Hazards and threats

Hazards and threats (Task 4.3)

This task reviews current knowledge on immediate and long-term threats to the system’s coastal zone and as such, it is also linked to WP 5. It looks at the role of science in identifying hazards and pinpoint the knowledge gaps where additional research is needed.

Background and Rationale

There have been a number of recent studies on the sources and effects of anthropogenic stresses on the Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal zone. Unfortunately, most of these have been fragmentary in nature whereas the system responds to a combination of stresses. There is a clear and urgent need for research into combined stresses, some of which could lead to sudden and unpredictable changes in the state of the system. Of particular concern is the combination of global change and contamination, producing for example the release of pooled nutrients or other contaminants from the sea floor. Similarly, increasing extreme events may have dramatic system effects; the recent decade has seen both record floods and droughts in tributary river systems that question earlier premises about the climatic controls on the system. Furthermore, reduction of system resilience by activities such as destructive trawling, removal of wetlands, human waste disposal and habitat destruction by dredging for construction, are all situations that need to be taken into account.