Human activities have led to significant declines in marine living resources, the loss of iconic and culturally valuable habitats, and impacts on the functioning and regulation of global cycles, posing unprecedented cumulative threats to marine biodiversity. There is an urgent need for robust, science-based recommendations to halt biodiversity loss and restore natural habitats and ecosystem services.
The Horizon Europe project “ACTNOW: Advancing understanding of Cumulative Impacts on European marine biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services for human wellbeing” aims to enhance the capacity to understand and predict the cumulative impacts of human-induced and other pressures on marine biodiversity. The project will also investigate the direct and indirect consequences of these impacts on ecosystem functions and services essential for human well-being by creating digital twins of the seas bordering Europe. With the participation of 34 research partners from 16 countries, the project seeks to study the cumulative effects of climate change and other anthropogenic pressures on the seas, propose measures to protect marine biodiversity, and improve forecasting capabilities.
To achieve this, ecosystem models will be employed to create digital twins of European seas, and scenario simulations will be conducted alongside field and laboratory studies.
The digital twin of the Black Sea ecosystem, which borders Turkey, will be developed by the Institute of Marine Sciences at METU (Middle East Technical University).
Keywords: Black Sea, marine biodiversity, climate change, digital twin, ecosystem model
