ecostat wg2a meeting 7-8 october 2004 eutrophication activity status report presented by ana...

ECOSTAT WG2A meeting 7-8 October 2004

Eutrophication Activity

Status report

Presented byAna Cristina Cardoso


Eutrophication Workshop• Held in Ispra,14-15 September

• Representatives from all EU Member States were invited

• Documents are available on the CIRCA website (www.forum.europa.eu.int)

http://www.forum.europa.eu.int/







Guidance on eutrophication assessment:• overview of the requirements for eutrophication

assessment in different EU directives and conventions• conceptual framework of the eutrophication processECOSTAT discussion paper on principles of ecological status classification in relation to eutrophication

Workshop documents


•It was agreed that the conceptual framework provides a good basis for describing the critical processes/ effects of eutrophication in both marine areas and freshwaters•Experts in different water body categories suggested changes to the model - generalised to represent all surface water categories, by means of adjusting the terminology and linkages in the diagram

Conceptual framework

NUTRIENT INPUTSSUPPORTING

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

physical and hydrodynamic

aspects, and climatic/weather conditions (e.g. flushing, wind, temperature, light availability),

TRANSBOUNDARY TRANSPORT

INCREASED (WINTER) DIN & DIP CONCENTRATIONS &

NUTRIENT RATIOS

TRANSBOUNDARY NUTRIENT FLUXES

increase in primary production

increase in turbidity

nuisance / toxic algal species (cell

concentration)

increase in phytoplankton biomass (chl-a)

organic matter

degree of oxygen deficiency

(during growing season)

shift from long-lived to short-lived nuisance macrophyte species and

reduced depth distribution

foam

macrophytobenthos biomass and primary

production

decrease in light regime

toxins

increase bacteria

zoobenthos / fish kills & benthic community

structure

Ecosystem structure

(+)

(+)

(+)

(-)

(+)

(+)

(+)

(+)

(+)

(+)

(+)(+)

II

(+) (+)

(-) (-)

II

I

I

III III

II

IIIIV

I

(-)

(-)

Con

cept

ual F

ram

ewor

k of

the

mai

nca

use/

effe

ct re

latio

nshi

ps p

ropo

sed

as a

com

pone

nt o

f the

OSP

AR

CO

MPP


(+ )

Internal nutrient load- s edim ent- N-fixation

Trans boundarynutrient fluxes

External nutrientload

Inc reas e in nutrientc onc entration or

change in N/Pratio

E nvironm ental fac torse.g. Hydrom orphology,c lim ate, alkalinity, toxics ubs tanc es .

PhytoplanktonC han g e in b io ma ss,b lo o m freq u en cy ,co mp o sitio n ( to xic sp p )

PhytobenthosC hange in biom as s orc om pos ition.

M acrophyte sC hange in biom ass ,c om pos ition, or depthdis tribution.

Top dow nc ontrol

Inc reas ed turbidity,dec reas ed lighttrans perancy

Organicmatte r

Inc reas e inbac teria

O xyge nde ficiency

(+ )

M acroinv ertebratesC h ang e in com p os ition o rabu nd an ce

FishC h ang e in co m p s ition ,ab u nd an ce , age s tructu re .Fis h k il ls .

Foam(+)

R e le ase o fn u tr ie n ts fro m

se d imen ts

(-)

Algae toxinsc hange ofhabitat

(+ )

(-)

(+ )

(+ )

Indirect effects of nutrient enrichment

Direct effects of nutrient enrichm

entN

utrient enrichment

(+ /-)

(+ )

(+ )(-)(+ ) (+ /-)

(-)


The ECOSTATdiscussion paper on “Draft principles for Ecological status classification in relation to eutrophication” should be incorporated in the guidance


Date received From Date

01/09/2004 Violetta Vinceviciene 24/09/2004

Liliana 24/09/2004

ECOSTAT paper v8 24/09/2004

Germany 24/09/2004

20/09/2004 Austria 24/09/2004

Ireland 24/09/2004

01/10/2004 ECOSTAT paper v10 04/10/2004

28/09/2004 Finland 04/10/2004

27/09/2004 HELCOM 04/10/2004

Status summary of comments on v3.0 of Eutrophication Guidance


Version 2.0, discussed on Steering Group of 1 June 2004

Working Title: “Assessment of eutrophication in European water policy” Draft Table of contents:

1 Introduction Context History and scientific context of eutrophication assessment Scope of the document Purpose of the document Process of document development 2 Overview and common understanding on regulation of

eutrophication in international policies 2.1Overview on Eutrophication in EU legislation (WFD, NiD, UWWD, others) Factual, brief presentation of relevant issues 2.2 Overview Eutrophication in other international policies (OSPAR, HELCOM, others) Factual, brief presentation of relevant issues 2.3 Common understanding WFD CIS guidance document Common understanding relevant to eutrophication presented in the various CIS

guidance document Next steps and open questions 2.4 Common understanding of the links/similarities/differences between the

methodologies developed under different policies


3 Overall conceptual framework for the assessment of eutrophication

3.1 Requirements/Principles for the development of a conceptual framework

3.2 Description of the conceptual eutrophication assessment framework

3.3 Explanation of the overall conceptual eutrophication assessment framework

4 (Examples for) Classification criteria for the application of the conceptual framework

5 Examples/case studies for the application of the conceptual framework

6 Monitoring Best Practices and proposals for harmonising reporting

7 Toolbox and best practices on applying the conceptual framework

8 Conclusions and future work


•Three new chapters were suggested EEA offered to support:•A chapter on monitoring

– Specify aspects in the existing Guidance on Monitoring relevantfor eutrophication assessment

– How to monitor pressures (nutrient loading) from different sources– How to harmonise the monitoring in a way to satisfy the requirements in the different directives dealing with eutrophication

•Recommendations for reporting results from eutrophication assessments and monitoring •A chapter on forthcoming tasks, e.g. link of assessment to pressures, sources and cost-effective measures.


Timetable-next steps4 Oct: Draft meeting report by 4Oct (deadline for

comments two weeks after receipt)Revision of the guidance:24 Sept: Written comments (mainly chapter 2)13 Oct: Revised guidance (chapters 1-4)• Comments by Eutro Network directly to SCG

members27/28 Oct: Discussion SCGMid-Nov: Revision19 Nov: Submission to Water DirectorsNov. 2004: Next steering group to organise follow-up

First half 2005: Next Eutrophication workshop (to be further discussed in Steering Group)


The Steering Group of the Eutrophication Activity (Oct 2004):

•DG Environment •Joint Research Centre•ECOSTAT Leaders•EEA •2 member states (Fin and NL)•Assisted by a technical secretariat