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Impact

Advancing Ocean Biodiversity Conservation

NECCTON will advance ocean biodiversity conservation, support food-security and inform European policies through our next-generation marine ecosystem analysis and prediction systems.

To ensure we achieve the greatest impact from our products and to maximise their usage and benefits, NECCTON utilises a co-design approach to their development. 

Schematic of the NECCTON strategy and plan to maximise impact.
Schematic of the NECCTON strategy and plan to maximise impact.

The schematic figure shows how we will incorporate the latest data and emerging data streams into our research and development. We will develop state-of-the-art numerical models that incorporate the latest data assimilation and machine learning techniques. NECCTON will co-design our products with research users to ensure that they meet our users’ needs. We will encourage the use of our products through targeted training, demonstrations, and dissemination activities. Through our roadmap to integration NECCTON will ensure the products are incorporated successfully into the Copernicus Marine Service, attracting new users to the service.

Contributions towards wider impacts

The enhanced range of Copernicus Marine Service products provided by NECCTON will have wide-ranging and long-lasting impacts on a variety of sectors.

Accurate simulations of the marine ecosystem under a changing climate are essential to underpin policy and management decisions for sustainable management of marine resources, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable blue growth.

Plymouth Sound with PML's buoy floating

Below are just a few of the areas where we expect to see significant benefits from the NECCTON project:

  • Improved protection and management of endangered marine species and fish stocks using NECCTON ecosystem and climate projections.
  • More effective Marine Protected Areas due to NECCTON data on climate change hotspots and bright sites, identifying areas at risk from climate change and where there is potential for sustainable blue growth.

  • Enhanced food security by informing the sustainable management of fisheries.

  • Improved opportunities for sustainable blue growth due to identification of climate change bright sites, where there is potential for range expansion of species.
  • Expansion of worldwide operational centres and an increased number of Copernicus users will support the development of the blue economy and ecosystem-based policies.

  • International targets such as the “predictive ocean” challenge of the UN Decade of the Ocean will be addressed through worldwide operational centres adopting our integrated modelling approach.

  • More effective scientific collaboration will be facilitated by an increase in use of the NECCTON inter-linked modelling platform.

  • Increased public support for monitoring and preserving marine biodiversity will be generated by awareness and dissemination campaigns.

Want to learn more about the project?

NEWS AND PROJECT UPDATES

July 14, 2025|News

NECCTON Video: The Future of Tuna – Managing Climate Risks and Sustaining Island Economies

New NECCTON Video: The Future of Tuna – Managing Climate Risks and Sustaining Island Economies Tuna fisheries are essential for global food security and a cornerstone of economic livelihoods in many Pacific and Indian Ocean nations. However, climate change is reshaping ocean conditions and threatening the stability of tuna stocks—and the communities that depend on them. ...

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July 10, 2025|News

New Tools to Map Marine Pressures and Risks Released

A new NECCTON report presents a suite of tools for mapping integrated pressures, exposure, and environmental risk in European seas. The tools focus on four new climate change indices: - Aerobic Growth Index - Aragonite Saturation Index - Hypoxia Index - Heat Wave Hazard Index...

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