The integrated management of Mediterranean coastal zones: how to halt biodiversity loss?
Mediterranean coastal zone
© MEEDDAT
- from: 18.12.2008
- to: 19.12.2008
- In: Nice
The conference on "The integrated management of Mediterranean coastal zones: how to halt biodiversity loss?" is being held within the framework of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, by the French Minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning, the Egyptian Minister for Environmental Affairs and the Conservatoire du Littoral (coastal conservatory).
Bringing together national services, local authorities, field managers, stakeholders and NGOs from the Mediterranean basin, the conference will focus particularly on the crucial challenges for the implementation of the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) protocol signed on 21 January 2008:
- sustainable tourism;
- climate change and coastline retreat;
- exchanges and networks: networking between stakeholders, governance, financing, cross-border approaches;
- protected areas networks and ecological continuities.
The conference aims to seek practical solutions to the difficulties encountered and to propose policy orientations in favour of long-term initiatives to halt the loss of biodiversity in the Mediterranean. It will allow these issues to be addressed with a view to establishing an operational approach for integrated coastal zone management in the Mediterranean basin.
The signature of the integrated coastal zone management protocol by 14 out of 22 Parties of the Barcelona Convention has reinforced the importance of such an approach for the conservation of biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin. This protocol should enable the parties to draw on all the experiences initiated by the Mediterranean-rim countries towards a sustainable management of coastal areas and strengthening their means of protection.
Integrated coastal zone management iniatives have been put into practice a number of times and mobilises stakeholders at both national and local level. However, these initiatives still face several obstacles in ensuring the operational and effective implementation of the protocol in the Mediterranean: long-term financing of initiatives, efficient integration of land and marine issues, coordination of sector policies, involvement of the local stakeholders, etc.
- Updated: 31.12.2008
