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DESTINATIONS (2007 - 2009)

PlanCoast (2006 - 2008)

PlanCoast is an INTERREG IIIB NP CADSES Project with the aim to develop the tools and capacities for an effective integrated planning in coastal zones and marine areas in the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Sea regions. PlanCoast is going to: introduce the completely new spatial planning instrument - Marine Planning; link Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) with the processes of statutory spatial planning in selected number of pilot projects; spread the use of modern Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for an effective trans-national planning; and contribute to the implementation of European policies and national strategies on coastal zones and marine areas.

PlanCoast has 16 partners from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine. Project's Lead Partner is the Ministry of Transport, Building and Regional Development who is responsible for the spatial planning within the county of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

The objectives of the PlanCoast project are: to start developing and implementing the tools and procedures for the brand new discipline of Marine Spatial Planning in each participating country; to enhance the implementation of the national ICZM Strategies by demonstrating the benefits and role of Spatial Planning (MSP) in ICZM within a number of selected pilot projects; to support the increased use of modern Geographical Information Systems (GIS) within ICZM for data collection, editing and exchange, as well as create GIS databases of internationally comparable data as a basis for trans-national planning; to form, through PlanCoast pilot projects, the basis for recommendations on local and national level on how to implement, adapt and further develop the current ICZM strategies within each partner country in the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea regions; and to support, through PlanCoast conferences, working groups, trainings and trans-national studies, an exchange of experience among organisations and authorities responsible for spatial planning in the partner countries.

SMAP III (2006 - 2008)

SMAP III - Promoting Awareness and Enabling a Policy Framework for Environment and Development Integration in the Mediterranean with Focus on Integrated Coastal Zone Management is located in 10 SMAP Mediterranean countries, namely: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority (the West Bank and Gaza), Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the EU. Project partners are: MAP/PAP, MAP/Blue Plan and the World Bank/METAP. Within the overall objective of the SMAP III, it will contribute to the improvement of the enabling environment in beneficiary countries by strengthening the partnership between the EU/SMAP, MAP and the World Bank in order to ensure the proper allocation of resources and sustainable implementation of the SMAP III.

The project consists of two components: the first, relating to the environment and development and implemented by the Blue Plan and METAP; and the second, relating to coastal zones and implemented by PAP/RAC and METAP. A specific objective of the latter is to promote awareness on the value and state of the coasts, and to provide support to the project countries in strengthening and modifying the existing national-level enabling environment, including policy, institutional and legislative framework.

Particular attention will be dedicated to establishing linkages between this project and other SMAP III ICZM projects, as well as with other ongoing ICZM activities, through integration of activities, workshops, sharing human resources and jointly implementing the Awareness Raising Campaign. The main purpose of the above-stated activities is to increase efficiency, create synergies and avoid overlapping.

ICZM Project component activities can be divided into three stages:

I Initiation and ICZM Policy Brief preparation (2006)
II Capacity building & Awareness Promotion (2006 - 2008)
III Supporting policy reform (2006 -2008)

A key to the project success are the human resources. Their task will be to convince the top policy-makers on the importance and urgency of the coastal problems and to create an impetus for change. Therefore, the selection of the national team members will be one of the most important tasks in the project.

ESLAND Project (2005 - 2007)

ESLAND vision is to consider the European island landscapes as part of our cultural heritage, including the unique identity and values they have for European people.

This pilot project aimed to describe the evolution and the present conditions of the landscapes of European islands of different size and heritage. In view of this, a novel interdisciplinary approach was applied and a common methodology agreed on taking into account islands’ history, classification and identity, as well as elaboration of scenarios, leading to mapping, e-tools and publications for a future development of these landscapes which should be more oriented to culture and sustainability than at present. A further goal was to promote awareness, participation and capacity on island heritage preservation among local stakeholders, young and elderly people, and volunteers. The ultimate goal was to contribute to the implementation of related European policies and to the set up of the ESLAND Network for long-term intercultural co-operation.

NOSTRUM-DSS - Network on governance, science and technology for sustainable water resource management in the Mediterranean (2004 - 2008)

The NOSTRUM-DSS project objective was to contribute to improved governance and planning in the field of sustainable water management in the Mediterranean basin through the establishment of a network between science, policy and civil societies. Therefore, the four principal project targets were to: contribute to the improvement of scientific knowledge and applied science in integrated water resource management (IWRM); promote the design and development of effective and suitable support tools for policy and decision makers; establish durable links between scientific institutions, governmental organisations, small and medium enterprises and other stakeholders; and to improve public awareness on water management.

A series of products were developed and presented in various dissemination events that were organised during the project lifetime. The tools were accessible via the project website and included databases, reports, publications, dissemination and training material and, most importantly, the “Best practices guidelines for the design and implementation of decision support systems (DSS) tools for IWRM”. These guidelines summarised basic concepts and features of DSS technology, referred to its potential in supporting decision making, provided recommendations for DSS development and included the existing water policy background.

Cooperation among NOSTRUM-DSS and other initiatives in the field of IWRM was also sought in order to maximise the project's impact and exploitation potential. National reports presenting useful information on water management and decision making processes were produced. Therefore, a review of the main issues at the Mediterranean scale was feasible and helped to reduce existing application gaps. A three-dimensional tool was developed to assist the policy makers by providing step to step responses to their needs.

The project acted as a mediator between policy makers and scientists, contributing to the creation of a common language and a shared forum. Following the analyses of national reports documentation was prepared, focusing on current practices and future challenges. Statistical and spatial data surveying was combined with the application of climate change scenarios and the anticipated consequences on water resources. Another important method to actively engage with local actors was the organisation of face-to-face meetings during the project thematic workshops and other activities. In addition, questionnaires were distributed to obtain a structured stakeholders' feedback.

