Science for Good Environmental Status: A European Joint Action to Support Marine Policy

In the last decade, several initiatives have been taken at a European level to adopt the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) by promoting coordination and stimulating integrated actions leading to consistent views on its final goal: the achievement of good environmental status (GES). In its holistic approach, the MSFD fully acknowledges the complexity and variability of marine ecosystems and demands constant scientific support for its actual implementation. Recently, the Joint Programming Initiative on Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans) launched the joint action Science for Good Environmental Status (Science4GES), building on the contribution of different scientific disciplines and communities to better fulfill the scope of the MSFD. In this paper we illustrate and discuss a few crucial aspects of endeavors to implement the MSFD specifically implied in the definition of the metrics for the 11 descriptors and GES in its complexity, as well as improving the strategy governing its implementation. This presentation also describes the challenges, aims and implementation plan for the JPI-O joint action, where a transdisciplinary approach may help in progressing from the comprehensive and far-reaching vision of the MSFD to the achievement of a durable GES.

Automated summary

This paper discusses the European initiatives to achieve the final goal of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: good environmental status; MSFD fully acknowledges the complexity of marine ecosystems and requires continuous scientific support; JPI Oceans launched the joint action Science for Good Environmental Status to utilize various scientific disciplines and communities' contributions for better MSFD implementation.