SHAREMED: Coping with coexisting environmental threats in the Mediterranean Sea

Sharing and building capacity to tackle environmental threats in the Mediterranean Sea

Project duration : 01.10.2019 – 30.06.2022

Marine ecosystems are subject to the impact of a multitude of pressures, resulting from multiple causes that vary according to the sites studied. A non-exhaustive list of these pressures includes the effect of climate change (e.g. warming and acidification), pollution (waste, NHS), maritime traffic, the exploitation of resources in general, the degree of oligo / eutrophication of systems and the presence of invasive species. The need to assess and address environmental threats, which are increasingly evolving in space and time and across political boundaries, calls for coordinated transnational action based on a common understanding of the risks posed by environmental threats. There is a clear need to share data, procedures, information and knowledge in order to support multi-level governance and arrive at shared spatial planning solutions. At the same time, there is a need to improve observation and assessment capabilities, through the integration of existing systems, the development of short-term forecasting systems and the incorporation of emerging technologies.

SHAREMED aims to increase the capacity of management authorities, as well as that of the scientific community, to assess and deal with risks linked to environmental threats through various actions:

1. Providing methodologies for collecting, comparing, integrating and harmonising existing experience and making it easier to find, access and use existing information.
2. To study and test procedures, multi-level agreements and protocols, in order to standardise and produce a shared database and products that will be used to assess environmental health and risks.
3. Improving observation and assessment capabilities by: defining cooperative practices; integrating existing infrastructures into joint transnational systems; specifying and implementing a re-locatable forecasting system; and incorporating emerging technologies, with particular reference to operational systems and biological properties.

The project will capitalise on the knowledge provided by previous projects and ongoing programmes, and will contribute to the definition of a gap analysis, best practices, long-term strategies and an action plan to assess and address environmental threats in the Mediterranean Sea. The approach to achieving the project's objectives will be applied throughout the duration of the project through the active participation of all project partners in each of the work packages.