IPMA Hosts Workshop on Habitat Sensitivity to Climate and Fisheries Stressors

The workshop gathered 15 experts from 7 Portuguese institutions to assess the sensitivity of key marine habitats to climate change and fisheries-related stressors. Using a comparative ranking approach, the group evaluated habitat responses across species, community, and habitat levels, based on defined criteria.

While the assessment focused on Portuguese waters, the habitats under study are widespread across European seas. As such, the methodologies and results from the workshop offer a transferable framework that can be applied to other ecoregions.

This work sets the foundation for future vulnerability assessments by:
🔹 Combining sensitivity values with exposure levels to generate vulnerability indices (e. g., for risk mapping)
🔹 Assessing cumulative impacts by integrating multiple stressors
🔹 Supporting scenario testing (e. g., predicting habitat response under increased or reduced exposure)

Participating institutions included:

• IPMA

• Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF)

• Centre for Marine Sciences – University of Algarve (CCMAR)

• CIIMAR – University of Porto

• CESAM – University of Aveiro

• MARE – Polytechnic Institute of Leiria

• Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering – Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Such insights can inform and prioritize targeted conservation and management actions across European marine areas.

The workshop brought together diverse expertise on marine habitats and human pressures, making for a productive and insightful exchange over the two days.