Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs) are being developed to provide operational objectives and indicators for applying the ecosystem approach. EcoQOs express the desired qualities of a component of the ecosystem. Most of the EcoQOs can be linked to specific human activities, such as shipping (oil at sea), marine litter, fishing and pollution by chemicals and nutrients. EcoQOs function both as indicators (to provide specific issues for monitoring) and objectives (against which to measure progress). As a set, they are intended to provide comprehensive coverage of the ecosystem and the pressures acting upon it, so that meeting all EcoQOs should indicate that the ecosystem is in a good state. Where EcoQOs are not met, it indicates the need for appropriate measures to regulate this specific human activity, or triggers further investigations into possible reasons for the EcoQO not being met.
In 2014, NOWPAP member states agreed on the following Ecological Quality Objective indicators (EcoQOs) for the NOWPAP region:
- ECoQO1: Biological and habitat diversity are not changed significantly due to anthropogenic pressure;
- EcoQO2: Alien species are at levels that do not adversely alter ecosystems;
- ECoQO3: Adverse effects of eutrophication such as biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, harmful algal blooms and oxygen deficiency in bottom waters, are absent;
- EcoQO4: Contaminants cause no significant impact on coastal and marine ecosystems and human health;
- ECoQO5: Marine litter does not adversely affect coastal and marine environments.
In 2017, the NOWPAP Pollution Monitoring Regional Activity Center (POMRAC) published Regional Overview of Possible Ecological Quality Objective Indicators for the NOWPAP Region. NOWPAP POMRAC is currently analyzing the national numerical targets (where they exist) on the NOWPAP EcoQO indicators and suggest (and then discuss) possible regional EcoQO targets aligned to the extent possible with the SDGs indicators.
Some of the recent NOWPAP assessments are listed below.
The “State of the Marine Environment Report (SOMER) for the NOWPAP Region" first published in 2007 as SOMER-1 and updated in 2014: SOMER-2 gives a holistic overview of environmental problems in the NOWPAP seas. NOWPAP is now preparing the third edition: SOMER-3 that would be focused on the data and information on the identified NOWPAP EcoQOs and progress against relevant SDGs.
In 2018, the NOWPAP Special Monitoring and Coastal Environmental Assessment Regional Activity Centre (CEARAC) published “Assessment of Major Pressures on Marine Biodiversity in the NOWPAP Region” providing the first systematic overview of the major pressures on marine biodiversity in the region, namely: eutrophication, non-indigenous species and habitat alteration. The report was informed by a number of case studies in NOWPAP Member States: "Regional Report on Pilot Assessments of Impacts of Major Threats on Marine Biodiversity in the NOWPAP Region (2017)” published as a first step towards developing a new methodology to assess the impact of pressures/threats to marine biodiversity.
POMRAC is also working on the report “Regional Overview on River and Direct Inputs of Contaminants into the Marine and Coastal Environment in the NOWPAP Region”. The report will update the earlier assessment "Regional Overview: Case Studies of River and Direct Inputs of Contaminants with Focus on the Anthropogenic and Natural Changes in the Selected Areas of the NOWPAP Region (2011)".
