Marine Ecosystem Health: A Streamlined Approach for Assessments Through Integration, Harmonisation and Forecasting

Description

The project aims to review and assess the capacity of existing models and methods to produce integrated assessments of the status and health of marine ecosystems (in particular for habitats) to address multiple national and international environmental policy commitments and thereby streamlining marine ecosystem assessments. The suitability of these models to forecast and predict changes due to variations of environmental conditions or management practices will need to be assessed. This work is required in order to develop a more efficient and streamlined method of holistically assessing and reporting on the state of the marine environment at a range of scales from local to international. The ability to predict how environmental changes and human activities will impact the marine environment will assist us to manage and mitigate, ensuring necessary protection and sustainable use going forward. The contractor will be required to identify existing data gaps and the next steps to producing an operational model, method or framework capable of integrating, harmonising and forecasting for marine ecosystem assessments. The results from this contract will help to inform assessments and reporting subsequent to the UK's departure from the EU.