Headlines:
Major
intergovernmental agreements and actors
Action
programmes, strategies, and research
State
of the regional environment
GEF
Projects
in the region
Other
actors and initiatives
Major
intergovernmental agreements and actors
Convention
on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution
The
Bucharest Convention, adopted in 1992, includes a basic framework
of agreement and three specific Protocols. The implementation will be
overseen by a Commission with a permanent secretariat
in Istanbul (the Istanbul Commission). Protocols to the Convention include:
- Protocol
on Protection of the Black Sea Marine Environment Against Pollution
from Land-based
Sources; adopted 1992, in force 1994.
- Protocol
on Cooperation in Combating Pollution of the Black Sea Marine Environment
by Oil
and other Harmful Substances in Emergency Situations; adopted 1992,
in force 1994.
- Protocol
on the Protection of the Black Sea Marine Environment Against Pollution
by Dumping;
adopted 1992, in force 1994.
Odessa
Declaration
A Ministerial Declaration on the Protection of the Black Sea Environment
was signed by the countries of the Black Sea Region in 1993 in order to
set the goals, priorities and timetable needed to bring about environmental
actions. The document is based largely upon the Agenda 21 adopted at the
UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.
Convention on Co-operation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube
In order to address effectively the environmental problems in
the Danube river basin, the Danube countries and international organisations
initiated the Environmental Programme for the Danube River Basin (EPDRB)
in 1991 (see below), agreed on the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) and the
Strategic Action Plan Implementation Programme (SIP), and signed the Danube
River Protection Convention (DRPC) in 1994. The Convention came into
force in 1998. The results of the EPDRB have been transferred to the International
Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) on the date
of the Convention's entering into force.
UN
Economic Commission for Europe,
ECE
The Environment and Human Settlements Division is part of the secretariat
of the UN ECE. It brings together economists, scientists, urban planners
and other experts, and organizes the regular intergovernmental meetings
of the Committee on Environmental Policy, the Executive Body for the Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, the Meeting of the Parties
to the Convention on the Protection
and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and
the Committee on Human Settlements. At these meetings, government representatives
from Europe, North America, Central Asia and Israel address environmental
and human settlements issues, such as environmental impact assessment,
air and water pollution, urban renewal or land registration.
Financial
institutions
European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
EBRD
The bank finances projects in three country groups (Central Europe; Russia
and Central Asia; Southern and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus) and three
sectors:
Financial Institutions; Infrastructure; and Industry and Commerce. The
infrastructure group of projects contains four issues: Municipal
and environmental infrastructure; Transport;
Power and
energy utilities; and Energy
efficiency. The EBRD is directed by its Agreement to "promote in the
full range of its activities environmentally
sound and sustainable development", thereby being the first international
financial institution to have been given such a proactive environmental
mandate by its founders.
European
Investment Bank,
EIB
The European Union's financing and long-term lending institution. The
EIB is mandated to conduct operations in: the Central and Eastern European
Countries and certain Mediterranean Countries which have applied for membership
of the EU; the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Countries; the African,
Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), South Africa and the OCT; Asia and
Latin America; the Western Balkans. Within the European Union, projects
considered for EIB financing must contribute to a number of set objectives,
including the preservation of the natural and urban environment.
Outside the Union, the Bank participates in implementing the Union's development
aid and cooperation policies through long-term loans from own resources
or subordinated loans and risk capital from EU or Member States' budgetary
funds.
Action
programmes, strategies and research
UNEP
Regional Seas Programme
The Regional
Seas Programme was initiated in 1974 as a global programme implemented
through regional components. The Regional Seas Programme is UNEP's main
framework in the field of the coastal and marine environment. It includes
14 regions and three partner seas, involves more than 140 coastal states,
and focuses on sustainable development of coastal and marine areas. Each
regional action plan
is formulated according to the needs and priorities of the region as perceived
by the Governments concerned. Regional
conventions are in place for several areas. See a map
of all regional seas, and go to more information on the Black Sea, Wider
Caribbean, Mediterranean,
East Asian Seas, South Asian Seas, Eastern Africa, Kuwait Region, North
West Pacific, Red Sea And Gulf of Aden, South East Pacific, North East
Pacific, South
Pacific, Upper
South West Atlantic, and West
and Central Africa. The UNEP Regional Seas web site also contains information
on What's at stake,
Major threats,
and Actions.
Black
Sea Environment Programme
In order
to make an early start to environmental action and to develop a longer-term
Action Plan, the Black Sea countries requested support from the Global
Environment Facility and a three-year Black Sea Environmental Programme
(BSEP) was launched in 1993 (the programme was later extended in a second
phase for an additional two years). For general programme coordination
a Programme Coordination Unit (at a later stage succeeded by a Programme
Implementation Unit), was established in Istanbul by the UN Office for
Project Services on 2 January 1994. The most important achievements of
BSEP were the Transboundary Diagnostic Analyses (TDA) - see
below: State of the environment - and the regional Strategic Action
Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea (BS-SAP).
See
also information at Blackseweb on the BSEP.
Strategic
Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea
The Strategic Action Plan (BS-SAP) "gives a clear statement of the
priority issues to be addressed, the institutional mechanisms for addressing
them and the actions which are required. Goals are set and milestones
established. All the actions are feasible and within the technical competence
of the six Black Sea countries. Furthermore, the role of the public in
general is clearly stated and great efforts are made to ensure transparency
and accountability in the decision-making process and implementation of
the BS-SAP itself. Thematic analyses were gathered together and studied
intensively by a group of regional and international specialists in order
to construct a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) of the Black Sea
(see below). See also the Strategic
Action Plan here.
Tacis
Regional Seas Programme: Black Sea
The
Tacis Regional Seas Programme supports the Black Sea Environment Programme,
the Caspian Sea Environment Programme and the Danube River Basin Programme.
Black
Sea partner organisations include the Black Sea Regional Activity Centre
for Pollution Monitoring and Assessment in Odessa, the Black Sea Activity
Centre for the Development of Common Methodologies for Integrated Coastal
Zone Management in Krasnodar, and the Black Sea Regional Activity Centre
for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Batumi. Tacis (and Phare) have
been very active in all stages of the development of the international
Black Sea Environmental Programme, and this programme will be the largest
yet. In the future, it is expected that the littoral countries will bear
a higher burden of the regional programme themselves. Tacis is expected
to provide specific logistical, management and marketing support for three
Regional Activity Centres in Krasnodar, Batumi and Odessa respectively.
Further emphasis is likely, inter alia, to support the implementation
of national contributions to the Bucharest Convention.
Other
environmental programmes in the Black Sea, Danube Basin and Dniepr Basin
A list provided by Blackseaweb of existing and new environmental programmes
in the region:
- Existing
programmes
- The Cooperative
Marine Science Program for the Black Sea (CoMSBlack)
- European
River-Ocean System Project (EROS 2000)
- "Ecosystem
Modeling as a Management Tool for the Black Sea" (TU-BLACK SEA)
- "Wave
Climatology of the Turkish Coast: Measurements-Analysis Modeling" (TU-WAVES)
- Black
Sea GOOS : a Step Towards Observation and Prediction System (STOPS)
(IOC Pilot Project II)
- Assessment
of the sediment flux in Black Sea, mechanisms of formation, transformation
and dispersion and Ecological significance (IOC Pilot Project II)
- Danube
Delta Project
- Azov
Sea Project II
- New
programmes
- Dnipro
River Programme
- Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) - UNESCO Black Sea Regional Programme
in Marine Sciences and Services
- International
Atomic Energy Agency "Marine Environmental Assessment of the Black Sea
Region" TC Project RER/2/003
- BLASON
(Black Sea Over the Neoeuxinian) French-Romanian co-operation with international
participation
Black
Sea Coastal Wetlands
A project implemented by the Black Sea programme office of Wetlands
International is the Black Sea Coastal Wetland project, which will
come up with a Directory of Black Sea Coastal Wetlands,
an Action Plan for waterbird survey in the Black Sea and a list of priorities
for wetlands conservation along the Black Sea coast.
Danube
Environmental Action Programme,
Danube Programme Coordinating Unit
The Environmental Programme for Danube River Basin (EPDRB) was established
to reduce the pollution load. The development of the Strategic
Action Plan (SAP) and the Strategic
Action Plan Implementation Programme (SIP) have been a major task
of the Environmental Programme for the Danube River Basin.
Tacis
Regional Seas Programme: Danube River
The
Tacis Regional Seas Programme supports the the Black Sea Environment Programme,
the Caspian Sea Environment Programme and the Danube River Basin
Programme.
Danube
River partner organisations include Moldova and Ukraine, in the framework
of the Environmental Programme for Danube River Basin (EPDRB). In Ukraine
the Ministry of Environment and Nuclear Safety and in Moldova the Department
for Environment and Public Health. Justification and objectives. To provide
assistance to the development of the Danube River Protection Convention,
the EPDRB was developed by the European Commission, UNDP GEF and the World
Bank in close cooperation with the Danube countries, including Moldova
and Ukraine. The first task of the EPDRB was to develop a strategic action
plan (SAP). The goals of the plan are to improve the aquatic ecosystems
and biodiversity in the basin and the reduction of pollution loads entering
the Black Sea, to maintain and improve the quantity and quality of water
in the basin, to control damage from accidental spills and to develop
regional cooperation in water mananagement. Tacis has given support to
the Danube River Programme and developed a strategic action plan implementation
programme, consisting of transboundary water management actions. Tacis
expects to fund selected parts of the Strategic Action Plan Implementation
Programme for the Danube, including work on clean production technology
and industrial waste treatment, wetland and nature rehabilitation and
conservation, pesticide dumps, capacity building, education and training,
and programme coordination.
UNEP
GPA Black Sea Clearing-House
The Clearing-House of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection
of the Marine Environment from Landbased Activities (GPA) Mechanism offers
information on, e.g., regional
seas and costal
zone management.
State
of the regional environment
Black
Sea Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis
Prior to the establishment of GEF Black Sea Environmental Programme
in 1993, there was a lack of objective information on the causes
of its environmental crisis and the options available to policy
makers for its protection and restoration. The GEF BSEP enabled
an unprecedented exercise in multidisciplinary information gathering
and processing in order to provide the technical basis for a twenty
year Black Sea Strategic Action Plan. This study — the Black
Sea Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis — involved over two hundred
specialists from some forty institutions in the six coastal countries,
together with colleagues from sixteen countries worldwide. It has
proven to be a key element in reforming policy and setting an investment
strategy. It has also provided the basis of an analytical methodology
currently being applied in GEF International Waters Programmes throughout
the world and is thus being made available to a wider readership.The
systematic scientific analysis of the root causes of environmental
degradation in the Black Sea is presented here. Which ones cause
actual degradation? What sectoral activities cause the degradation
and how serious is it? What are the information gaps, policy distortions,
institutional deficiencies? Information on stakeholders and public
involvement are also essential so that economic and social aspects
can be included.
Current
issues for the Black Sea
-
The most isolated sea
-
Green threat to a Black Sea
-
A sea of oil
-
Is
it safe to swim in the Black Sea?
-
Gone fishing
-
Conserving the beauty of the sea
-
Preventing environmental damage from development
-
Who will pay for protecting the Black Sea?
GEO
2000 State of the Environment: Europe and Central Asia
Global Enviroment
Outlook 2000. GEO is:
- a global
environmental assessment process, the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral
and participatory. It incorporates regional views and perceptions, and
builds consensus on priority issues and actions through dialogue among
policy-makers and scientists at regional and global levels.
- GEO outputs,
in printed and electronic formats, including the GEO Report series.
This series makes periodic reviews of the state of the world's environment,
and provides guidance for decision-making processes such as the formulation
of environmental policies, action planning and resource allocation.
Other outputs include technical reports, a
web site and a publication for young people.
GEF
Projects in the region
Projects
under implementation
UNDP
- GEF - International waters:
Black
Sea Environmental Management
The BSEP has three primary objectives: to strengthen and create
regional capacities for managing the Black Sea ecosystem; to develop
and implement an appropriate policy and legal framework for the
assessment, control and prevention of pollution and the maintenance
and enhancement of biodiversity, and to facilitate the preparation
of sound environmental investments. Activities are funded with associated
contributions from the European Union's PHARE and TACIS programmes
as well as bilateral contributions from Canada, the Netherlands,
Switzerland and France.
