OSPAR CEMP Guideline. Common indicator: Condition of benthic habitat communities (BH2) – common approach. OSPAR Agreement 2018-06. Updated 2022/2023.

Abstract

These guidelines outline the monitoring and assessment requirements for the OSPAR common approach: “condition of benthic habitat communities (BH2)”. More detailed technical specifications for this indicator are in Annex 1. As a conceptual “umbrella” (see below), it is recommended that, in the future, a set of guidelines (according to each habitat and pressure types to be assessed) should be developed for this common approach to operationalise it at its full potential (all MSFD/OSPAR issues for benthic habitats) and update OSPAR CEMP to ensure coherence and comparability at (sub)-regional scale. Specific applications of the indicator to date are described in Annex 2 and Annex 3. These applications contributed to the OSPAR Intermediate Assessment (BH2-A and BH2-B).