On 21 November, the results of the 1st stage of the two pilot activities, namely, the development of a National ICZM Strategy for Algeria and of a Coastal Plan for Reghaïa, have been presented at a meeting held in the premises of the Algerian Ministry of Land-Use Planning, Environment, and Town (MATEV). The meeting was organised by MATEV with the support of PAP/RAC and UNESCO-HIP in the framework of the MedPartnership project.
As for more than 10 years now, Algeria is working on the protection of its coast by applying ICZM with the support of PAP/RAC. The stakeholders who attended the meeting were mainly familiar with the ICZM concept and formulated particularly useful and relevant remarks regarding issues and problems raised in the reports on both activities, emphasizing as well the need to work on awareness raising. As some comments had to be submitted in writing, it was agreed that the institutions could send their feedbacks to the team leaders by the end of November. It will then be possible to finalize the sectorial and integrated reports, and to start with the second phase of the activity, which includes the development of scenarios and of the Strategy/Plan document together with an action plan.
The meeting was followed by an organisational meeting where the need for co-ordination between the two activities was strengthened. It was agreed that the next workshops on the strategy had to be organised not only in Algiers but also in Oran, and in Annaba. Also, a recommendation was made to organise the sustainability workshops on the Plan in Reghaïa. Finally, it was stressed that the activity on the Strategy would benefit from the additional funding for the new MedPartnership project “Integration of climate change and variability into ICZM strategies and plans”, which is perfectly timely to integrate the climate change and variability aspects in the Strategy. The deadline for both activities was set for June 2013.
