BRIDGE-BS (Advancing Black Sea Research and Innovation to Co-Develop Blue Growth within Resilient Ecosystems) is a Horizon 2020-funded Research and Innovation Action that focuses on the Black Sea. Its unique ecosystem services are degrading and need to be better managed for the benefit of citizens dependent upon their sustainability. The project will develop predictive tools and capabilities necessary to understand and predict the impacts of climate-driven and anthropogenic multi-stressors affecting the Black Sea.
The overall objective of BRIDGE-BS is 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. Clustering around three main nodes including Service Dynamics, Blue Growth Incubators, and Empowered Citizens; BRIDGE-BS will use pilot study sites at the regional level, with findings contributing to interconnected work packages addressing the four pillars of the Black Sea Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (Black Sea SRIA). This way, BRIDGE-BS strives to achieve “a healthy, resilient and productive Black Sea by 2030” with awareness of the seriousness of the threat posed by the increasing human-induced pressures on the Black Sea. Although the Black Sea is still rich in terms of biodiversity, natural resources, and heritage, these ecosystem services are under threat by human-induced factors such as overfishing, hypoxia, and eutrophication as well as the effects of alien species and climate change. Hence, BRIDGE-BS puts to the forefront the overarching aim of assessing the current state of Black Sea ecosystems, their services, and resilience to the multi-stressors, and creating the necessary means to manage these ecosystems sustainably.
BRIDGE-BS brings 31 partner organisations from 7 Black Sea coastal countries, 8 European Union member states, and international entities together. Experts from leading marine research and European institutions will contribute to maximizing impact as well as developing cutting-edge scientific outputs in the next 4.5 years.
The Black Sea Helix is an international Open Innovation community made up of a wide range of specialists, spanning from marine biology to capacity building. The Helix was launched as a focus for impact and dissemination services in support of the BRIDGE-BS project's ambition to foster a collaborative ecosystem along the Black Sea. In achieving this ambition, BRIDGE-BS will contribute towards efforts to co-develop Blue Growth pathways under multi-stressors for the sustainable utilisation of the ecosystem services.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101000240.
