We are excited to announce that CCMS will participate in the newly started EU project MSP4BIO under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-12. MSP4BIO is the short name for “Improved Science-Based Maritime Spatial Planning to Safeguard and Restore Biodiversity in A Coherent European MPA Network”. The project is led by s.Pro - sustainable projects (SPRO) /SUBMARINER Network, Berlin, Germany.
The MSP4BIO will run for 3 years (August 2022 - August 2025). It has a budget of 3.5 million euros.
MSP4BIO develops and demonstrates the ways in which knowledge-based MSP can become a vehicle and a tool for the protection and recovery of marine ecosystems. The project takes the collaborative approach to address coherent implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy (EUBS) 2030, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) post-2020 framework, and EU Green Deal.
Specifically, MSP4BIO will develop an integrated flexible socio-ecological management to cope with a rapidly changing environment for coastal, offshore, and deep-sea ecosystems and validate its concrete applicability in 6 test sites in 5 European Sea Basins. The management relies on improved systemic biodiversity prioritization criteria for MPAs and EBSAs, based on the best available scientific knowledge on biodiversity attributes, and linking spatial ecological features (including migratory ones) with socio-economic considerations.
MSP4BIO uses a participatory approach to co-develop ecosystem services tradeoff scenarios to prioritize the areas and assess the suitability of spatial and strategic management measures from the ecological and socioeconomic perspectives. The approach integrates the criteria and objectives of relevant maritime and biodiversity policies as well as the EUBS 2030 to ensure coherent policy implementation. As such, the project will develop and improve approaches, methods, and tools to feed scientific knowledge, making it of direct use to planners and MPA managers, while producing site-specific results informing site-specific, and broader policy processes and decisions.
The project builds on and integrate existing knowledge and results from multiple origins, and ensures effective collaboration with relevant projects and initiatives to fill present gaps on marine biodiversity, speeding up the scientific brake while paving the way for effective biodiversity management.
The MSP4BIO will be carried out by an interdisciplinary consortium coordinated by s.Pro - sustainable projects (SPRO), Germany. The other participants are: CEREMA, France; Center for Coastal and Marine Studies (CCMS), Bulgaria; Gdansk Maritime University (GMU), Poland; University of Cadiz (UCA), Spain; Universite De Nantes (UNANTES), France; University of Tartu (UTARTU), Estonia; WWF European Policy Office (WWF-EPO), Belgium; Coastal Research and Planning Institute (CORPI), Lithuania; The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), Finland; CNR ISMAR, Italy; Vlaams Instituut Voor De Zee (VLIZ) Belgium; Suomen Ymparistokeskus (SYKE) Finland; University of Azores (UAC), Portugal; National Institute for Marine Research and Development Grigore Antipa (NIMRD), Romania; Priority Action Programme Regional Activity Center (PAP/RAC), Croatia; Seascape Consultants Ltd. (SEASC), United Kingdom.