UNITED NATIONS UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.431/Inf.11 UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME MEDITERRANEAN ACTION PLAN 7 February 2017 English Original: English Thirteenth Meeting of Focal Points for Specially Protected Areas Alexandria, Egypt, 9-12 May 2017 Agenda Item 4: Progress report on activities carried out by SPA/RAC since the twelfth meeting of Focal Points for SPAs Document Title : Identification and Streamlining of Climate Change Impact Indicators in Three Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) For environmental and economy reasons, this document is printed in a limited number and will not be distributed at the meeting. Delegates are kindly requested to bring their copies to meetings and not to request additional copies. UNEP/MAP SPA/RAC - Tunis, 2017 Note: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of RAC/SPA and UNEP concerning the legal status of any State, Territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of their frontiers or boundaries. © 2017 United Nations Environment Programme / Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) Boulevard du Leader Yasser Arafat B.P. 337 - 1080 Tunis Cedex - Tunisia E-mail: [email protected] The original version of this document was prepared for the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) by: Ivonne BEJARANO, Expert on Marine Environment; Carlo CERRANO, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente (DiSVA) - Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona (Italy); Daniel MATEOS-MOLINA, Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia (Spain); Juan Manuel RUÍZ-FERNANDEZ, Instituto Español de Oceanografía - IEO (Spain); Jaime BERNARDEAU, Instituto Español de Oceanografía - IEO (Spain); José Antonio GARCÍA-CHARTON, Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia (Spain) ; under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Cebrian, RAC/SPA. The document also benefitted from the contributions of: Valentina CAPPANERA- Portofino Marine Protected Area; Francesco DE FRANCO- Torre Guaceto Marine Protected Area; César BORDEHORE, Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio, Universidad de Alicante (Spain); Ángel SALLENT, Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste - ANSE (Spain); Jesús TOMÁS, Universidad de Valencia (Spain) Maps and illustrations credit: Juan Manuel Ruíz, Stefano Schiaparelli, Carlo Cerrano, José Pereñiguez, Adrián Aguilar-Rodríguez, Massimo Ponti, Eduardo Obis, Bursatella project. http://proyectobursatella.blogspot.com.es UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.431/Inf.11 Page 1 Identification and streamlining of climate Change Impact Indicators in Three Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) Executive Summary The Mediterranean Sea is rapidly changing in response to the global warming of the world’s atmosphere and oceans, and to the synergy of multiple local human disturbances. As a consequence, the Mediterranean is one of the most degraded basins in the world and its rich and diverse life, as well as the economic and social systems that depend upon it, are being threatened by phenomena predicted to increase. To overcome the threats hanging over marine and coastal biodiversity, the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention adopted in 2003 the Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of Biological Biodiversity (SAP BIO) in the Mediterranean Region. Climate change issues, one of the priorities of the SAP stressed as a major hazard for biodiversity loss which must be assessed and mitigated, were updated into this Programme in 2009. It was supported by four subregional documents on climate change vulnerability and impact further compiled in a Regional synthesis to further facilitate the development of a climate change adaptation framework for Mediterranean countries to guarantee that adaptation considerations are addressed into the Region’s management policies and governance. The assessment of the status and trends in ecosystems and the potential climate change risks that may affect their structure and function is essential to the success of biodiversity management and conservation. This has been translated into policy implementation through the decision IG.22/1 of the Contracting Parties to develop a Mid-Term Strategy 2016-2021 (MTS), which includes the Strategic Theme “Climate Change Adaptation” as a “Cross-cutting Theme”. The MTS aims to enable climate change monitoring and assesment as a main outcome, and it scopes for that purpose to achieve as a key output the consideration of climate change vulnerability issues in existing monitoring programes being undertaken by countries. SPAMI and MPAs, as healthy coastal and marine areas that provide protection and increase the adaptive ability of populations to resist climate anomalies are one of the most effective tools to face the negative impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and livelihoods. These areas serve as “sentinel sites” to detect and study the effects of climate change because they are fully or partially protected from local anthropogenic stressors and therefore, are less affected from other drivers of change. Therefore, the development and implementation of a coordinated basin-wide monitoring of climate change impacts in SPAMI (Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance) and other MPAs (Marine Protected Areas) through indicators specific to the Mediterranean region becomes a defined SAP BIO and MTS valuable action to improve the understanding and management of climate change effects in the region. The monitoring of major indicators of climate change impacts to marine ecosystems across SPAMI and MPAs in the Mediterranean Region needs however, common, widely accepted protocols to be established. Five indicators have been identified as of priority interest for putting into practice in protected areas – Sea surface temperature (SST) and thermal stratification, Mortality and bleaching events, Range shift of alien / temperature-sensitive species, Reproduction and breeding date of selected species, including flowering of Posidonia oceanica, and Episodic species outbreaks (blooms) - and their implementation has been recommended to managers and countries. UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.431/Inf.11 Page 2 The report “Identification and streamlining of climate Change Impact Indicators in Three Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI)” is the result of a baseline work conducted to assess how these major climate change indicators are being studied and monitored in protected areas in the Mediterranean Basin, taking as pilot three SPAMI: 1) Mar Menor and Oriental Mediterranean Murcia coast, Spain, 2) Portofino, Thyrrenian Sea, Italy, and 3) Torre Guaceto, Adriatic Sea, Italy. A detailed description of each major indicator is provided, and is also summarized in Data- sheets attached as Annexes at the end of the document. SST and thermal stratification are main temperature indicators related with thermal anomalies and their timespan. Mortality and bleaching events are large-scale phenomena that dramatically affect benthic organisms and may result in the partial or total mortality of colonies or populations. The range shift of alien / temperature-sensitive species indicator refers to changes in number/coverage and shifts in the geographical/depth distribution of species that are sensitive to temperature changes, including non-native species. The indicator “change in the reproduction and breeding date of key species” is related with earlier or delayed dates of the reproduction activities of species, as well as its duration and success. Finally, the episodic species outbreaks is the occurrence of sudden and abrupt increases in number of organisms, in a greater frequency, magnitude, and persistence than normally occurs; i.e. blooms of gelatinous zooplankton or algal populations. Collecting existing data, graphs, photos, and information was crucial for developing this report. Information was obtained through consultation with expert colleagues and MPA managers, the reference lists of identified studies, and Internet searches. Temperature data show a progressive warming of waters that affects the thermal stratification while deepening the thermocline. The monitoring of benthic communities evidences the recurrence of mass mortality events in at least two SPAMI, and how these phenomena have severely affected populations of the white gorgonian Eunicella singularis, yellow gorgonian E. cavolini, and red gorgonian sea fan Paramuricea clavata. Bleaching events have also hit benthic populations in these areas, affecting scleractinian species such as Oculina patagonica and Cladocora caespitosa. Overall, greater damage of colonies is likely related to prolonged warm conditions. The presence and increases in abundance of some thermophilous species within the SPAMIs has been reported for multiple species, such as for example the algae Caulerpa cylindracea, the coral O. patagonica, and the ragged sea Bursatella leachii. In addition, there is likely a correlation between increases in water temperature in the last years and changes in some fish abundance, such as the ornate wrasse Thalassoma pavo, bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix, Atlantic bonito Sarda sarda and yellowmouth barracuda Sphyraena viridensis. Moreover, data stress that the upper limit of some gorgonian populations and hydroid species has deepened. On the other hand, although highly variable in space and time,