CAMP projects

PAP/RAC is responsible for the co-ordination of the Coastal Area Management Programme (CAMP). CAMP has been approved by the Sixth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, held in Athens in 1989. CAMP was preceded by Country Pilot Projects implemented by PAP/RAC in the 1988-89 period.

The objectives of CAMP are:

  • to implement practical coastal management projects in selected Mediterranean coastal areas, applying ICZM as a major tool;
  • to facilitate at the local level the implementation of the ICZM Protocol in a particular country;
  • to develop strategies and procedures for a sustainable development in project areas;
  • to identify and apply the relevant methodologies and tools;
  • to contribute to the capacity building at local, national and regional levels; and
  • to secure a wider use in the region of the results achieved.

Individual CAMP projects are identified and selected according to defined selection criteria, and approved by the relevant Ordinary Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention. Among the selection criteria, the following ones might be emphasised: project sustainability; representativity; regional interest in the problems to be dealt with; political commitment of the host authorities; institutional capability in the host country and in the selected area to carry out the project; “integrability” of project results into the local and national development policies; and replicability.

The major outputs of the CAMP project are: Diagnostic Analysis (Feasibility Study); the Project Agreement and Terms of Reference; Inception Report; Technical Specifications for individual activities of the project; Project Database and GIS; Systemic Sustainability Analysis; Participatory Programme; Final Reports of individual activities; Final Integrated Report; Follow-up Proposals and Urgent Investment Portfolio; Presentation Conference Report; and the Report of the Presentation Meeting at the host-country high governmental level.

A CAMP project includes a number of individual activities, to be integrated at the project level: a) database and GIS; the participatory programme; Systemic Sustainability Analysis; integration of project results, and b) a limited number of specific individual sectorial or multi-sectorial activities, according to project objectives and problems dominant in the project area.

Tools and Techniques relevant for CAMP Projects

  1.  Data management: GIS
  2.  Evaluation and assessment techniques:
  • EIA; SEA; CCA for tourism activities; soil erosion assessment; rapid assessment techniques; assessment of impacts from climate change and vulnerability assessment of landscape/territory;
  • economic valuation techniques: Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA);
  • systemic and prospective analyses: scenarios, prospective studies.
  1.  Implementation instruments:
  • regulatory instruments: land-use planning, sea-use planning, codes, norms, standards;
  • economic instruments: charges, subsidies, deposit refund systems, marketing permits, enforcement fines or incentives;
  • participatory techniques: bargaining and negotiations, conflict resolution techniques, arbitration, the legal procedure.

Harmonising CAMPs with the ICZM Protocol

Taking into account the importance of the ICZM Protocol as a powerful tool for the sustainable development of coastal zones, CAMPs are seen as the ICZM Protocol implementation projects at the local level, i.e. as prototype interventions to assist countries to implement the Protocol. The already concluded CAMPs in Spain, Montenegro, Italy and France, take into account, in their follow-up stage, these new development contexts. The intention is to streamline and upgrade CAMPs to the requirements of the ICZM Protocol with regard to public participation, institutional arrangements and alike. A further programme - CAMP III - should build in-country capacity and implement the Protocol at the country level along with thematic demonstration programmes to be agreed and delivered in partnership with donor or sectoral funding.

Assessment of CAMP projects

In 2015, the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, along with UNEP/MAP and PAP/RAC, have requested an assessment to be made of CAMP projects. The purpose of the assessment was to identify the benefits and added value, as well as limitations of an ICZM approach, and to propose policy recommendations for replicating successful examples at a larger scale. The main outcomes of the assessment were: recommendations to enhance the efficiency of implementation of the ICZM process for more long-term impacts on activities, solutions, funding; and strategies related to the future of ICZM in the Mediterranean region.