MIO-ECSDE’s participation at the First Meeting of Technical Experts on the Ecosystem Approach by UNEP/MAP, Rome, 8-9 April 2010.

Apr 27, 2010 | News

MIO-ECSDE represented by Ms. Thomais Vlachogianni participated at the First Meeting of Technical Experts on the Ecosystem Approach, held on 8-9 April 2010 at ISPRA premises in Rome, Italy.

The main objective of the meeting was to take stock of the assessments being prepared by UNEP/MAP with the support of national and regional experts, in view of supporting decision IG 17/6 of the 15th Meeting of the Contracting Parties on the “Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach to the management of human activities that may affect the Mediterranean”.

A synthesis of the progress made was presented and the discussions focused on the ecosystem approach and its implementation process and how this fits in with the overall objective of establishing good environmental status objectives and developing plans for ecosystem-based management that addresses priority issues.

During the meeting the main steps of the Ecosystem Approach Roadmap agreed in Almeria by the 15th Meeting of the Contracting Parties in January 2008 were reviewed and the necessary actions, with a view to completing step 3 were discussed.

The Ecosystem Approach Roadmap includes the following steps:

  1. Definition of an ecological vision
  2. Setting of common Mediterranean strategic goals
  3. Identification of important ecosystem properties and assessment of ecological status and pressures
  4. Development of a set of ecological objectives corresponding to the vision and strategic goals
  5. Development of operational objectives with indicators and target levels
  6. Revision of monitoring programmes for ongoing assessment and regular updating of targets
  7. Development and review of relevant action plans and programmes

In general the main conclusions of the meeting were:

  • The analysis of ecosystem services should go beyond economics and include social factors as well as elements of cost of environmental degradation building on the current analysis results and taking into account the work carried out by other organizations in this field.
  • The meeting agreed that GIS should be utilized to prioritize key areas and key threats, as well as areas with the highest ecosystem service values, in order to provide the foundation for setting ecological objectives.
  • The meeting also agreed that the ecological objectives should be developed through an agreed methodology.

You can find the meeting’s conclusions below:

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