UNDP
- GEF - International waters:
Developing
the Implementation of the Black Sea Strategic Action Plan
The long-term objective of the project is to foster sustainable
institutional and financial arrangements for effective environmental
management and protection of the Black Sea, in accordance with the
Black Sea Strategic Action Plan (BSSAP). The project will provide
for the development of the National Black Sea Strategic Action Plans
and it will support institution-building at the national and regional
level for the development and implementation of such plans.
UNDP
- GEF - International waters:
Developing
the Danube River Basin Pollution Reduction Programme
The immediate goal for this project is to prepare for funding pollution
prevention and reduction activities to both restore the Danube River
Basin and to protect the Black Sea environment. The main output
will be prioritised pollution projects for co-financing by national
and international sources, set within a strategic policy framework
for the Danube and Black Sea Basin.
UNDP
- GEF - International waters:
Preparation
of A Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the Dnieper River Basin
and Development of SAP Implementation Mechanisms
The long-term objectives of the project are to remedy the serious
environmental effects of pollution and habitat degradation in the
Dnieper River Basin, to ensure sustainable use of its resources,
and to protect biodiversity in the basin. This will be catalyzed
through the development of both a regional Strategic Action Programme
(SAP) as well as individual National Action Programmes (NAP) outlining
country and donor commitments to baseline and additional preventive
and remedial actions on behalf of the basin. The implementation
of incremental (e.g. transboundary issues) components of the SAP
would follow in a second phase to this project. The proposed Dnieper
River Basin Programme would also work towards enabling the three
riparian countries to implement the principles of coordination and
cooperation stipulated by the agreement signed in 1992 by the governments
of the republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. River basin management
capacity both at the level of individual countries and at the regional
level would be strengthened, and wider global benefits would accrue
to the basin countries as well as those of the Black Sea, an important
international water body significantly impacted by human activities
within the Dnieper River basin.
UNDP
- GEF - International waters:
Danube
River Basin Environmental Management
The purpose of this project was to contribute to the creation of
the framework for a long-term solution to the problem of pollution
of the Danube River Basin. The project had four main objectives
in order to facilitate the formulation of a Danube Action Program:
collecting pollution emission data and creating regional data network,
identifying policy and legal options, and feasibility studies for
local and international funding.
World
Bank - GEF - International Waters:
Agricultural
Development Project II, Georgia
The overall development objective of the Project is to increase
agricultural production sustainably, while reducing pollution of
natural resources. It represents the first phase of a ten-year Program,
to be implemented in three phases, for the reform of on-farm agricultural
and environmental practices. Under phase one, the Project, GEF would
support the costs of implementing measures aimed at: (a) improving
on-farm environmental practices, such as storage and management
of manure water quality monitoring, which over the long term would
reduce nutrients from entering the Black Sea; and (b) reducing greenhouse
gases by promoting the use of biogas energy among rural household
through technology demonstration and removal of institutional, capacity
related, marketing and financial barriers to its more widespread
use. GEF support for phases two and three of the Program is also
envisaged, with the scope to be determined following the mid-term
review of the Project.
World
Bank - GEF - Biodiversity:
Integrated
Coastal Management Project, Georgia
The GEF will finance one component of a Learning and Innovation
Loan (LIL). The objectives of the project is to strengthen institutions
in Georgia to plan and manage the coastal resources of the Black
Sea in an environmentally sustainable way, consistent with Georgia's
regional commitments under the Black Sea Environmental Program.
Project activities include establishment of a legal and institutional
framework for planning at the national and local levels; support
for environmental quality monitoring system and information network
of ICZM, identification of cost-effective solutions for coastal
erosion, and national oil spill contingency planning. The GEF-financed
component will help establish the Kolkheti National Park and Kobuleti
Nature Reserves, and implement their management plans. These parks
boast globally significant wetlands (Ramsar site) and were identified
as priority areas for action in the Georgia Biodiversity Strategy.
