STAGES1

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The Marine Strategy Framework Directive is designed to deliver Good Environmental Status (GES) in EU marine waters by 2020. This Directive requires that Member States (MS) with marine territories put in place measures to achieve and maintain GES within a defined timeframe and according to eleven key descriptors of environmental status. However, there is a significant knowledge deficit which may hinder full implementation of the MSFD and the achievement of GES in EU waters. STAGES (Science and Technology Advancing Governance on Good Environmental Status) project is designed to directly address this knowledge deficit. The project has two overarching goals: i) to synthesise per major MSFD themes the information from research projects and ii) to develop a platform to ensure that the knowledge generated through European science and technology can be channelled to a broad range of relevant end users, to inform and facilitate implementation of the MSFD and the achievement of GES. To achieve this, STAGES will target a number of critical gaps in the knowledge transfer process. Firstly, STAGES will identify and synthesize relevant existing EU research results and make them available in a usable format for decision and policy making authorities. Through comprehensive scientific foresight targeted at MSFD knowledge gaps, STAGES will identify needs for further research. STAGES will also develop innovative solutions to achieve an effective collaboration between the broad range of stakeholders necessary to support MSDF implementation, including policy and governance, science, industry and civil society. Moreover, the role and input of MSFD stakeholders will be central to the activities of the project and to the proposals for a science policy interface which will be delivered by the project. The partnership has been constructed to include a combination of EU/international organizations which can represent a broad constituency of MSFD stakeholders, and national organizations with responsibility to support research and provide advice on MSFD implementation at MS level. RRI FOCUS Public Engagement Gender Equality Science Education Open Access Ethics Governance LESSONS LEARNED POLICY RELATED LESSONS LEARNED Main policy briefs produced by the project and related URL Policy brief 1 Policy brief 2 Policy brief 3 Policy brief 4 Policy brief 5

STAGES Duration 2012-2014 Fundings framework FP7 Keyword(s) Science-Policy interface, MSFD, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, GES, Good Environmental Status, environmental indicators, knowledge transfer, policy makers, researchers, scientists, governance