Meeting of the working group for elaborating an approach for SPAMIs beyond national jurisdiction (3-4 March 2011)

RAC/SPA, in consultation with the MAP Coordinating Unit, has convened on 3 and 4 March 2011, in Athens, a working group for elaborating an institutional and legal approach for establishing and managing Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction, as requested by the Bureau of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention.

This working group has brought together Mediterranean independent experts, as well as experts from international and regional organizations. Beside RAC/SPA and MAP Coordinating Unit representatives, the following organizations were represented: Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the United Nations (UN DOALOS), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Secretariat of Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS), Secretariat of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), Secretariat of the OSPAR Convention, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), WWF Mediterranean Programme (WWFMedPo), Greenpeace, Institut du développement durable et des relations internationals (IDDRI).

See the meeting agenda.