REGIONS
Marine habitats from Norway to Turkey
KEYWORDS
Ecosystem restoration from shallow to deep-sea
DATE
May 22,
from 2 to 3 pm CET
Overview
On May 22nd, 2024, from 14:00 to 15:00 CEST, we will host the Atlantic & Arctic Weekly Hour featuring the MERCES and REDRESS Projects. Professor Roberto Danovaro will discuss ecosystem restoration efforts that have expanded rapidly in multiple marine habitats. The availability of new approaches and technologies is allowing restoration interventions from shallow to deep-sea environments. New monitoring tools allow to follow the restoration trajectories and create new opportunities, but effective restoration science and practice require a careful assessment of the success and failures to incentivise public and private investments.
MERCES project has explored the potential of restoration actions in shallow soft and hard bottoms (including mesophotic) and deep-sea habitats at pan-European scale, from Norway to Turkey. MERCES is giving a special attention on the most fragile and vulnerable habitats, including seagrass meadows, algal and kelp forests, coralligenous outcrops, cold-water corals, canyons, seamounts and fjords in 25 different pilot areas. More than 20 protocols (species translocation and transplanting, seedling and grazer removal, artificial biodegradable substrates) for restoration have been tested to increase restoration efficiency and to identify the criteria for the selection of target species and habitats.
The MERCES project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689518.
The REDRESS project aims to provide a key contribution to the EU commitments towards restoring degraded ecosystems, especially in the deep sea. REDRESS will provide solutions to prioritize future restoration actions, extend deep-sea restoration to previously neglected habitat types, and demonstrate the feasibility, potential, and value for success of deep-sea ecosystem restoration. The project will focus on habitats that have great potential to contribute to carbon sequestration and climate mitigation but have been degraded by deep-sea fishing, especially trawling. Specifically, we will study vulnerable marine ecosystems, including sea pens and bamboo corals on soft sediments, coral gardens, cold-water coral reefs, sponge fields, and cold seeps. REDRESS will map degraded deep-sea habitats and identify habitat refugia to prioritize restoration efforts that will adapt to future scenarios of climate change. To adopt and adapt cutting-edge solutions for both restoration interventions and monitoring, REDRESS will make a significant technological investment and will benefit from a relevant ship time by in-kind contribution (136 days). REDRESS will offer nature-based solutions to public authorities and operators to advance ecosystem restoration in the deep sea. Building on the MERCES experience, REDRESS will go beyond the state of art, either developing new methodologies, using sophisticated technologies, defining success indicators, and expanding the target habitats also to cold seeps. The results will enable a significant advancement in the EU’s marine restoration strategy. The project will also provide socio-economic data, protocols, and tools to plan, and upscale restoration interventions in deep-sea habitats. Finally, REDRESS will provide novel insights into the advantages and limits of active vs passive deep-sea restoration, and related cost-benefit analysis of restoration in different deep-sea habitats supporting policies and decision makers in the future application of the Nature Restoration Law.
Programme
14:00-14:05
Welcome, Jose Luiz Moutinho, AIR Centre
14:05-14:45
The Challenge of The Marine Ecosystem Restoration in EU Seas, Prof. Roberto Danovaro, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona.
14:45-15:00
Q&A, moderated by Jose Luiz Moutinho, AIR Centre
15:00
Closing, Jose Luiz Moutinho, AIR Centre
Speakers
SPEAKER
Roberto Danovaro
The Challenge of The Marine Ecosystem Restoration in EU Seas
Prof. Roberto Danovaro is full professor of Marine Biology & Marine Ecology at the Polytechnic University of Marche. He was the President of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Naples, Italy) and past president of the Italian Society of Ecology, and of the Italian Society of Limnology and Oceanography and of the European Federation of Scientific Societies. He was the President of the Scientific Council of WWF Italy. Prof Danovaro is member of several international panels (IUCN, UNEP, JPO) and member of the EU Academy of Science. He is the coordinator of the Horizon Europe REDRESS Project and he has recently completed the coordination of 3 EU projects (Horizon2020: MERCES; DG ENV: IDEM; EASME: AFRIMED). Prof Danovaro is a marine biologist, working on deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and on the impact of climate change on deep-sea ecosystem restoration. Prof Danovaro received the Prize BMC Biology (London, 2010), the Award of French Society of Oceanography (2011), and the ENI Award “Protection of the Environment” (2013). In 2020 He has been recognized by ExpertScape as the top World Scientist in the Category “Ocean and Seas” in the decade 2010-2020. RD is author of ca 550 ISI papers and 10 books, >39000 citations (GS) and H=102.
Resources
MAy 22th, 2024, Atlantic & Arctic Lighthouse Weekly Hour S02E11 with MERCES and REDRESS
Relevant links
Marine Ecosystem Restoration in European Seas
Restoration of deep-sea habitats to rebuild European Seas
With a 2030 target, the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters" aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments.