Morocco and Croatia ratify the ICZM protocol
Croatia and Morocco have ratified the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol, the first legally binding instrument of its type in the world. ICZM is considered the way forward for the sustainable development of coastal zones and is characterized by a distinctive integrated approach to providing solutions to the complex environmental, social, economic and institutional problems of coastal zones.
On 12 October 2012, the Parliament of Croatia adopted the Law on Ratification of the ICZM Protocol after a thorough discussion, in which all of the members of the Parliament expressed their appreciation of the Protocol and raised hopes that it would be successfully implemented. In Croatia, a number of obligations ensuing from the provisions of the Protocol have already been built into the existing legislation through the provisions of different laws, such as the Law on land-use planning and construction, on environmental protection, on nature protection, on waters, on forests, on islands, on maritime domain, etc. The Law on Ratification of the ICZM Protocol for Croatia contains a Declaration by which the geographical area to which the Protocol applies is determined. Croatia shall communicate the Declaration to the Depositary at the time of the deposit of its instrument of ratification. The Protocol ratification by Croatia brought the number of ratifications to 8.
Soon after, on 21 October 2012 the Kingdom of Morocco became the ninth country to ratify the Protocol while simultaneously becoming the second Contracting Party to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols to have ratified the full set of legal instruments adopted in the framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan. This development further confirms the continued commitment of the Government of Morocco to improve the status of the Mediterranean sea and coastal environment.
The parties that had already ratified the ICZM Protocol are Albania, the EU, France, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain and Syria.
