Press Release Published
28 Nov 2013
Europe's coastal regions are increasingly
vital for its economy, yet their natural
assets on which it depends continue to degrade.
This is according to a new report from the
European Environment Agency, which calls
for better information, planning and management
decisions to balance multiple demands on
the coastal environment.
'Balancing the future
of Europe's coasts', a new report from the
European Environment Agency (EEA), argues
that Europe needs to improve its knowledge
to better understand the long-term damaging
effects of current human and economic pressures
on the coastal environment, jeopardizing
the essential maintenance of the natural
capital.
Coastal regions generate
around 40 % of EU GDP. Europe is a major
player in many intensive maritime industries,
including shipping and ports, fisheries,
energy and coastal tourism. However, this
has come at a cost - habitat destruction,
overfishing, pollution, coastal erosion,
and infrastructure development have damaged
coastal ecosystems.
Moreover, climate change
is likely to make these regions – and the
societies in them – more vulnerable, the
report says. Seas and coasts are currently
considered to be drivers for the European
economy with great potential for innovation
and growth.
Approximately 40 % of
the EU population lives within 50 km of
the sea, and this is growing – in some parts
of the Mediterranean coast in Spain and
France, the population has increased by
up to 50 % between 2001 and 2011. Growing
demand for living space and other needs
means that impervious areas such as concrete
increased by 5 % between 2006 and 2009,
the report says, further breaking up coastal
habitats. This expansion was fastest in
coastal areas in Cyprus, Norway, Malta and
Spain, where areas with sealed soils increased
by more than 10 %.
Hans Bruyninckx, EEA
Executive Director, said: "Europe's
coastline is vital for its economy. But
in many areas, its resources are at risk
because short-term gains have been prioritised
over longer-term sustainable management.
For example, some endangered coastal habitats
act as natural protection from storm surges.
One thing that can help safeguard these
habitats is better data and knowledge, particularly
as there is a pressing need to adapt to
the effects of climate change."
Multiple pressures on
coastal ecosystems
Habitats are disappearing
or being broken up at an accelerating rate,
the report says, leading to an alarming
decline of 'ecosystem services'. One example
of an ecosystem service is the seagrass
Posidonia oceania, which traps millions
of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, helps
prevent erosion and is home to hundreds
of sea creatures. This habitat has been
declining by 5 % a year in the Mediterranean,
making it increasingly endangered.
Many European coastal
and transitional water bodies do not achieve
high or good quality status. The worst situation
is reported from the Baltic Sea, followed
by the North Sea and the Black Sea. In coastal
waters in the Mediterranean and the open
Atlantic coast the situation is better.
Only 10 % of marine habitats were found
to have a 'favourable' status, and just
3 % of marine species had a favourable conservation
status. The status of many species was unknown,
but research has confirmed that the status
of at least 50 % of fish species is unfavourable.
For example, cod stocks in the Kattegat
at the entrance to the Baltic have declined
to approximately 6 % of 1971 levels.
There were nine major
oil spills in European waters between 1998
and 2009, and many smaller accidents. Despite
a declining number of oil spills, larger
volumes of crude oil or oil products are
increasingly transported by ship, which
poses a significant risk. An increasing
amount of litter in the sea is directly
harming marine organisms when they eat pieces
of rubbish, or become tangled in it. This
can also affect human health when plastics
ingested by marine organisms enter the food
chain.
In 2002 the European
Union recommended Integrated Coastal Zone
Management (ICZM) to bring together different
stakeholders and decision-makers for a more
long-term view. Although ICZM principles
are increasingly being adopted in the management
of coastal areas, progress has not been
uniform. Ten years after the recommendation,
the European Commission estimated that implementation
of ICZM was only about 50 % across the EU
as a whole.
Better management of Europe's coastline
If coastal regions are
to continue to power European economies,
provide ecosystems services, and remain
home to millions of people, they must be
managed more cohesively, the report says.
This management must also be based on integrated
policy, aiming to balance competing interests
of human development, while ensuring healthy
and resilient coastal ecosystems that much
of this development relies on.
The European Commission
has recently proposed a framework for integrated
coastal management and for 'maritime spatial
planning', to better manage competing claims
and resources at sea. Within this framework,
plans and strategies will require high quality
data to measure the health of the coastal
environment.
