Tunesi, Leonardo

This paper presents major gaps and challenges for implementing the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) in the Mediterranean region. The authors make recommendations on the scientific knowledge needs and co-design actions identified during two consultations, part of the Decade preparatory-phase, framing them in the Mediterranean Sea’s unique environmental and socio-economic perspectives. According to the ‘Mediterranean State of the Environment and Development Report 2020’ by the United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan and despite notable progress, the Mediterranean region is not on track to achieve and fully implement the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030. Key factors are the cumulative effect of multiple human-induced pressures that threaten the ecosystem resources and services in the global change scenario. The basin, identified as a climate change vulnerability hotspot, is exposed to pollution and rising impacts of climate change. This affects mainly the coastal zones, at increasing risk of extreme events and their negative effects of unsustainable management of key economic assets. Transitioning to a sustainable blue economy is the key for the marine environment’s health and the nourishment of future generations. This challenging context, offering the opportunity of enhancing the knowledge to define science-based measures as well as narrowing the gaps between the Northen and Southern shores, calls for a joint (re)action. The paper reviews the state of the art of Mediterranean Sea science knowledge, sets of trends, capacity development needs, specific challenges, and recommendations for each Decade’s societal outcome. In the conclusions, the proposal for a Mediterranean regional programme in the framework of the Ocean Decade is addressed. The core objective relies on integrating and improving the existing ocean-knowledge, Ocean Literacy, and ocean observing capacities building on international cooperation to reach the “Mediterranean Sea that we want”.

The Ligurian Sea is a deep basin in the northernmost sector of the western Mediterranean which shows peculiar hydrodynamic and meteo-oceanographic features. The coasts of the Ligurian Sea are among the most urbanised and industrialised along the Italian coastline: the main causes of disturbance being littoral urban development and harbour activities, the building of littoral rail- and highways, and the presence of several polluted discharges. This review, by evaluating the huge scientific output published in the last three decades, describes and discusses the most important geological, hydrological and biological characteristics of the Ligurian Sea.We show that this regional sea has largely been investigated in terms of its geological and structural evolution, as well as in terms of the sedimentation dynamics of the littoral and deep bottoms, with particular attention to the sedimentation balance of the beaches and their erosive processes.We report that the prevalent hydrodynamic and meteo-oceanographic conditions favour a continuous exchange of coastal water masses, and that the seasonal and interannual dynamics of water masses can effects the local climate, with direct and indirect consequences on fish and benthic communities documented in the last decade. We stress that although recent studies offer good knowledge of the distribution of coastal benthic communities, only scant information is available for the whole continental shelf, the submarine canyons and the rocky bathyal bottoms. Our meta-analysis reveals that significant fishing activities are monitored, but also that certain sectors of the biological resource are suffering, and suggests the set up of appropriate management measures. The Ligurian Sea hosts a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of high relevance, while the institution of the Whale Sanctuary completes the protection policy of the Regione Liguria. Our meta-analysis points out the need for long-term studies, based primarily on the analysis of those areas of the Ligurian Sea that have been little investigated to date. Finally, only properly addressed studies, using experimental approaches and along appropriate spatial and temporal scales, might allow us to understand the functioning of the Ligurian marine ecosystems, evaluate their health conditions and the dynamics of the main variables that affect the distribution of the single species (including species of high economic value) and benthic communities.

Coastal marine environment is a complex system and its management requires adequate information. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are considered pilot sites useful to define innovative tools for the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). Their management however requires acquaintance with the relationships between the protected site and the status of the coastal neighbouring areas in order to assess mutual effects and influences. There is the need of monitoring systems capable of highlighting physical and biological phenomena, and possible oceanographic anomalies at local scale, to assess possible existing differences between MPAs and their neighbouring unprotected zones. The present study proposes an integrated analysis of data sets coming from in situ and remote-sensing data to evaluate the reliability of satellite sensors for coastal zone monitoring and to better understand the short-term environmental dynamics on a coastal area centred on the Portofino MPA (Ligurian Sea).

L’ambiente marino costiero è un sistema complesso la cui gestione richiede il coinvolgimento di differenti discipline e la notevole capacità di integrazione fra osservazioni molto eterogenee. E’ in fase di messa a punto di un sistema di osservazione dell’ambiente marino nell’AMP di Portofino. L’idea è quella di sviluppare un monitoraggio dai costi contenuti, che sia in grado di evidenziare le fenomenologie prevalenti sia di tipo fisico che biologico e permetta di cogliere eventuali situazioni anomale rispetto ad una climatologia di riferimento. L’acquisizione dei dati si avvale di differenti piattaforme sia locali che remote e di differenti strategie di campionamento ed elaborazione.