World
Bank - GEF - Biodiversity:
Danube
Delta Biodiversity, Romania
The project aims to protect the Romanian Delta ecosystem and contribute
to the conservation of biodiversity within the Delta. It will strengthen
institutional capacity to monitor and manage protected areas effectively,
work with local community groups to ensure sustainable resource
use and restore some wetlands to their natural condition by testing
various approaches and monitoring their impact.
World
Bank - GEF - Biodiversity:
Danube
Delta Biodiversity, Ukraine
This project aims to protect the Ukrainian Delta ecosystem and contribute
to the conservation of biodiversity in the Delta. It will strengthen
institutional capacity to manage protected areas effectively, working
with local community groups to ensure sustainable resource use,
and restoring some wetlands to their natural condition. The project
complements the Romanian Danube Delta project.
World
Bank - GEF - Biodiversity:
Biodiversity
Conservation in the Azov-Black Sea Ecological Corridor, Ukraine
The project will conserve an ecological corridor along the northwest
Black Sea shelf in Ukraine. Conservation and sustainable use objectives
will be achieved by coordinated activities inside and outside of
protected areas including: protected area planning, land management
compatible with biodiversity objectives in agricultural landscapes,
strengthening of governmental agencies and NGOs in biodiversity
management and education, and improved international cooperation.
Project
concepts in the pipeline
UNDP
- GEF - International waters:
Strengthening Implementation of Nutrient Reduction Measures and
Transboundary Cooperation in the Danube River Basin
The objective of this project is to complement and support the activities
of the Danube Commission (ICPDR) required to provide a regional
approach to the development of national policies and legislation
and to define priority actions for nutrient reduction.
UNDP/UNEP/World
Bank - GEF - International waters:
Nutrient
Reduction Programme - Regional Project for the Black Sea
The project's objective is to help the Black Sea countries to prevent
and remediate nutrient releases through the use of economic instruments,
environmental laws and regulatrions, public participation, and strengthening
the Black Sea Secretariat. See also a presentation at the GPA
Clearing-House.
European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) - GEF - International
waters:
Danube
Pollution Reduction Programme - Financing Pollution Reduction Projects
by Local Financial Intermediaries
Within the framework of the GEF/UNDP/EU Danube Pollution
Reducation Programme, a number of high priority projects addressing
the main transboundary cause of degradation, nutrient discharges,
have been identified.
UNDP/UNEP/World
Bank - GEF - International waters:
Nutrient
Reduction Program - Regional Project for the Danube Basin
The main objective of the project is to assist in implementation
of the practical measures for restoring and protecting the Black
Sea environment agreed by the coastal countries in the 1996 Strategic
Action Plan (SAP) for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Danube
River Basin.
World
Bank - GEF - International Waters:
Black
Sea Agricultural Pollution Control Project, Romania
The project would assist the Government of Romania in its efforts
to promote the adoption of environmentally-friendly agricultural
practices by farmers and to restore part of the former floodplain
areas along the lower Danube River.
World
Bank - GEF - International Waters:
Wetland
Restoration Project Bulgaria
The project would implement the priorities of improved natural resources
management and Biodiversity Conservation identified in the NEAP
and Biodiversity Strategy/Action Plan at local watershed levels
where mechanisms in state community, and private partnership.
European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) - GEF - International
Waters:
Upgrading
of Chisinau Waste Water Treatment Plant, Moldova
The mechanical and biological waste water treatment plant in Chisinau
is located on the Dniester River. It is in operation since 1972
and has been extended/rehabiliated several times up to 1990.
Other
actors, initiatives and resources
Black
Sea Web
The
Black Sea Web Project is a joint project between local partners
from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and Romania, and EU partners
from the Netherlands and Denmark, focusing on strengthening environmental
management for the Black Sea Region. The
objective of the web project is to provide decision-makers with
relevant information. "The Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation
and Protection of the Black Sea cannot be realized without real
time information and data on the several ecological aspects of the
Black Sea marine environment."
The
Black Sea - a Large Marine Ecosystem (LME)
A
Large Marine Ecosystem,
LME,
is a "region of ocean space encompassing coastal areas from
river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundary of continental
shelves and the seaward margins of coastal current systems. It is
a relatively large region characterized by distinct bathymetry,
hydrography, productivity, and trophically dependent populations."
See also Rhode Island University map
of LMEs.
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