PAP/RAC at the EUROSITE MCPA Workshop

The EUROSITE Marine and Coastal Protected Areas Working Group (EUROSITE MCPA Working Group) is a new initiative of the EUROSITE network in charge of, among others, organising annual workshops on marine and coastal protected areas management in order to work on relevant tools, in particular for the Natura 2000 marine sites and their interfacing with coastal areas. The city of Marseille hosted the first of these workshops, which was held in the conference room of the Alcazar library, on 1 – 3 September 2010.

In order to put marine protected areas in a larger context, the Mediterranean was presented within its global and European framework putting the stress on MAP activities, the recent EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) and the Birds and Habitats Directives now entering their implementation phase in the marine environment. The workshop was an opportunity for PAP/RAC to present the relationships between the ICZM Protocol and the protection of the marine and coastal biodiversity, and to express its attitude in favour of management of natural sites by placing them in a wider management context, which is the integrated coastal zone management with its main principles: an ecosystem approach, vertical integration between different territorial management units, horizontal integration between different administrative levels, etc.

The preparation of a synthesis report is underway and presentations and interventions have been progressively posted at: http://eurosite-mpawg.espaces-naturels.fr/fr/2010/documents