Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR ESTABLISHING A REGULAR PROCESS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

The first informal consultative meeting on the “Feasibility Study for Establishing a Regular Process for the Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment” was held at Hotel Loftleidir, Reykjavik from 12-14 September 2001, and was attended by 37 persons representing international bodies, regional organisations, national governments, and other concerned organisations.

The process of investigating the potential development of a regular global assessment for the marine environment, to provide accurate information to decision-makers on the threats to this environment, had been investigated by national governments under the leadership of Iceland. The Icelandic proposal had led to the adoption by the UNEP Governing Council (GC), of a decision on “Global assessment of the state of the marine environment” (GC 21/13.). This Decision requested the Executive Director, in co-operation with IOC/UNESCO and other UN agencies, the CBD Secretariat, and the regional seas programmes to explore the feasibility of establishing a regular process for the assessment of the state of the marine environment.

The Reykjavik meeting was the first stage in exploring the feasibility of an assessment process. The meeting objectives were to establish whether an assessment process was needed; whether a process would be feasible; what resources were available; who should be the principal users, and what did they require from the process; what should be the scope of the assessment; what the central goals of the assessment would be, and whether options were available to satisfy these goals; which main criteria were needed for a mechanism to undertake the assessment; and what should be the next steps taken in the development of the process.

Following the opening presentations participants strongly agreed that a global assessment of the marine environment was both desirable and urgently needed, and further welcomed the opportunity to examine the feasibility of developing this process.

To provide a general overview of the resources available for a global process, organisations currently engaged in marine assessment activities were invited to provide presentations on their work. Following the presentations participants noted that there was some duplication in efforts. It was suggested that a basic comparative exercise for organisations undertaking marine assessments could be completed during the meeting to identify and document overlap in effort, possible data gaps, and potential areas for further collaboration. The results of this exercise are recorded as part of this report (Annex XXV)

In view of the broad range of detailed material presented, participants agreed that sufficient baseline information was available to allow the construction of a regular, comprehensive, assessment of the marine environment at the global level.

It was strongly agreed that the principal target audience of the assessment should be policy-makers, mostly at the national level, and as such outputs and analysis from the process should be aimed towards this group. Country representatives were invited to outline their needs and specifications for the process. It was suggested that the assessment should provide an examination of current and future changes in the state of the global marine environment; should determine the global impacts of changes in the marine environment; and should provide advice on actions required to mitigate the impacts of environmental change.

Guiding recommendations from country representatives were that the assessment should have a comprehensive, broad marine ecosystem approach, based on the best available scientific information. The process must demonstrate full transparency, and follow an inclusive, broad stakeholder approach.

It was strongly recommended that the assessment should build upon an existing assessment framework. Country representatives insisted that any proposals for a new mechanism would not receive support from their governments. It was suggested that a reformed GESAMP, provided with adequate funding, might be the best option, largely because of its strong scientific expertise. The meeting further recommended that the process should demonstrate sustainability so as to provide regular future assessments.

Participants strongly agreed with a suggestion presented in the UNEP background document that reports from the assessment are produced in a ‘two-tier’ format: one report (first-tier) should be written as a scientific/technical report to address the needs of the scientific community; with a second report (second-tier) covering the same information but written in a language and style adapted to the needs of policy makers.

Within the context of government involvement in the assessment process it was anticipated that governments would provide nominated experts to participate in scientific assessment procedures, and that there would be a role for governments in question formulation and in reviewing scientific input.

The geographical area in which the assessment should operate was defined as ‘marine and coastal ecosystems and associated estuaries’. It was agreed that the assessment should adopt an ecosystem approach, and would provide an analysis of the impacts of environmental changes in the marine system on ecosystem resources and services. It was recommended that the global assessment should be based on standardised regional and sub-regional ecosystem assessments, contributed by regional and sub-regional organisations and agreements, and grouped at the global level. While the assessment should be built on existing assessment programmes, participants did not consider it reasonable to expect assessments to be prepared by government-nominated experts and then endorsed by the governments who had nominated the experts.

It was strongly recommended that the assessment should not be a static process, but should include the development of ongoing trends and scenarios to demonstrate the implications for biological and socio-economic systems of changes in the global marine environment. It was agreed that the assessment would analyse the social and economic aspects being influenced by changes, but would not examine those aspects influencing changes. Additionally the assessment should identify, but not analyse, risks to human health; moreover the assessment should analyse other human uses of the environment (eg. those related to shipping).

The goals of the assessment were established as follows: To provide on a regular and timely basis, scientific assessments of the state and trends of all aspects of marine ecosystems for use by policy makers. These assessments shall include consideration of socio-economic implications and identify scenarios so as to assist policy makers in addressing marine-related issues. The assessments should take the form of technical scientific reports, supplemented by summaries for policy makers’.

‘The mechanism and process to create such assessments must be transparent and independent. The assessments will be done by experts identified by governments, relevant UN bodies and regional organizations inter alia, who will provide their contributions on the basis of their individual expertise and with, where appropriate, advice from qualified experts and non-governmental organizations’.

To meet these goals the following option was adopted: ‘A regular assessment of marine ecosystems would require the adaptation of an existing mechanism, which would work in co-ordination and co-operation with other mechanisms, building upon their work and recognizing that they may also require adaptation’

Participants recommended that the mechanism selected to co-ordinate a regular global marine assessment process should demonstrate the following four main criteria: cost effectiveness; credibility; sustainability; and ability to address policy issues.

It was agreed that the next steps in the assessment process should be: the completion, and circulation for comment to a broad-range of interested parties, of the Reykjavik meeting report; a three-day technical workshop to outline a technical blueprint for the development assessment process (probably during the second quarter of 2002 after the GESAMP meeting scheduled in May 2002); an awareness meeting to follow, or take place during the CSD Preparatory Committee meeting in New York, between the 28th of January and 8th of February 2002.