Ivica TRUMBIC UNEPMAP PAPRAC

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Ivica TRUMBICUNEP/MAP PAP/RAC

• THE MEDITERRANEAN PROTOCOL ON ICZM IMPACTS ON
  NATIONAL COASTAL PLANNING PROCESSES

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SUMMARY OF ISSUES IN MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL AREAS
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• More than 100 hot spots

• More than 200 large oil tankers permanently in
  navigation

• Fragile ecosystems, many rare and endemic
  species, most of them endangered, some
  disappearing

• Limited and declining agricultural resources

• Forests covering only 5 of the region, forest
  fires

• Many deltas and lowlands to be highly affected by
  the climatic changes impact

• Increased fresh water demand, particularly in the
  South and East

• Coastal erosion cultural heritage
  coastal landscape

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CRITICAL ISSUES

• Desire to get as close to the coastline as
  possible
• Incompatibility of various land uses which cannot
  exist in juxtaposition
• Private ownership of coastal land which prevents
  public from the free access to the coastline
• The long-term goals for conservation of coastal
  resources is often incompatible with the desire
  for a short-term economic profit interests
• The provision of environmental services is
  often not in accordance with the rate of economic
  development

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SPATIAL IMPACTS

• Large urban agglomerations
• Free spaces outside the protected areas (65 of
  the accessible part of the coast has already been
  urbanised)
• Protected natural areas (the surface area of
  wetlands has been reduced from 3 million ha in
  the Roman times to 200 thousand at present)
• Wider river basins in which most of the
  land-based sources of pollution of the coastal
  sea are located
• Zones of intensive mariculture

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ACHIEVEMENTS

• National efforts towards legislation on coastal
  areas Egypt, Tunisia, France, Spain, Italy,
  Greece, Algeria, Israel, Croatia
• Improved institutions for ICZM Conservatoire de
  littoral, APAL, ISMAL, Israel Coastal Committee
• Better monitoring indicators for sustainable
  development, national observatories, coastal
  observatories
• MCSD involvement of civil society, ICZM a
  priority
• Establishment of protected areas
• Improved funding METAP, EU/MEDA/SMAP, GEF
• Sub-regional initiatives Northern Adriatic,
  Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, RAMOGE
• Coastal projects MAP, METAP, EU, national
  initiatives

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BARRIERS TO MORE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF ICZM

• A strategic view of the Mediterranean coastal
  areas is still missing
• Resource management versus traditional land-use
  planning
• Traditional administrative systems
• Weak integration of environmental concerns in
  development planning
• Insufficient national financial support for
  coastal programmes.
• Indicators developed, but still no adequate
  mechanism for utilising these within a long-term
  policy-making process.
• Civil society not yet fully involved in ICZM

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MAJOR LEGAL BREAKTHROUGH

• Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management

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NEED FOR A NEW REGIONAL LEGAL INSTRUMENT

• ICZM policies were translated mainly into various
  guidelines, recommendations and action plans -
  soft laws, not usually binding for the States.
• More effective application in the field of ICZM
  was needed
• In November 2001, CPs recommended to prepare a
  Feasibility Study on regional legal instrument
  on the sustainable coastal zone management.
• The Study carried out in 2002 and 2003

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• Protocol was signed in Madrid on 21 January 2008
  at the Conference of the Plenipotentiaries on the
  Integrated Coastal Zone Management Protocol.
  Fourteen Contracting Parties to the Barcelona
  Convention signed the Protocol at the Conference,
  and the others announced to do so in very near
  future. The Parties are now urged to ratify the
  Protocol so that it enters into force as soon as
  possible.

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STRUCTURE OF THE ICZM PROTOCOL

• Part I General Provisions
• Part II Elements of Integrated Coastal Zone
  Management
• Part III Instruments for Integrated Coastal Zone
  Management
• Part IV Risks Affecting the Coastal Zone
• Part V International Cooperation
• Part VI Institutional Provisions
• Part VII Final Provisions

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MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS

• Bold
• Innovative
• Forward-looking and proactive
• Comprehensive
• Integrated

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PROTOCOL IS VERY PRECISE IN

• defining the coastal zone
• defining the Integrated Coastal Zone Management
• defining the coastal setback
• formulation and development of coastal strategies
• formulation of Environmental Impact Assessment
  and Strategic Environmental Assessment
• developing policies for preventing natural
  hazards, particularly those resulting from the
  climate change
• applying the ecosystems approach to coastal
  planning and management
• reporting on the implementation of the Protocol

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NATIONAL COASTAL STRATEGIES, PLANS AND PROGRAMMES

• National strategy, based on an analysis of the
  existing situation, shall
• Set objectives,
• Determine priorities with an indication of the
  reasons,
• Identify coastal ecosystems needing management,
• Identify relevant actors and processes,
• Enumerate the measures to be taken and their cost
  as well as the institutional instruments and
  legal and financial means available, and
• Set an implementation schedule.
• Coastal plans and programmes
• specify the orientations of the national
  strategy,
• implement it at an appropriate territorial level,
• determine the carrying capacities and conditions
  for the allocation and use of the respective
  marine and land parts of coastal zones
• Indicators

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ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

• Environmental Impact Assessment for public and
  private projects likely to have significant
  environmental effects on the coastal zones, and
  in particular on their ecosystems, take into
  consideration the specific sensitivity of the
  environment and the inter-relationships between
  the marine and terrestrial parts of the coastal
  zone.
• Strategic Environmental Assessment of plans and
  programmes affecting the coastal zone.
• The environmental assessments should take into
  consideration the cumulative impacts on the
  coastal zones, paying due attention to their
  carrying capacities.

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LAND POLICY

• Mechanisms for the acquisition, cession,
  donation or transfer of land to the public domain
  and institute easements on properties.

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ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND FISCAL INSTRUMENTS

• Economic, financial and/or fiscal instruments
  intended to support local, regional and national
  initiatives for the integrated management of
  coastal zones.

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VALUE ADDED

• help mitigate the risk of status quo, which is
  reflected in
• the danger that the environmental deterioration
  will continue
• the fact that states would not voluntarily adopt
  ICZM guidelines in their national legislation
• the need for collective and global measures to
  change the prevailing coastal development trends
  and
• the need to have a clear regional coastal
  sustainable development strategy.
• process of the protocol development
• more than six years since the formal inception of
  the idea that a regional legal instrument is
  needed
• states have shown a great degree of willingness
  to have such a document
• flexibility in negotiation
• they wanted a protocol and not recommendation or
  guidelines
• they wanted a protocol as a legal measure with
  all the repercussions it might bring
• protocol is a unique endeavour on a world scale
• why have the Parties undertaken this task?
• ICZM is a process which is costly technically,
  institutionally and administratively very
  complicated time consuming not always easily
  understood by all the actors and creating many
  opponents and scepticism.
• in spite of all the odds against ICZM, there is a
  common understanding that ICZM is not an option
  but a necessity
• protocol is something the Parties want and not
  something that has been imposed on them

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EMERGING ISSUES

• Improving integrated coastal governance
• Local management and sustainable development of
  coastal zones
• Marine spatial planning
• Integration of cultural identity issues

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United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean
Action Plan Priority Actions Programme Regional
Activity Centre (PAP/RAC) Kraj Sv. Ivana 11 21000
Split, CROATIA tel (385) (21) 34 04 70 fax
(385) (21) 34 04 90 e-mail pap_at_gradst.hr http//w
ww. pap-thecoastcentre.org