| |
A Stakeholder Analysis was conducted in order to determine the priority concerns of stakeholders in the region, and their perceptions and concerns regarding the management of the Black Sea ecosystem. It is important to gauge stakeholder concerns and priorities so that the project can take steps to address these, build on positive trends in opinions and work to introduce new ecologically oriented concepts where appropriate. By empirically measuring stakeholder concerns and perceptions, the Commission also has a tool for understanding where efforts should be focused to bring about optimal changes in ecosystem management. The Stakeholder Analysis also assists the project to identify potential areas of tension between stakeholder groups that may impact future resource management.
The methodology for this study is outlined in section 2.4 of the TDA. The specific stakeholders and their involvement in the Black Sea ecosystem are outlined in section 3.6.2 of the TDA. The stakeholder analysis is based on quantitative surveys administered throughout the Black Sea region. The findings here are weighted towards slightly the responses in Romania as 110 surveys were collected there where as there were 34 from Bulgaria, 63 from Georgia, 110 from Russia, 35 from Turkey, and 83 from Ukraine. The discrepancy in survey numbers from various countries will be addressed where it is pertinent to the findings.
The most notable findings of this study are that there is a large degree of cohesion among stakeholder groups across the region and across countries as well. The stakeholders appear to be open to increased information about environmental issues and feel that doing so would benefit the Black Sea health. Further, while there seems to be a perceived trade-off between environmental stewardship and economic development, the perceptions did not appear to be so entrenched that they could not be altered with targeted stakeholder education efforts. Stakeholder perceptions about cause and effect relationships, and level of concern for specific issues varied across groups and issues and as expected those issues which are better understood appear to take higher priority. The perceptions of stakeholders are outlined based on survey results, the specific transboundary issues are addressed (Sections 7.4-7.7) and recommendations are presented (Section 7.8). |
|
