Abstract
The Mediterranean region is of fundamental importance to Europe given its strategic position. The responsibility for its overall ecosystem integrity is shared by European Union Member States (EU-MS) and other Mediterranean countries. A juxtaposition of overlapping governance instruments occurred recently in the region, with the implementation of both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU-MS and the Ecosystem Approach Strategy (ECAP) for all Mediterranean countries, including EU-MS. Both MSFD and ECAP are structured around vision-driven processes to achieve Good Environmental Status and a Healthy Environment, respectively. These processes have clear ecosystem-based, integrated policy objectives to guarantee the preservation and integrity of Mediterranean marine ecosystem goods and services. However, adoption of these instruments, especially those related to the new EUMS directives on marine policy, could result in a governance gap in addition to the well-known economic gap between the EU and the non-EU political blocs. We identify two complementary requirements for effective implementation of both MSFD and ECAP that could work together to reduce this gap, to ensure a better alignment between MSFD and ECAP and better planning for stakeholder engagement. These are key issues for the future success of these instruments in a Mediterranean region where discrepancies between societal and ecological objectives may pose a challenge to these processes.
Highlights
The Mediterranean region is home to some of the world’s oldest cultures and has been exploited and managed by humans for more than 8000 years (Trump 1980)
We provide a critical review of the similarities and differences between these two initiatives: the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD 2008/56/European Commission (EC); EC 2008) for European Union Member States (EUMS) and the Ecosystem Approach Strategy (ECAP) for all the Mediterranean countries under the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP; UNEPMAP 2008)
Humans have long inhabited the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, thereby producing significant anthropogenic-driven change that has accelerated over the last decades
Summary
The Mediterranean region is home to some of the world’s oldest cultures and has been exploited and managed by humans for more than 8000 years (Trump 1980). Seven protocols were written (Table 2) to create the international legal framework for the Mediterranean region These protocols have been incorporated into ECAP, which is essentially organized around four themes, reflecting the main deliverables expected from the contracting parties: (1) adoption of regional targets and the establishment of a definition for Healthy Environment; (2) development of a regional integrated monitoring program based on indicators and targets; (3) coupling of integrated assessment with socioeconomic analysis for the Mediterranean ecosystem; and (4) establishment of an assessment cycle through the development of a UNEP-MAP policy on the assessment of marine and coastal environments. A periodical review of progress focuses on specific environmental targets every four to five years after the initial setting of those targets Because this application requires close collaboration between countries within each specific regional or subregional level, the responsibilities of individual states cannot be assessed when objectives are not achieved.
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