HELCOM thematic assessment on biodiversity and nature conservation (HELCOM BIO)

Background:

HELCOM BIO is an ongoing project aimed at producing a HELCOM integrated thematic assessment of biodiversity and nature conservation in the Baltic Sea. The production of a comprehensive biodiversity assessment was agreed at the First Meeting of the ad hoc Task Force for the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan in April 2006.

Objectives:

One of the overarching goals of HELCOM is to have a favourable status of Baltic Sea biodiversity. The HELCOM EcoQO Project has formulated three “Ecological objectives” that together reflect the vision of achieving favourable status of biodiversity: i) Natural landscapes and seascapes, ii) Thriving and balanced communities of plants and animals, and iii) Viable populations of species.

In order to follow up the Ecological objectives one of HELCOM’s key tasks is to assess the state of different components of the environment, to estimate the magnitude and trends of threats, and to evaluate the effectiveness of measures that have been taken. HELCOM BIO focuses in particular on assessing the diversity of key components of the ecosystem such as habitat forming species, responsive communities such as the invertebrate benthic fauna, and important structuring groups of the pelagic ecosystem such as fish and zooplankton. In addition, the status of communities and species that are considered threatened will be given attention. The state and trends of the different components will be linked to the factors, natural and anthropogenic, that affect and potentially alter the Baltic Sea biodiversity. The goal of the project is to assess whether management actions taken so far are sufficient to safeguard the Baltic Sea biodiversity.

In short the project will:

• Assess the conservation status of the whole Baltic Sea on the basis of a harmonized approach. This objective is linked to the development of a prototype tool for assessment of biodiversity and conservation status.
• Develop conceptual models illustrating the linkages between state, impacts, pressures and root causes. The conceptual models will serve as basis for communicating the link between conservation status and human activities.
• Demonstrate actual, past and potential distribution of key habitat forming species, e.g. blue mussel, eelgrass, and perennial macroalgae such as bladderwrack. This objective will partly be achieved by use of modeling tools.
• Assess the effectiveness of measures already taken in order to indicate to what extent the goal of having a favourable conservation status is fulfilled, or to what extent supplementary measures are required. One step of this process will be to assess the ecological coherence of the current network of marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea.

In addition, the project will visualize the species and habitats of special interest in the Baltic Sea through the collection of a comprehensive photo gallery.

The project will be finalised by end of 2008 and the final assessment report will be published in 2009.

Project Manager:

Ulla Li Zweifel
Dimedia AB
Fabriksgatan 18
SE-392 34 Kalmar
Sweden
Tel: +46 48028392
E-mail: ullali.zweifel@dimedia.se

Ms Maria Laamanen
Professional Secretary
HELCOM Secretariat
Tel: +358 207 412627
E-mail: maria.laamanen@helcom.fi