Clearing House for Integrated Coastal Management in the Mediterranean

Ivica Trumbic

United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan, Priority Actions Programme - Regional Activity Centre, Split (HR)

Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) has been promoted in the Mediterranean by the Priority Actions Programme Regional Activity Centre (PAP/RAC) of UNEP/MAP, and by many other actors in the region, for more than a decade. A wealth of experiences has been accumulated since then. In addition to methodological approaches to ICAM, there has been more than 100 direct interventions aimed at improving the situation in coastal areas. These interventions ranged from mitigating the pollution problems in coastal areas to creating a strategy for sustainable development in coastal areas at national, regional and local levels. In addition, a large number of publications as well as scientific reports has been published throwing light on a large number of aspects related to coastal ecosystems, its socio-economic development, institutions, legislation, etc. There have been a large number of gatherings where the regional practitioners and scientists were exchanging their views and knowledge on coastal situation in the region. What was missing was a tool that would facilitate exchange of experience among regional experts and where the laymen as well as people outside of the region could find all the necessary information on the Mediterranean coastal areas.

PAP/RAC has decided to pursue such a task and the idea to create the Mediterranean ClearingHouse Mechanism was born. In 2001, EU's DG Environment gave support to create such a mechanism. The positive experiences of others, such as EUCC, were utilised, particularly in "building" the database. However, the mechanism is unique because it is concentrated exclusively on one region. The benefit of such initiative is that it will be easy to access the database as well as use it for a variety of purposes. The mechanism is Internet based and its web address is www.pap-medicamclearinghouse.org.

The paper will present the details and the contents of the mechanism, its potential uses and benefits. Special attention will be given to regular maintenance of the mechanism because it is the only way to achieve credibility as well as regular visitors. It is expected that the decision-makers, practitioners, NGOs, general public and journalists will use the mechanism. Its level of elaboration is highly informative and easy to follow and read.

The major sections of the ICAM Clearing Mechanism are funding guide, experts register, publications, legislation and institutions, economic instruments, policies, strategies and plans, and toolbox. Special attention is given to the project inventory where a large number of projects are being presented in more or less detail. Everyone interested could get an easy insight into the situation with ICAM in Mediterranean.