Montenegro steps towards the ICZM Protocol

On the initiative of the Montenegrin Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Protection, a Workshop on ICZM - "Perspectives of the implementation of the future ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean in Montenegro" took place in Becici, on May 16, 2007. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss two articles of the Protocol, the one (Article 3) related to the definition of the coastal zone and the other (Article 7) related to the definition of the setback zone. Present were the minister, H.E. Mr. P. Nenezic, relevant stakeholders from the various ministries and institutions, representatives of the local authorities and PAP/RAC. Montenegrin representatives introduced the activities related to ICZM, such as the national strategy on ICZM, projects that are implemented in the MAP framework, the new spatial plan for the country and in particular the part related to coastal zone and alike. PAP/RAC's role at the meeting was crucial. Introduced were the draft ICZM Protocol and the process of its elaboration, with particular stress on the parts related to the definition of the coastal zone and the setback zone where building is proposed to be forbidden.

Also, two international experts were provided, namely, Ms. A. Mrak Taritas from the Croatian Ministry of Environment, and Mr. G. Bresler, from Israel. Ms. Mrak presented the Regulation recently adopted in order to better control and manage the coastal zone. Her presentation rouse a lot of attention of all the participants as she showed in a very concrete way how Croatia responds to the building pressures in coastal areas. This, in turn, is directly related to the implementation of the Article 7 of the draft Protocol, and could be a good example for other countries where solutions for these issues are still to be found. The other consultant, Mr. Bresler, presented the Israeli respond to this issue, which is, due to the geomorfological and other reasons, different but still the message was very relevant. The discussion that followed was very fruitful, oriented to finding concrete solutions. This will be reflected in the recommendations that will be presented to the minister who in the introductory speech expressed a lot of expectations from the workshop, and showed a high level of political will for the solutions needed to the problems that Montenegro is faced with in coastal areas.

Prior to the Workshop, PAP/RAC Director met with the minister and discussed some relevant topics related to MAP and PAP/RAC, such as the implementation of the MSSD, the ICZM Protocol, projects envisaged to be implemented in the country (CAMP, LME) and alike. All these events made part of the activities in the framework of the Eco Fair that was opened in the morning that day.