The final project event was held with the participation of other similar research initiatives and was an excellent venue for knowledge and information exchange and synergies' establishment. NOSTRUM-DSS was overall successful; however, the study demonstrated that improved dissemination should be attained to maximise its impact. Other important limitations derived from the discontinuity of research streams and the lack of specific funding mechanisms to facilitate follow-up of similar projects.

CoLD Project - Improving Coastal Land Degradation Monitoring in Lebanon and Syria (2004)

The issue of land resources conservation is strongly felt in Syria and Lebanon, like in most Mediterranean countries. The main environmental concerns affecting the coastal areas in the two countries mostly arise from the high concentration of people (high natural growth and migration) and activities (intensive agriculture, heavy industry, transportation). Degradation processes are furthermore accelerated by the natural assets of the landscapes as to relief, geomorphology, geology and soil characteristics, as well as by the climatic type of the zone in terms of rain intensity, drought and climate change.

In this connection, Lebanese and Syrian organisations joined their efforts with those of national and international organisations working in the field of environmental observation and monitoring, for implementing a methodological approach and a capacity-building programme, for supporting plans aimed at the control/management of land degradation in Lebanese and Syrian coastal areas.

The CoLD Project, which is supported by the EU LIFE Third Countries fund (LIFE TCY/00/INT/00069/MED), has the objective to "Improve Lebanese and Syrian national capacities relying on advanced tools for environmental management and planning of coastal zones, according to the principles of sustainable development".

Project partners are the following: MAP/UNEP ERS/RAC (Environment Remote Sensing Regional Activity Centre); MAP/UNEP PAP/RAC (Priority Actions Programme Regional Activity Centre); the Lebanese NCRS (National Centre for Remote Sensing); and the Syrian GORS (General Organisation for Remote Sensing).

SAP-MED Economic instruments (2002 - 2011)

With the adoption, by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, of the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) to address marine pollution from land-based sources and activities in the Mediterranean, PAP/RAC has been entrusted with the preparation and implementation of the project "Development and Implementation of Economic Instruments for the Sustainable Implementation of the SAP MED". The goals of the project are: to identify economic instruments that will assist in developing a sustainable financial platform for the continued implementation of the SAP MED in the long term, and to incorporate these economic instruments into the National Action Plans; to assist in developing the administrative, legal and fiscal mechanisms for the sustainable financing of the implementation of the SAP MED, at the national level; and finally, to demonstrate the economic benefits of a more integrated approach to management. In order to achieve these goals, the PAP/RAC is working in close co-operation with the national partners, the relevant international organisations and institutions, and experts in economic instruments for the environmental protection.

Karst Ecosystem Conservation - KEC (2000 - 2005)

In November 1999, the Government of the Republic of Croatia signed a grant agreement with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) for the preparation of a Karst Ecosystem Conservation (KEC) project. The project is being prepared on the basis of the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Protection (NSAP) as adopted by the Croatian Parliament. The Ministry of Environment Protection and Physical Planning is in charge of the implementation of the grant agreement in the part relevant to the project preparation. Following the prescribed legal procedure, among all the applicants, the Ministry selected PAP/RAC for the: preparation of studies (Phase I); formulation of the project (Phase II); and preparation of project documentation for GEF (Phase III). The Study on social and rural development (within the Phase I) will be prepared by the Blackstone Corporation, Canada.

The objective of the project is the conservation of the biodiversity of the karst ecosystems of Croatia, in a way as to involve as many participants as possible, to be economically sustainable and harmonised with the socio-economic objectives and plans of Croatia. The objective of the on-going preparatory phase is the preparation of project documents according to GEF standards, to serve as the basis for asking financial support for the project from the GEF.

The project includes four protected areas, i.e. the National Parks Risnjak, Northern Velebit, Paklenica and Plitvice Lakes, and Park of Nature Velebit, including the adjacent areas. The definitive geographic scope of the project was defined during the project preparation. For that purpose, field research was performed during the preparatory phase in the karst area of Velebit, Lika and Gorski Kotar. After the project preparation, which was completed by the end of the year 2000 and envisaged all the activities and funds necessary for the KEC project, the project implementation will be launched. The envisaged duration of the project implementation is 5 years.

Projects in Africa (1995 - 2000)

West and Central African Region - WACAF/11 (1995 - 1998)

In the period 1995-1998, FAO implemented the project "Integrated Coastal Areas: Training and Development of National Capabilities for Planning and Management of the West and Central African Region" (WACAF/11) in co-operation with the Ocean and Coastal Areas Programme (OCA/PAC) of UNEP through PAP/RAC. The project was implemented in three countries of the region: The Gambia; Guinea; and Togo.

Protection and Management of the Marine and Coastal Areas in the Eastern African Region - EAF/5 (1995 - 2000)

The Water Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is implementing the project entitled "Protection and Management of the Marine and Coastal Areas in the Eastern African Region (EAF/5)” through the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and PAP/RAC of UNEP/MAP. Within the framework of EAF/5 Phase I, PAP/RAC played an active role in the preparation and implementation of the Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) in Mozambique and RFI Comoros, and provided support in implementing the ICAM projects in Kenya and Tanzania – Zanzibar, in the period from 1995 to 1997. Within the framework of EAF/5 Phase II, PAP/RAC assisted experts in Comoros, Mozambique, Kenya and Zanzibar State of the United Republic of Tanzania, Madagascar and Seychelles in the preparation of workplans for demonstration activities, coastal profiles, coastal area management strategies and action strategies relating to a pilot site in each country.