A toolbox for marine policymakers
For the first time, science is playing a pivotal role in helping policymakers create science based policies and meet the objectives of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) by developing innovative tools to support this process.
PERSEUS is a policy-oriented, marine research project aimed at supporting regional policymakers for the Southern European Seas (SES). The PERSEUS project concentrated on gathering new knowledge on our eco-systems, analyzing the data with new tools and developing recommendations to support policymakers to make new laws based on solid scientific evidence.
As part of the work in providing tools to policymakers, Revelle supported the preparation of the Adaptive Marine Policy (AMP) Toolbox. The AMP was developed to assist marine policymakers in achieving or maintaining GES (Good Environmental Status) of coastal and marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins. It is made for policymakers who are developing marine environment policies, including decision-makers at local, national, and regional authorities.
The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) stresses numerous challenges to Member States relating to the protection of territorial waters. So far, diverse methods have been implemented at the national, regional and global levels to facilitate policy settings and gather inputs from stakeholders. Yet, there is an absence of tools to assist policymakers involved in implementing marine policies. This gap makes it difficult to develop new policies in a coherent manner, as well as to identify reference points for current and future GES of European Seas. As a result, little progress is being observed.
The AMP Toolbox helps to fill in this gap as it provides a means of elaborating the participatory design of multi-scale marine management schemes and policies in the context of MSFD. The AMP is an innovative, web-based toolbox which was developed in close collaboration with scientists and socio-economists. The AMP Toolbox makes scientific findings and resources readily available to policymakers in a user-friendly format. It provides a set of effective tools, database, case studies and scientific information that can be used to achieve a variety of outcomes, such as:
- Gathering information to support relevant stakeholders and policy-makers to deal with certain marine policy issues and, thus, to gain a better understanding of appropriate marine policies required.
- Facilitating local and regional dialogue between various stakeholders and the general public in the SES countries and fostering cooperation and mutual understanding around marine issues.
- Structuring a dialogue on MSFD-related policy issues, e.g. the estimation of pressures in socioeconomic terms on the marine and coastal ecosystems.
The AMP Toolbox consists of three parts:
- Guide through a five-step policy cycle for developing adaptive marine policies. This cycle provides a suggested structure for policy development and structured links to key activities, relevant advice and materials;
- Resources such as thematic databases, models that are particularly relevant to the Mediterranean and Black Seas;
- Examples of particular relevance to the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
