New Gear for a Coordinated Ecosystem Approach

 

The HELCOM Group for the Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach (GEAR) has been recently established, to strengthen common efforts to implement the ecosystem approach to management of human activities in our region and according to the Baltic Sea Action Plan.  

 

Ms. Heike Imhoff has been elected as the Chair of the GEAR Group, which will have its next meeting in October.

 

The globally adopted ecosystem approach is a key ingredient of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, and also a driving principle in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The approach, which also considers humans as part of the ecosystem, is about using scientific knowledge as the basis of protection and the sustainable use of the marine environment as well as prioritizing and applying management actions. It also incorporates the learning-by-doing principle of adaptive management.

 

The GEAR group relies on strong, regional coordination. At the managerial level, it steers HELCOM’s efforts to restore the Good Environmental Status of the sea. The Group complements HELCOM’s scientific-technical activities.