ACTNOW
Duration
Advancing understanding of Cumulative Impacts on European marine biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services for human wellbeing
Human activities have created unprecedented, cumulative threats resulting in stunning losses of biodiversity in our oceans. This is leading to well‐documented declines in seafood resources, losses of iconic and culturally valuable habitats, and impacts on the functioning and regulation of global cycles. Robust, science‐based advice is urgently needed to implement actions to halt biodiversity loss and restore natural habitats and ecosystem services. The EU project ACTNOW addresses this challenge by advancing the state‐of‐the‐art in understanding and predicting how multiple stressors and cumulative human impacts influence marine biodiversity. And in addition the direct and indirect consequences on ecosystem functions and contributions vital for human wellbeing.
ACTNOW is a state-of-the-art work programme that provides regulators and decision-makers the knowledge and fit-for-purpose tools they need to combat bio-diversity loss in coastal and marine habitats threatened by climate change interacting with other local and regional drivers. The consortium consists of 34 research partners across 16 countries and is coordinated by NIOZ Head of Coastal Systems Prof. Dr. Myron Peck.
Our key actions are:
- to reveal areas of high biodiversity and climate value,
- recommend effective conservation actions to be implemented,
- promote better respect for nature in public and business decision-making,
- and thus be a world leader in tackling the global biodiversity crisis.
Research in ACTNOW
Biodiversity, defined as the variety of life on Earth at multiple scales of biological organization, from genes to species and ecosystems, underpins the provisioning of ecosystem functions and services essential for human well-being. Loss of biodiversity in response to climate change and escalating human disturbances drives unprecedented changes in natural ecosystems undermining their functioning and ability to supply ecosystem services. Assessing the status and trends of biodiversity is paramount to support regulators charged with implementing sustainable use of nature.
Data, Indicators and Scenarios
We co-develop What-if Scenarios with marine practitioners across the EU. New, simpler indicators will inform more holistic biodiversity assessments and frameworks for improving biodiversity monitoring programs. New fit-for-purpose data sets include long-term, broad-scale sampling, state-of-the-art bio-logging, laboratory and mesocosm data from experiments.
Marine Organisms under Multiple Drivers
We provide mechanistic knowledge for making quantitative predictions of how multiple drivers impact marine organisms by integrating information on the traits (physiology, movement, life history) of key species / groups. This includes essential habitats that increase sensitivity or reduce adaptive capacity. Our activities provide key building blocks for more complex, community- and ecosystem-level responses and indicators.
"The multidisciplinary approach of ACTNOW is critical when tackling complex issues such as predicting the direct and indirect ways in which climate change will impact marine species, habitats and ecosystems.”
The ACTNOW project in 5 minutes
Read more on the ACTNOW website