Improving the knowledge
base
The lack of quality-assured
spatial data hinders effective management,
so EU Member States need to make more effort
to harmonise their data and make it consistent
with the data reported by other countries,
the report says. When coastal data is shared
across borders and enhanced by coordinated
indicator sets, it can give a larger and
more refined picture of the wider ecosystem
issues, making it easier to implement an
ecosystem-based management approach.
+ More
Campaigning for the
use of low-noise tyres
Highlight Published
06 Nov 2013
A Swiss communication campaign promoting
the use of better tyres has won the European
Soundscape Award 2013. The prize, presented
by the European Environment Agency (EEA)
and the Dutch Noise Abatement Society at
the Gouden Decibel Award Ceremony in the
Netherlands Tuesday evening, recognises
initiatives that can help cut noise and
create more attractive acoustic environments.
Noise can increase stress
levels or disturb sleep, affecting human
health. Prolonged exposure can even trigger
serious illnesses such as hypertension and
heart disease. At least 110 million Europeans
are exposed to damaging levels of noise
just from road traffic, according to a recent
EEA estimate based on data from its member
countries. Considering this widespread impact,
the EEA aims to raise awareness on the importance
of healthy soundscapes with the European
Soundscape Award which this year is presented
at the Gouden Decibel Award Ceremony.
The award recognises
initiatives that can help reduce noise and
create more tranquil environments. In 2013,
11 entries were submitted covering a wide
range of initiatives in the field of noise
control or soundscape management. More information
on each project is available in this map.
A Swiss consortium of
public and private partners led by The Federal
Office for the Environment (FOEN) won the
European Soundscape Award 2013 for their
communication campaign. The idea behind
the campaign was to help reduce road traffic
noise promoting the use of low-noise tyres.
The campaign focused
on the frequently-overlooked option of choosing
quieter tyres. Low-noise tyres are already
on the market, are not more expensive than
regular tyres and do not show obvious trade-offs
in other areas such as durability.
A database of tyres
was developed to enable car owners to compare
the rolling noise of different products.
Other parameters are also important - for
example rolling resistance influences fuel
consumption and wet grip has an effect on
safety. So the focus of the campaign was
expanded to promote “better tyres” that
were both quiet, fuel saving and safe.
Alongside the database,
the campaign used a range of promotional
measures including a campaign website, TV
advertising, online-ads, billboard advertising,
posters and flyers for car repair shops,
a Twitter campaign and a lottery giving
away prizes of quality tyres.
The campaign was communicated
in German, French and Italian. A telephone
survey showed that there was widespread
awareness of the campaign.
European Soundscape
Award 2013 - runner-up prize
The project ‘Cultivating
Urban Sound’, presenting the importance
of sound for quality of life in urban areas,
won the runner-up prize.
The project has two
parts. The first part is a master thesis
’Cultivating Urban Sound – Unknown Potentials
for Urbanism’ by Trond Maag from Oslo School
of Architecture and Design, exploring opportunities
for planning and designing urban sound.
It concludes that private and public players
should be made aware of their responsibility
for the acoustic environment, in order for
European city soundscapes to become more
attractive. To this end, it recommends fostering
a ‘sound culture’ within municipalities
to encourage planners, architects and other
stakeholders to think about sound using
a multidisciplinary approach.
In the second part of
the project, Maag continues his work researching
the acoustic features of typical urban and
suburban areas in Switzerland. He has subsequently
produced a guide for designers and planners
which can be used to improve urban soundscapes.
The second part of this
project also involved FOEN, alongside the
Building Department of the Canton of Zurich.
European efforts to
reduce noise
The Environmental Noise
Directive (2002/49/EC) is one of the main
instruments to identify noise pollution
levels and to trigger the necessary action
both at Member State and at EU level. The
EEA supports noise reduction across Europe
by compiling noise data from EEA member
countries and making them available through
the Noise Observation and Information Service
for Europe (NOISE) database. The data can
be viewed in a user-friendly interactive
map or can be downloaded in a variety of
formats.
The EEA has also published
a Good Practice Guide on noise exposure
and potential health effects which can help
national, regional and local authorities
to prepare action plans. In 2014, the EEA
will publish its first European noise assessment.
