The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is intended to bring about more effective protection of the marine environment throughout coastal areas of Europe. The aim of the Directive is to achieve a ”good environmental status“ for Europe’s seas by 2020, thus protecting a resource whose status is crucial to the marine economy and for society in general. The MSFD builds upon experiences with the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC; WFD) and takes a similar integrated, holistic approach. Just as the WFD, the MSFD assumes that ecological objectives and economic principles are not in contradiction, but complement and support each other. The cost-benefit analysis, which is explicitly stated in the MSFD, plays an important role in balancing ecologic and economic approaches. The objective of this contract was to explore a practical methodology for the assessment of benefits of measures to reduce pressures on marine ecosystems and to reach the objectives of the MSFD. The methodology applied follows the TEEB approach. FT collected and analyzed the approaches of other Member States to identify elements of methodologies that could be used in Germany. Fresh-Thoughts was also involved in the case study on eutrophication.
