The LIFE Monitoring Team has published a thematic report on marine-related LIFE projects. Subtitled ‘The future of Europe’s seas’, the 116-page study analyses the LIFE programme’s contribution to protecting and improving the marine environment.

The principal objectives of the Marine Thematic Report were as follows:

• To review current marine-related legislation;
• To review all marine-related LIFE projects to examine trends and the costs of implementation (both total and EU contributions);
• To review selected projects relating to the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and associated Programmes of Measures (POMs), using SWOT analysis;
• To review selected projects that provide new solutions and best practice for implementation of EU legislation and policy in the most efficient way and a high potential for transferability within the EU; and
• To understand the relevance of project approaches, including factors for failure or success of certain approaches.

The report’s authors (Dr Lynne Barrett, John Houston, Chris Rose and Dan Mitchell) analysed a total of 72 LIFE projects that took place between 2005 and 2012 in terms of means of intervention, cross-cutting issues, good environmental status (GES) and POMs. Following this initial analysis, 21 projects were selected for more detailed SWOT assessment based on their ability to contribute to seven special project areas – maintaining biodiversity; reconstruction and remediation; inventories; reducing/re-using fishing discards; contaminated sediments; reducing atmospheric emissions from shipping; and avoiding conflict and conflict resolution.

The report states that “LIFE projects can make a significant contribution to the understanding and future implementation of the MSFD*.” However, to do so, it is necessary to capture and include the output from the projects in the decision-making process. The report provides suggestions as to how this may be achieved.

You can find more information about the publication and the publication itself on the LIFE website.

* MSFD = the Marine Strategy Framework Directive from the European Union