UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG 337/Inf.8 15 June 2009 ENGLISH MEDITERRANEAN ACTION PLAN Meeting of MAP Focal Points Athens, Greece, 7-10 July 2009 REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE FOCAL POINTS OF SPA/RAC (FLORIANA, MALTA, 3-6 JUNE 2009) UNEP/MAP Athens, 2009 UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.337/Inf.8 Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page REPORT 1-13 ANNEXES Annex I List of participants Annex II Agenda of the Meeting Annex III Draft Recommendations and Decisions Annex IV Proposals for amendment of Annexes II and III of the SPA/BD Protocol Annex V Draft Mandate of the Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Centre (SPA/RAC) Annex VI Draft Proposal regarding a Regional Working Programme for the Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean Sea Annex VII Draft Guidelines for setting up and management of Specially Protected Areas including key habitats for marine turtles in the Mediterranean Sea Annex VIII Draft Guidelines for developing marine turtles stranding networks and for data collection protocols Annex IX Draft Guidelines for reinforcing laws and regulations for the conservation and management of cartilaginous fish Annex X Action Plan for the conservation of cartilaginous fish (chondrichthyans) in the Mediterranean: Draft updated implementation timetable 2010-2013 Annex XI Draft Guidelines for reinforcing laws and regulations for the conservation and management of bird species listed in Annex II of the SPA/BD Protocol Annex XII Draft Guidelines for Reducing By-catch of Seabirds in Annex XIII the Mediterranean region Draft Working Programme and Budget of RAC/SPA for 2010-2011 UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.337/Inf.8 Page 2 Introduction 1. At their Fifteenth ordinary Meeting (Almeria, January 2008), the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention invited the Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Centre (RAC/SPA) to hold the Ninth Meeting of Focal Points for SPAs in 2009. 2. The meeting was held at the Excelsior Grand Hotel in Floriana (Malta) from 3 to 6 June 2009, with the support of the Maltese authorities. Participation 3. The meeting was attended by representatives of the following Contracting Parties: Albania, Arab Libyan Jamahiriya, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Croatia, Egypt, European Community, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey. 4. The Coordinating Unit of the Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MEDU) and REMPEC were also represented. 5. The following institutions and organizations were represented by observers: ACCOBAMS, FAO-GFCM, Greenpeace International, ISPRA, MEDASSET, MedMarAvis, MIO-ECSDE, Sea Alarm Foundation, Seagrass 2000, Shark Alliance, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Tour du Valat, UICN, WWF MedPO. 6. RAC/SPA acted as the Secretariat of the meeting. The list of participants is contained in Annex I to this report. Agenda item 1 Opening of the Meeting 7. Mr. Abderrahmen GANNOUN, Director of RAC/SPA, welcomed the participants and thanked the Maltese authorities for their assistance in organizing the meeting. After outlining the main agenda items, he stressed the importance of the event, noting that the meeting was required to examine the Centre’s programme of activities for the next two years and the policy guidelines for the coming five years. He invited the participants to put forward specific suggestions on those issues, reminding them that they were also required to express their views on the draft revised mandate of the RAC/SPA. 8. Ms. Tatjana HEMA took the floor during the opening on behalf of the MAP coordinating Unit. She mentioned that Biodiversity is very high on the international agenda and MAP agenda. In particular in view of the Biodiversity target year in 2010 to halt biodiversity loss, Mediterranean should show and demonstrate its achievements. Important issues are expected to be discussed by the RAC SPA focal points together its partner organizations and she wishes a smooth meeting and success. 9. Mr. Peter PORTELLI, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister of Malta, noted that Malta had been a Contracting Party to the SPA Protocol since 1988 and recognized that his country’s contribution to the protection and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity owed much to the assistance provided by RAC/SPA. With regard to marine conservation, work was proceeding on the compilation of the National Marine Protected Area (MPA) Strategy, which had led to the setting up of the national MPA steering committee. In terms of species protection, Malta had established a system of biodiversity protection and set up a system to coordinate rescue operations in stranding events, and adopted a protocol for cetacean strandings. UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.337/Inf.8 Page 3 10. In a small country with a high population density, balancing the various and sometimes conflicting demands on the Mediterranean was not easy. Malta was conscious of the need to develop a framework for policy integration for the coastal and marine environment, which could only be achieved through mutual cooperation between the Mediterranean countries, for which the Protocol represented a key instrument. Existing collaboration could be further strengthened when specially protected areas and biological diversity were recognized as a shared environmental asset to be protected and sustained. Malta was concerned to increase its population’s awareness and appreciation of the islands’ rich habitats while seeking to share them with its visitors. He invited the participants in the meeting to visit Malta’s numerous sites, taking away with them many pleasant memories. 