Project
B-USEFUL
The overarching goal of B-USEFUL is to co-develop a set of user-oriented solutions and decision-support tools allowing end-users to identify and visualize areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services in order to prioritize conservation efforts in biodiversity hotspots, or other high-risk areas requiring a stricter degree of protection.
To achieve this overall goal B-USEFUL will pursue the following objectives serving to inform and improve marine management and governance frameworks for biodiversity protection in European Seas within the broader context of ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning:
- Develop a set of operational biodiversity indicators and targets fitting end-user needs and policy goals.
- Assess the status and cumulative impacts on marine biodiversity and their associated services.
- Identify sensitive species, habitats and ecosystems particularly vulnerable to cumulative human impacts and biodiversity loss.
- Simulate the status of biodiversity and their associated services under various future scenarios of climate change and human pressures.
- Co-develop interactive, online decision-support tools fit for informing marine spatial planning.