BASSET-MED

BASSET-MED aims to provide key information on the biodiversity and marine ecosystems of the Central Mediterranean Sea - Strait of Sicily (SoS), Ecosystem Services (ES) provided, human activities and pressures on those ecosystems, and the degradation risk due to the cumulative pressures of anthropogenic activities and climate change. The premise is that improved understanding of values and functions of marine and coastal ecosystems allows to evaluate more accurately what is being gained and lost when exploitation of natural capital takes place, which can help in assessing the environmental and socio-economic viability of any spatial management plan. These are also the prerequisites for developing a Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) framework that integrates an Ecosystem-Based Approach (EBA) to management, with special attention on fishing activities, fish resources, vulnerable species and marine habitats. Marine ES and the abiotic outputs from marine and coastal ecosystems also support the Blue Growth agenda [1] and the project aims at assessing the links between ecosystem services that are supplied by seas and coasts and those demanded by the Blue Growth agenda. https://www.irbim.cnr.it/progetto-dettagli/basset-med/