Visit of Jordanian delegation

Upon request by the UNDP office in Amman, PAP/RAC organised a study tour for the Director of the Aqaba Marine Park and the Manager of the UNDP project "Mainstreaming Marine Biodiversity Conservation into Coastal Zone Management in Aqaba”. In view of their need to develop an appropriate ICZM plan for Aqaba, the goal of the tour was to get an insight into the relevant projects and activities implemented by PAP/RAC and its partners in the Mediterranean. The main topics of interest were, of course ICZM, in particular planning in coastal areas with the emphasis on tourism development (management of visitation/ecotourism/eco-labelling, etc.), marine pollution, coastal spatial planning, environmental education, coast patrolling, monitoring activities, etc.

For practical reasons, the tour encompassed the Adriatic countries: Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. Visits, including meetings with relevant management bodies, were organised to a number of protected areas (Tivat salina in Montenegro, Brijuni national park in Croatia, Seèovje salina and Škocjanski zatok nature reserve in Slovenia, Po Delta nature park in Italy), tourist facilities with strong environmental bias (“Istra” hotel in Rovinj  Croatia, “Villaggio del sole” camping site in Marina Romea - Italy). There were also meetings with representatives of governmental organisations operating in the field (“Morsko dobro” public authority managing all of the Montenegro coast, Regional Development Agency in Koper - Slovenia, Tourism Board of the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy), as well as two NGOs (“Sunce”, Split and Bird Watching and Studying Association of Slovenia). Of course, there was a meeting at PAP/RAC, and with the National Co-ordinator of the CAMP “Montenegro”. Last but not least, we had a meeting with the representative of the Lead Partner of the SHAPE Project who also provided information on the central regional celebration of the Mediterranean Coast Day to be organised in Rimini, Italy. The study tour lasted 8 days, and the members also had the opportunity to visit sites of cultural, historic and natural importance, such as the historic centres of Budva and Kotor in Montenegro, Split, Trogir and Omiš in Croatia, Piran in Slovenia and Rimini in Italy. The members of the delegation were pleased with the organisation of the study tour and its results that they found would be useful in their future work. In all the meetings the hosts offered assistance if and when appropriate.