PAP/RAC NFPs discussed technical issues

Back-to-back with the 2012 Mediterranean Coast Day central regional celebration, a technical meeting with the PAP/RAC National Focal Points (NFPs) was organised within the IPA Adriatic SHAPE project and held at the PAP/RAC premises in Split, on 24 September 2012. In addition to PAP/RAC NFPs from 9 countries and the EU representative, the meeting was attended by the MAP Co-ordinator, representatives of the PEGASO and SHAPE projects and the PAP/RAC staff.

At the meeting, the progress on the implementation of the Action Plan for the ICZM Protocol was presented, including the main activities and the Mediterranean Coast Day. The representatives of the SHAPE and PEGASO projects provided the participants with the basic information about these two projects and the activities being implemented. A PAP/RAC representative presented the preliminary results of the Stock-taking analysis being in progress. During the discussion that followed this presentation, recommendations were given for the follow-up. The specific SHAPE and PEGASO products, including the Explanatory reports on the ICZM Protocol’s Articles 7 (Co-ordination) and 8 (Definition of the set-back), and the ICZM Process and ICZM wiki were also presented and discussed, as well as the PEGASO outputs - the ICZM Indicators and Regional Assessment. Finally, information on the activities of other ICZM Protocol-related projects - the MedPartnership and Climate Variability and Change, were presented and discussed by the participants.

The meeting recommended, among others, to continue with the work on the ICZM Protocol; to benefit from and build on the existing projects (PEGASO, SHAPE, MedPartnership, etc.); and to carry forward the Stock-taking analysis together with the NFPs and different partners, along with the analysis being carried out for a parallel stock-taking in the Black Sea. Once the pilot projects on the definition of the coastal set-back are completed, to extract lessons learned which should give some answers to questions posed in the report on Art. 8; to clarify MSP and ICZM approaches; and to address the existing needs and use the existing tools of ICZM and MSP to find solutions for the long-term benefits, which is of particular importance in the time of crisis.