Enhancing understanding on coastal zone management and the ICZM Protocol

With an eye to achieving sustainable coastal development in their countries, more than 40 participants from 12 Mediterranean countries attended a two-day workshop on "The harmonization of the national legal and institutional framework with the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol". The workshop was organized within the framework of the MedPartnership in Zagreb, Croatia, on 4-5 December.

The aim of the workshop was to assist countries in understanding the legal aspects of the ICZM Protocol, as well as to build capacities for its ratification, transposition into the national laws and thereafter its implementation. Adopted in 2008 and entered into force in 2010, the ICZM Protocol is the first legal regional instrument of this kind. So far, nine Mediterranean countries ratified the Protocol. Currently, two more Regional Seas are following the Mediterranean example and drafting their own Protocols to ensure sustainable coastal development.  

The workshop was built around of three major thematic areas: 

• The legal aspects of the ICZM Protocol, particularly its key provisions, including the analysis of these provisions in the face of EU law;
• The Croatian experience and
• A joint identification of stakeholders who could lead the implementation of the ICZM Protocol in the Mediterranean countries as well as those with an interest to stand in the Protocol’s way.

The prominent legal experts and spatial planners who addressed the workshop drew among their extensive Mediterranean experience on the implementation of the ICZM Protocol.

Out of 12 countries represented at the workshop, five have not ratified the Protocol yet. As it has been agreed by the participants, ratification enables all interested stakeholders to use the ICZM Protocol as a tool to push for sustainable coastal development, but also as an instrument of adaptation to the climate variability and change. Also, the workshop highlighted that ratification was only one step in the long path towards sustainable coastal development. The implementation of the Protocol, thereafter is of equal and probably greater importance.

Finally, the workshop was part of a wider ongoing UNEP MAP effort to green its events. The effort is being led by CP/RAC, and its final action will be realised through a carbon offsetting programme to compensate for the GHG emissions produced for the workshop.  You can read more on this effort here. 

For the complete agenda of the workshop follow the link here and for the participants' list here.

To view the key documents of the meeting follow the link here.