regional instrument can be sought in the establishment of PA6 Task Force to support and manage the political and decision-making process on actions with support from the experts from the different regions and stakeholders.
EUStrategyAdriaticIonianRegion EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) like other sea strategies and strategies for the Black Sea Region involves area with heterogeneous development and countries differing in terms of political and social background. EUSAIR’s goal is to promote the economic, social prosperity, and growth in the Adriatic-Ionian Seas region by improving its attractiveness, competitiveness and connectivity. EUSAIR participating countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Pillars of EUSAIR are Blue Growth, Connecting the Region, Environmental Quality, and Sustainable Tourism. Pillar 3 serves as a horizontal principle for each EUSAIR pillar and activity to reach the goals of the EU Agenda of the Western Balkans and the European Green Deal in a coordinated and efficient manner to preserve the marine and terrestrial biodiversity and to reduce air and sea pollution. Synergies with the BSB Programme and MARMAPS can be sought in the experience and capacity of EU partners to transfer knowledge, experience and good governance practices for marine biodiversity protection and conservation on regional scale and to non-EU members.
Other EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (COM/2020/380)
In the face of upcoming international negotiations on the global post-2020 biodiversity framework, EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 represents EU’s long-term plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems and build societies’ resilience to future threats among which is climate change. EU Biodiversity Strategy contains specific commitments and actions to be delivered by 2030, to which our project aims to contribute to. More specifically, we would contribute to the planned establishment of a larger EU-wide network of protected areas on land and sea by the EU Strategy, by aiming to design potential new MPAs or expand the extent of already existing MPAs in the Black Sea. Also, the assessment and identification of a good environmental status in MPAs would contribute as a first step towards concrete commitments for effective restoration measures that EU countries should put in place to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters. More particularly we would also focus on the assessment/identification of the environmental status for important marine habitats such as seagrass beds or sediment bottoms that deliver significant benefits in the Black Sea basin with the ultimate target of serving for climate change mitigation and preservation of the habitats of iconic marine species like marine mammals, fish and seabirds.
Other Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)
WFD sets the basic standards on water protection in Europe, focusing on ensuring good qualitative and quantitative health, i.e., on reducing and removing pollution and on ensuring that there is enough water to support wildlife at the same time as human needs. Our project would contribute to the WFD which offers an integrated approach to water management, respecting the integrity of whole ecosystems, as marine coastal waters are part of the river basin ecosystem and their good environmental status relies on individual pollutants and corresponding regulatory standards. As river basin systems pouring into the Black Sea basin are shared among neighbouring countries (e.g., Danube River basin), it is important to make sure that there exists a solid ground for transnational cooperation for the management of shareable water resources. With our project, we promote a common understanding and approach as crucial for the successful and effective implementation of the WFD. We identify/assess good environmental status based on assessment of the water pollution levels, as of concentration levels of identified contaminants, eutrophication caused by bad ecological and chemical river status. Based on the best available information, we should rely on proposed priority substances that Member States must monitor in surface waters, in accordance with WFD Article 4.
Other Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC)
Our project contributes to the assessment/identification of a good environmental status for MPAs of the Black Sea, drawing on the 11 qualitative descriptors set by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). We would apply an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities while enabling a sustainable use of marine goods and services, continuing protection and preservation of the marine environment of the Black Sea. We should establish environmental targets for ongoing assessment, enabling the state of the marine waters of the Black Sea concerned to be evaluated on a regular basis, according to already applied successful applications. In order to achieve greater comparability and uniformity of results, we shall use the criteria and methodological standards to assess/identify good environmental status of the Black Sea basin, provided by the MSFD.
Other Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (2014/89/EU)
Our project will contribute to the aims of the MSP, as in order to designate the proposed network of new and already existing marine protected areas, we will rely on reducing conflicts and creating synergies between different marine uses and activities and identify opportunities for multiple uses of the space. As it is important that Black Sea is managed in a sustainable manner, we would integrate basic concepts required by MSP such as land-sea interactions and the ecosystem-based approach, in order to achieve the basic targets of our project.
Other Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)
The Birds and Habitats Directives form the cornerstones of the EU biodiversity policy. They provide a strong legislative framework for all EU countries to protect the most valuable and threatened biodiversity. Together, the two directives have also created the Natura 2000 network. Our project should contribute to the aims of EU Habitats Directive, as the proposed network of MPAs in the Black Sea would rely on the selection of key marine species and habitats included in the EU Habitats Directive, as well as the identification/assessment of GES of the MPAs would also evaluate available information on their conditions and conservation statuses.
Other Birds Directive (2009/147/EC)
Our project will also contribute to the aims of the EU Birds Directive. According to the previous statements, we should also rely on the available information and distribution of threatened bird species (e.g., sea bird species) as well as residential or migratory avifauna using wetlands connected to already existing or new marine protected areas, in order to identify the proposed network of marine protected areas in the Black Sea.
Other Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Our project will contribute to the targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the conservation of biological diversity in the Black Sea and its sustainable development. By identifying potential new marine protected areas, we contribute to the identification of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) in order to support the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological biodiversity according to the aims of the CBD. We aim also to contribute to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets developed by CBD. More importantly, on the assessment/identification of good environmental status we aim to integrate multiple aspects of environmental assessment contributing to Targets 8,9 and 10, as based on the available information, we should aim to assess pollution levels, presence of invasive alien species and multiple anthropogenic pressures on coral reefs, and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean acidification in the Black Sea basin. We will also contribute to target 11, by aiming to propose a certain percent of coastal and marine areas of the Black Sea to be conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes. Our aims would contribute also to Target 12, as the designation of a network of MPAs should prevent the extinction of known threatened species and improve their conservation status.
Other EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change
By proposing a new designation of a climate-smart and climate-robust and adaptive MPA network in the Black Sea, we contribute to the aims of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change. We should integrate aspects of climate-related uncertainty and we would contribute to the increase of knowledge on climate change adaptation in the Black Sea based on resilience provided by a network of MPAs, as a nature-based solution for the climate change adaptation of the regional biodiversity.
Other European Plastics Strategy (COM/2018/028)
Our project would contribute to the aims of the European Plastics Strategy, as we aim to identify sea-based sources of marine litter such as waste from ships, abandonment of fishing gear at sea, plastic loss from aquaculture that may undermine local biodiversity and provided ecosystem services. Our aims are relevant to European Plastics Strategy’s actions to monitor and curb marine litter effectively.
Other Bern Convention (Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats)
Bern Convention represents a binding international legal instrument in the field of nature conservation (wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats), covering most of the natural heritage of the European continent and extending to some states of the Africa. Our project would contribute to the aims of the Convention as we aim to designate new marine protected areas based on their synthesis on protected and strictly protected marine wild species and habitats based on Appendix I, II, III and IV, particularly giving attention to endangered and vulnerable species including endangered and vulnerable migratory species.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 116 - Jointly developed solutions, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:
RCO 115 - Public events across borders jointly organised, Measurement unit:

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 084 - Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion, Measurement unit:
RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSDR

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSAIR

EUSAIR Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSAIR Degree of compliance:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B NEXT Black Sea Basin

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-03-26

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

32 / 32 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

148 / 148 (100%)

Notes on the data

Programme's page last visited on 2025-03-17.

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Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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