OurMED D7.1 Report on the Status, Trends and Main Change Drivers of Water-Related Ecosystems. Version 1.1

Deliverable 7.1 (D7.1) provides a comprehensive assessment of Mediterranean water-related ecosystems, analysing their status, long-term trends and principal drivers of change through a DPSIR framework. It shows that demographic growth, land-use intensification, water overexploitation, infrastructure development and accelerating climate change are profoundly altering hydrology, degrading ecosystem extent and quality, and weakening natural storage, regulation and purification functions across the basin. Biodiversity declines, wetland drying, reduced river connectivity and worsening water quality reveal a system increasingly pushed beyond ecological limits, with direct consequences for water security. At the same time, the report identifies major opportunities to reverse degradation through nature-based solutions, protection and restoration of wetlands, improved water-efficiency measures, better groundwater management, and the responsible expansion of non-conventional resources. It emphasises that progress depends on strengthening governance, reducing institutional fragmentation, improving data and monitoring systems, and fully integrating water-related ecosystems into water, land-use and climate policies. These findings provide the scientific foundation for guiding OurMED’s work on sustainable water storage and distribution and for supporting a long-term transition toward resilient, ecosystem-based water management in the Mediterranean.