11. Mr. Martin SEYCHELL, Director of the Environment of the host country, welcomed all the participants to Malta. He noted that they had in common the Mediterranean, that relatively small sea, which was an essential element in their past as well as their future. Only an innovatory and integrated approach based on a sound networking relationship could protect this heritage threatened by the action of human beings and by global warming. Herein lay the value of the Barcelona Convention as an instrument of regional cooperation in fields such as study and protection of threatened species and, more generally, the protection and rational exploitation of marine resources. Thanking RAC/ASP for its work, he wished all participants the most fruitful and rewarding meeting possible. Agenda item 2 Rules and regulations 12. The rules of procedure adopted for the meetings and conferences of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its Protocols (UNEP/IG.43/6, Annex XI) apply mutatis mutandis to the current meeting. Agenda item 3 Election of Officers 13. After informal consultations, the meeting unanimously elected the following officers: Chairperson Ms. Carmen MIFSUD (Malta) Vice-Chairpersons Ms. Claire BERGE (France) Mr. Javier PANTOJA (Spain) Rapporteur Mr. Aybars ALTIPARMAK (Turkey) Agenda item 4 Adoption of the agenda and organization of work 14. The meeting adopted the provisional agenda contained in document UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.331/1. The agenda is attached as Annex II to this report. 15. The meeting approved the organization of work proposed by the Secretariat as contained in the annotated provisional agenda of the meeting (document UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.331/2 Rev.1). UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.337/Inf.8 Page 4 Agenda item 5 Status of implementation of the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean a) Reports of the Parties on the implementation at national level of the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean (SPA/BD) 16. Following a general introduction by the Director of RAC/SPA, the Secretariat introduced document UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.331/3 entitled “Report on the status of implementation of the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean, for the period January 2006-December 2007”, which is a synthesis of the reports submitted by the Focal Points of RAC/SPA on the basis of the new format adopted for that purpose by the Fifteenth Meeting of the Contracting Parties (Almeria, January 2008). It emerged from this document that the results of the inventory were largely positive, both as regards the protection of species and their habitat and in terms of the reduction of negative impacts and the management of natural resources. 17. Some representatives, while welcoming these results and the quality of the work of the Secretariat, having regard to the volume of documents to be processed, justified the gaps in information with reference to the difficulties experienced by some countries in responding within the allotted time, which could be explained by the new report format adopted at the Fifteenth meeting of the Contracting Parties. A delegation provided the Secretariat with a list of proposals aimed at improving the online reporting system. b) Progress report of the activities of RAC/SPA 18. The Secretariat described the Centre’s activities since the last meeting of Focal Points, referring to document UNEP(DEPI)/MED WG.331/4 (“Progress report of the activities of RAC/SPA”). 19. The Director of RAC/SPA indicated that the Centre’s strategy should continue to be based on a long and medium-term vision that sought to target more closely the areas of intervention and to strengthen efficiency, but that circumstances made it necessary to take account of new parameters, such as the search for new partners, the recent Union for the Mediterranean and the imminence of important meetings concerned in particular with the environment. However, the two main thrusts of the Centre’s activities remained species conservation and development of the areas to respond to the numerous threats related to human activity. It was necessary to that end to strengthen networking. It was also essential to continue to reflect on the creation of SPAMIs in the open seas, since they represented 70 percent of the Mediterranean surface. Finally, it was a matter of satisfaction that the activities of the Centre had continued to develop from one biennium to the next, despite relatively modest human and financial resources.