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Biodiversity — key message 1: Biodiversity and the ecosystem services upon which we all depend are inextricably linked. Both are under pressure from humanity's ever-increasing use of natural resources. Europe's high resource consumption results in an ecological footprint that impacts biodiversity and ecosystem services on the continent and elsewhere in the world.
Located in The European environment – state and outlook 2010 › … › Biodiversity — SOER 2010 thematic assessment › Key messages
Biodiversity — SOER 2010 thematic assessment: Biodiversity — the variety of ecosystems, species and genes — is essential to human wellbeing, delivering services that sustain our economies and societies. Its huge importance makes biodiversity loss all the more troubling. European species are threatened with extinction and overexploitation. Natural habitats continue to be lost and fragmented, and degraded by pollution and climate change. Despite actions taken and progress made, these threats continue to impact biodiversity in Europe. The new global and EU targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2020 are ambitious but achieving them will require better policy implementation, coordination across sectors, ecosystem management approaches and a wider understanding of biodiversity's value.
Located in The European environment – state and outlook 2010 › Thematic assessments
Biodiversity year comes to end, the challenge remains: The International Year of Biodiversity 2010 has officially ended with closing ceremonies held last weekend. The European Environment Agency (EEA) will continue supporting European policy makers in their efforts to implement measures agreed earlier this year in Nagoya, Japan.
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Cause of loss of wetlands: -
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Causes of change of forest areas and transitional woodland shrubs: -
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Causes of loss of coastal ecosystems: -
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Changes in broad ecosystem‑types between 2000 and 2006 inside and outside nationally designated areas: This diagramme shows the change in area covered by broad ecosystem-types between 2000 and 2009 inside and outside nationally designated areas. The way how “broad ecosystem-types” are defined is described in the EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eu-2010-biodiversity-baseline).
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Chlorophyll in transitional, coastal and marine waters (CSI 023) - Assessment published Jul 2011: In 2008, the highest summer chlorophyll-a concentrations were observed in coastal areas and estuaries where nutrient concentrations are high, namely in the Gulf of Riga, the Gulf of Finland and along the coast of France and Belgium. Although nutrient concentrations in some European sea areas decreased from 1985 to 2008 (see Core Set Indicator 21), these changes were not clearly reflected in chlorophyll-a concentrations: of the 546 stations reported to the EEA the majority of the stations (89%) indicated no statistically significant change. Changes were detected mainly in Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and Italian coastal waters. At the Finnish and Swedish monitoring stations chlorophyll-a concentrations showed both decreasing and increasing trends, whereas in Italy, Netherlands and Norway concentrations were mainly decreasing. An analysis of changes based on satellite imagery show significantly increasing trends of ocean colour (equivalent to chl-a)along the Mediterranean coast, whereas trends are significantly decreasing in large parts of the central Mediterranean and Black Seas. It also shows significantly increasing trends in the Baltic Sea, but here the analysis is less certain.
Located in Data and maps › Indicators › Chlorophyll in transitional, coastal and marine waters
Chlorophyll in transitional, coastal and marine waters (CSI 023) - Assessment published Mar 2013: In 2010, the highest summer chlorophyll-a concentrations were observed in coastal areas and estuaries where nutrient concentrations are also generally high (see CSI 021 Nutrients in transitional, coastal and marine waters). These include the Gulf of Riga, Gulf of Gdansk, Gulf of Finland and along the German coast in the Baltic Sea, coastal areas in Belgium and The Netherlands in the Greater North Sea and in few locations along the coast of Ireland and France in the Celtic Seas and Bay of Biscay, respectively. High chlorophyll concentrations were also observed along the Gulf of Lions and in Montenegro coastal waters in the Mediterranean Sea, and along Romanian coastal waters in the Black Sea. Low summer chlorophyll concentrations were mainly observed in the Kattegat and open sea stations in the Greater North Sea, and in open sea stations in southern Baltic Sea. Between 1985 to 2010, decreasing chlorophyll concentrations (showed in 8% of all the stations in the European seas reported to the EEA) were predominantly found along the southern coast of the Greater North Sea, along the Finnish coast in the Bothnian Bay in the Baltic Sea and in a few stations in the Western Mediterranean Sea and Adriatic Sea. In the Black Sea, it was not possible to make an overall assessment due to the lack of time series data. Increasing concentrations (observed in 5% of the reported stations) were generally observed in coastal locations in the Northern Baltic Sea but also in the open sea stations outside the north of the Celtic Seas. Most stations (87%) however showed no changes over time.
Located in Data and maps › Indicators › Chlorophyll in transitional, coastal and marine waters
Chlorophyll-a concentrations in European seas in 2010: The map shows Chlorophyll-a concentrations in European coastal and open seas in 2010. The class boundaries “high”, “moderate” and “low” concentration are determined by the 80/20 percentiles of the data set in each sea (sub)region. The low category refers to values within the lowest 20th percentile and the high category refers to values within the upper 20th percentile of concentrations.
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