The 16th Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAPs)* took place from 29 September to 1 October 2014 in Athens, Greece. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss the role of the RSCAPs in the process of developing a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on oceans within the post-2015 development agenda, to present progress in the implementation of the Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2013-2016, to discuss the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and regional actions on marine litter and to develop a roadmap for implementing the visioning priorities for the next 10 years.
Participants were representatives of 16 regional seas conventions and action plans, of UN organizations and intergovernmental organizations, and the media. During the three days of the meeting, the representatives of the RSCAPs interacted intensively through presentations, open discussions and brainstorming sessions on a long-term vision for the RSCAPs, in the light of the 40 years of action of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme (RSP), in which 145 countries are engaged in one or more of the regional seas, delivering high value results to member states.
At the beginning of the meeting, UNEP launched the report “The Importance of Mangroves: A Call to Action”** at a press conference, celebrating the 40th anniversary of RSP. In the first session, the role of Regional Seas in the post-2015 agenda and in Sustainable Development Goals was debated, in which it was underscored the need for the SDGs to build on existing conventions and to define measurable targets. Representatives described the role of RSCAPs in the post-2015 agenda as translating global targets into nationally appropriate actions, supporting technology transfer, leveraging international and domestic private and public financing, and contributing to monitoring, reporting and accountability.
In the second session, 15 RSCAPs presented mid-term reports on the implementation of the Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2013-2016, highlighting challenges and opportunities under each of the six following strategic areas: 1. application of the ecosystem approach in the management of the marine ecosystems; 2. implementation of the Manila Declaration of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA), especially in the areas of wastewater management, nutrients and marine litter; 3. strengthening regional and national capacities on marine and coastal governance; 4. provision of tools to decouple economic growth from environmental pressures in the marine and coastal environment by promoting resource efficiency and productivity, including assessing the ecosystem services values; 5. improving global knowledge and trends on the status of the marine environment, contributing to the World Oceans Assessment; 6. strengthening collaboration mechanisms with relevant multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), UN agencies and international financial institutions.
In the third session, on 30 September, an overview was provided of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML), a new multi-stakeholder global partnership with the objective of protecting human health and the environment through the reduction and management of land-based and sea-based marine litter, based on UNEP’s convening power to bring together stakeholders and coordinate with relevant initiatives. Participants noted the need for coordination among the many international instruments on marine debris and the challenge for international instruments to regulate national sources of pollution, while they discussed a range of issues including: marine debris of natural origin; lost fishing gear; and getting fish aggregation devices back on the global agenda. They identified the importance of establishing standardized ways to monitor community-level action and engagement on marine litter and they deliberated the definitions of marine litter versus marine debris, with some noting that clear terminology would help clarify parameters for monitoring programmes. It was underscored that litter is an issue largely managed at the municipal scale, and it was important for the RSCAPs to engage with mayors and port authorities in finding solutions.
Finally, in the fourth session on 1 October, participants discussed important cross-sectoral issues such as pollution, climate change and governance. On pollution, participants pointed opportunities in: developing and implementing policy and legal frameworks such as LBS protocols and marine litter frameworks; protocols that combine biodiversity and pollution; sustainable consumption and production; and long-term data monitoring programmes. They noted challenges with data availability and access; fundraising and financial resources, especially for costly wastewater treatment; employing geoinformatics in uniform reporting; microplastics; addressing consumption and corporate influence on consumption and production; technological support to reduce pollution loads and target sources of transboundary pollution; development of environmental and monitoring standards to be applied across countries; and addressing capacity challenges in small countries.
On climate change, participants highlighted the opportunities for mainstreaming climate change into the ecosystem approach and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). They noted that Regional Seas have a mandate in the climate change agenda and opportunities to develop: regional strategies on adaptation measures and strengthen the ecosystem based management (EBM) adaptation as opposed to the current engineering focused adaptation solutions; mainstream climate change into ecosystem approach work; and facilitate capacity development on how to prepare vulnerability studies.
On governance, participants emphasized the need for more effective implementation of the performative Protocols of the Conventions, underlined the importance of collaboration between nieghbouring Regional Seas, and called for an increasing focus on the science policy interface. They underscored challenges with inter-ministerial coordination; implementation of protocols at national levels; the need to find the correct balance between an often diverse range of countries within each Regional Sea; identifying policy gaps; integrating the post-2015 development agenda into policy formation across sectors; and harmonizing national policies to include green growth and blue economy. In addition, they stressed the need to support more interregional cooperation; more collaboration with marine protected areas as they often share similar legislative constraints; strengthening synergies across MEAs; helping small countries tackle reporting and other requirements for MEAs; clarification of what “governance” covers; and influencing political thoughts and stakeholders. Finally, they noted the need for further cooperation with regional fish bodies, with global biodiversity MEAs and with the retailer/consumer sector, and opportunities to help industries reduce illegal activities. These challenges included oil exploration and sand mining and in some countries deep water minerals extraction; engaging fisheries ministries; integrated ecosystem management across sectors and in marine protected areas; incorporating ecosystem valuation into management regimes; ecosystem restoration; strategic environmental assessment; developing thresholds for sustainable use; and mapping.
Participants noted that RSCAPs offer contracting parties trusted support, ability to act, coordination and resource mobilization, as well as a platform to define regional seas issues with the acceptance of concerned countries and opportunities for North-South cooperation between scientific institutions. They agreed on the value of informing contracting parties about the visioning priorities, , expressing the view that the vision could provide coherence for all regional seas in order to overcome the fragmentation of objectives and priorities across the regions.
Notes
* The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched its Regional Seas Programme (RSP) in 1974. The Regional Seas Programme addresses the accelerating degradation of the world’s seas and coastal areas and promotes the sustainable management and use of the marine and coastal environment by engaging countries to implement specific actions to protect their shared marine resources. In 1999, the UNEP Governing Council strengthened the RSP as UNEP’s central mechanism for implementation of its activities relevant to chapter 17 of Agenda 21, which addresses “the protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas, including enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, and coastal areas and the protection, rational use and development of their living resources.”
** The report argues that in spite of the mounting evidence in support of the multitude of benefits derived from mangroves, they remain one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. The report describes financial mechanisms and incentives to stimulate mangrove conservation, such as REDD+, private sector investments, and the creation of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions for developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while increasing national capacity. For the complete report,
See:http://apps.unep.org/publications/index.php?option=com_pmtdata&task=download&file=-The%20imponce%20of%20mangroves%20to%20people_%20a%20call%20to%20action-2014Mangrove.pdf
Source: UNEP/MAP, ISSD Reporting Services
For Further Information:
http://www.iisd.ca/download/pdf/sd/crsvol186num4e.pdf
http://www.unep.org/ecosystemmanagement/water/regionalseas40/40YearsofAction/16thGlobalMeetingoftheRSCAP/tabid/794201/Default.aspx
http://www.unepmap.org/index.php?module=news&action=detail&id=162
About the author
MEPIELAN Centre
MEPIELAN Centre is an international research, training and educational centre established by Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos at the Panteion University of Athens in 2008.
Before its establishment as a University Centre, MEPIELAN operated as a successful international research, training and informational programme (2002-2007) under the scientific direction of Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos and the aegis of the Panteion University of Athens, supported by the Mediterranean Action Plan/UNEP and the Greek Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works.
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