May 2, 2018

Empowering the Mediterranean community: tools for ecosystem-based management // 16-18 May, Podgorica

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The Med Biodiversity Protection community featured in the PANACeA project – the organizer of this event – pursues a direct dialogue on major policy and management instruments affecting our common environment. The open seminar to be held in Podgorica on 16 and 17 May followed by an interactive workshop on the afternoon of 17 and the morning of 18 May 2018 aim to highlight and transfer the latest knowledge, practical methodologies and tools developed by current EU and Mediterranean research, management and policy projects to stimulate a Mediterranean debate on ecosystem-based management and biodiversity conservation.

The meetings in Montenegro aim to empower the Mediterranean Community with tools for ecosystem-based management and represent a step forward to showcase various practical solutions developed and/or tested by the MED Biodiversity Protection Community through research projects, cooperation initiatives, environmental institutions and government programmes. Key players will have the opportunity to present the best practices implemented to protect Mediterranean ecosystems and biodiversity, and to learn from one another, with a special focus on the Adriatic region. The seminar will build on the recommendations made by participants at the “Bridging the Science, practice and policy gap in the Mediterranean” discussions held in Barcelona in October 2017.

The scope of topics to be debated in Montenegro includes: assessing and addressing the challenges of climate change and marine litter impacts on biodiversity and the communities in and near protected areas, with particular attention on climate change and marine litter impacts; testing participatory governance mechanisms for the sustainable management of natural resources and its services, particularly those related to wetlands and small scale fisheries; and the meta-analysis of land and sea interactions and economic activities, with a focus on integrated ecosystem monitoring and management approaches. Ways to transfer innovative management tools and integrate different data platforms/interfaces in the region will also be discussed in order to strengthen the efforts being made by this Mediterranean community of projects and institutions to tackle emerging and identified common cross-cutting issues at the regional level. The outcomes and tools produced by this community will be assessed against the needs for regional environmental and sector policies, including the EU Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), the Habitats Directive and the effective management and support to identify priority areas for expanding its Natura 2000 network, the implementation of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its protocols, including the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), and the Horizon 2020 initiative on the de-pollution of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Open Seminar will start on the morning of 16 May and conclude at midday on 17 May 2018, with a site visit on the afternoon of the first day to Skadar Lake, a Ramsar site and National Park located between Montenegro and Albania, as an example of transboundary management for biodiversity protection.

An interactive workshop will follow on the afternoon of 17 May and the morning of 18 May 2018, for the Interreg MED Biodiversity Protection Community and its Advisory Board.

Please click here for registration and information on logistics

The original article is available here