Project Overview
BRIDGE-BS will develop the predictive tools and capabilities necessary to understand and predict the impacts of climate-driven and anthropogenic multi-stressors on the services stemming from Black Sea ecosystems.
BRIDGE-BS aims to advance the Black Sea’s marine research and innovation to co-develop Blue Growth pathways under multi-stressors for the sustainable utilization of the ecosystem services. To do so it will develop an ecosystem-based management framework to enable policy uptake and foster citizen engagement.
Project Duration: June 2021 – November 2025
Consortium: 31 partners – 14 Countries
Coordinator: Middle East Technical University (METU - IMS)
The ICBSS leads WP8 on science-policy dialogue for a sustainable Blue Economy, and contributes to WP4, WP6, WP7, WP8, WP10.
The Challenge
With unique habitats, abundant resources, and rich cultural heritage, the Black Sea is vital to its coastal communities and the broader population of over 160 million inhabiting its watershed. The Black Sea is a distinctive semi-enclosed basin with 10 large rivers flowing into a highly coupled coastal-deep-sea system introducing anthropogenically generated nutrients and pollutants nourishing the largest anoxic-sulfidic water body of the Earth. The Black Sea ecosystem is also unique in being susceptible to increasingly negative impacts from several human-induced stressors, such s eutrophication and hypoxia, overfishing, and the introduction of alien species. Multistressors are a central challenge to be tackled by BRIDGE-BS.
BRIDGE-BS will develop predictive tools and capabilities necessary to understand and predict the impacts of climate-driven and anthropogenic multi-stressors on the services stemming from Black Sea ecosystems. These services and their responses to stressors will be mapped, monitored, and modeled to identify a safe operating space within which a sustainable blue economy can flourish.
Expected impacts
BRIDGE-BS will support the development of an informed, well connected, educated, and empowered Black Sea community, including scientists, institutions, policymakers, and the society at large. It will create a flow of knowledge between scientists, policymakers, and entrepreneurs, working side-by-side from the beginning of the project. This approach will develop trust and complementarity, one of the main goals of BRIDGE-BS, which is necessary to prepare for future marine environmental challenges and ensure Blue Growth potential in the best possible way. Sustainability is at the core of the project.
Interconnected Nodes of BRIDGE-BS
BRIDGE-BS will advance knowledge and deliver research under three NODES: Service Dynamics, Blue Growth Incubators and Empowered Citizens. The NODES will be highly interlinked, feeding on and into each other.
Activities & Deliverables
⇒ Science - Policy Dialogue
- BRIDGE – BS Policy Workshop for a "2030 Blue Roadmap for the Black Sea” (Athens, 1 July 2025)
- BRIDGE – BS Winter School “Science for Policy towards a Sustainable Blue Economy in the Black Sea” (Athens, 19 - 20 March 2025)
- Working Document: SECTOR-LEVEL ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL POLICIES AND REGIONAL FRAMEWORKS FOR BLUE ECONOMY (Infographics)
- Workshop on Coastal Observation Systems (Online, 27 February 2024) | Report | Infographic | Highlights
- Science-Policy Dialogue Forum for a Sustainable Blue Economy in the Black Sea (Thessaloniki, 29 March 2023)
⇒ Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Black Sea Accelerator (June 2023)
- High-Tech Summit for the Black Sea (Varna, 27-28 September 2022)
⇒ Capacity Building
- 1st Summer School of the H2020 BRIDGE-BS (Istanbul, 23-25 August 2022)
⇒ Dissemination and Visibility
Follow BRIDGE-BS official channels Website - Facebook - Twitter and Youtube
BRIDGE-BS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101000240.
