In September 2011, Benjamin Boteler of Ecologic Institute was invited to participate at the MEECE Summer School in Ankara, Turkey and provided a perspective on the latest developments in EU and international policy and their implications for marine ecosystem management.

The one-week Summer School brought together 25 graduate students and young scientists, as well as ten expert lecturers to discuss changes in marine ecosystems, developments in marine modelling techniques and the broader implications these have for management and policy.

While in Ankara, Benjamin Boteler presented the work that Ecologic Institute carries out for the European Environment Agency’s European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters (ETC-ICM) of which he is a contributor. Of particular interest in the discussions was how socio-economic assessments, results from field experiments and advanced modelling tools could be combined to provide decision makers with evidence-based solutions to environmental and societal challenges.

The Summer School was organised by the MEECE Project, led by Plymouth Marine Laboratory and part of the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Specific objectives of the Summer School were for participants to understand marine ecosystem function and evolution and how to assess their state, taking a range of drivers and pressures into account. Participants also developed their understanding of marine ecosystem modelling, ecosystem-based management and the application of management strategy evaluation tools.