The proliferation of economic and recreational activities in the European seas is leading to increasing competition between sectorial interests. Moreover, the effects of climate change – rising sea level, temperatures and acidification – are likely to induce unknown instabilities into ecosystems and in socio-economic systems alike. A new set of measures, known as Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), can help tackle these effects, by promoting a sustainable use of sea space and an efficient adaptation to its changes. Managing maritime areas requires integrating differing sectorial approaches in a coherent set of policies. In this respect, MSP has been overtaking the concept of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM). The European Commission (EC) drafted its MSP recommendations around the “ecosystem approach”, requiring that all elements of an ecosystem, and their mutual interactions, be taken into due account. The selection of suitable geographical units for this approach requires the assessment of ecological provinces with homogeneous environmental traits. Coastal zones, - where no evident geographic markers, except the coastline itself, bind the interaction between atmosphere, land and sea – represent a critical factor in this assessment. A coastal province can be defined by physical setting, but also by its bio-geo-chemical features, ideally on the basis of Remote Sensing (RS) data, collected at space/time scales not accessible by other means. Classifications based on indicators such as pigments concentration, surface temperature, and roughness-derived parameters like waves and winds, or the direct assessment of sea level change, demonstrate the potential of ecological provinces to develop the MSP process.

BARALE Vittorio; 

2012-04-30

EARSeL Secretariat

JRC67876

http://www.earsel.org/SIG/CZ/5th-workshop/manuscripts/001.pdf,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC67876,