MAES: Mapping and Assessing Ecosystem Services in the marine environment for EU policy

The MAES project for the Environment Directorate-General looks at ecosystem services and how they can be linked to an existing directive for the marine environment in the EU, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The ‘Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services (MAES)’ method for mapping out ecosystem services has to be adapted so that it can be used for the marine environment. Support is also needed for mapping out ecosystem services. The final product of the project will be a guide containing suggestions for the EU about how to coordinate policy. Implementation by the member states will also be a step towards the sustainable use of the European seas.

Deltares is the project coordinator and we are working with AZTI (Spain) and SYKE (Finland). In terms of the content, Deltares is analysing the data sources and the data quality, writing recommendations and informing important stakeholders. The project is covered by the ‘Ecosystem and environmental quality’ theme and it is linked to the ‘Next-Generation Information Tools’ programme.