AQUACROSS partner Josselin Rouillard (Ecologic Institute) and co-authors from Ecologic Institute, ACTeon, and IUCN have published an open access article assessing how EU environmental policies support ecosystem-based management (EBM). They conclude that sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems requires better coordination between policies spanning freshwater, coastal and marine environments.

The authors consider EBM, which has been promoted as a holistic and integrative approach for the safekeeping and protection of aquatic biodiversity, and assess the degree to which key European environmental policies for the aquatic environment, namely the Birds and Habitats Directives, Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive, individually support EBM and can work synergistically to implement EBM. This assessment is based on a review of legal texts, EU guidance and implementation documents. The paper concludes that EBM can be made operational by implementing these key environmental directives. Opportunities for improving the integration of EU environmental policies are also highlighted.

Rouillard, J., Lago, M., Abhold, K. et al.  (2017) "Protecting aquatic biodiversity in Europe: How much do EU environmental policies support ecosystem-based management?" Ambio. doi:10.1007/s13280-017-0928-4

This paper is closely related to Deliverable 2.1 Synergies and Differences Between Biodiversity, Nature, Water and Marine Environment EU Policies.