Information & Meetings
	What's new in the website
	Conferences & Events
	New Coastal Publications

Organisations
	New hyperlinks to websites
	IUCN is establishing Mediterranean Office
	Revised NetCoast services

Policy
	Sweden wants to tackle problems of "Northern Dimension"
	EC took further measures to prevent marine pollution
	Russia and Azerbaijan agreed on how to split Caspian Sea resources

What's new in the website

New Country Files

The new country file Wales (drafted by Dr. Pat Doody) provides summary information and many hyperlinks on the following subjects: General Features, State of the Coast, Coastal Management and Planning, and References. You can find it at http://www.coastalguide.org/wales/

In our section Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in Europe the country files for the following countries have been added: Finland, Germany, Spain and Sweden. You can find them at http://www.coastalguide.org/icm/

Events recently announded

Please note:
The overview of the Coastal Guide conference and event  meeting list can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/meetings/
 

New Coastal Publications
 
 

The Global Challenge By D. Hinrichsen, D. and B. Robey, Population and the Environment: Population Reports, Series M, No. 15. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Population Information Program, Fall 2000. Published at http://www.jhuccp.org/pr/m15edsum.stm This report is based on extensive literature research and compiles many interesting and disturbing figures of environmental degradation due to human pressures - half of all coastline ecosystems are now under pressure because of high population densities and development. About half the world's population occupies a coastal strip 200 kilometres wide - just 10 percent of the world's land surface. Two-thirds of the world's people live within 400 kilometres of a seacoast. Given such population density, human activities are eroding close to 70% of the world's beaches at greater than natural rates. Other environmental problems this reports illuminates are water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss of forests, air and water pollution. The way out of disaster is practising sustainable development and achieving slower population growth, the Hopkins report concludes.

Marine and Coastal Geographical Information Systems Edited by Dawn Wright and Darius Bartlett (2001, 320 pp.) Taylor and Francis Books Ltd, Cheriton House, North Way, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5BE, UK. Fax +20 7842 2298. ISBN 0 7484 0862 2. Price UK £ 65.00. This publication covers progress and research in the marine and coastal realms, in the area of theory, applications and empirical results. It is the first book of its kind to address basic and applied scientific problems in deep sea and coastal science using GIS and remote sensing technologies. It illustrates the broad usage of GIS, image processing, and computer modelling in deep sea and coastal environments, and also addresses important institutional issues arising out of the use of these technologies.

Financing Environmentally Sensitive Fisheries in the EU: The use of incentive payments By Newcombe, J. Coffey, C. et al. (2000, 38 pp.). Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Dean Bradley House, 52 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AG, U.K. Fax +20 7799 2600. ISBN 1 873906 38 2. This report aims to stimulate debate about the merits of incentive payments for environmentally sensitive fisheries practices and how they may be further promoted within the EU policy framework. The report focuses on the use of positive financial incentives, examining how they have been used in the past and how we may draw lessons for enhancing their use in the future.

Merlimont Dunes (FR) workshop report Office National des Forêts / EUCC-France, 2000. Atelier de terrain ONF/EUCC-France, Réserve Biologique Domaniale des dunes de Merlimont (Pas-de-Calais) les 5 et 6 septembre 2000. Bordeaux. Copies of the report (in French) can be obtained from: jean.favennec@onf.fr. ONF and EUCC-France have published a report of the field workshop they organised in the dunes of Merlimont last September. The Merlimont area is one of the more important and dynamic dunes in France and presents excellent management practice by the ONF. English documentation for the area is available in the "Dune Guide": http://www.coastalguide.org/dune/merlimont.html

New hyperlinks to websites

Institute of Marine Sciences University of Szczecin

Sands of Time Web Site: information on the sand dunes of the Sefton Coast, north west England

Check out the other Website Links on the Coastal Guide

IUCN is establishing Mediterranean Office

Last December, IUCN, the Spanish Government and the Regional Government of Andalucía signed an agreement to establish a Mediterranean UICN Office in Malaga, Spain. With the opening of this office IUCN intends to provide a forum and service to its 160 Mediterranean members and to work out the IUCN Mediterranean Programme containing coastal and marine issues such as islands, fisheries, integrated coastal zone management, and protection of wetlands. The new office will build on the IUCN network in bringing together the expertise of its member organisations in the West Asian, North African and European Regions. For more information contact: Mr. Francis Parakatil, IUCN headquarters, at frp@hq.iucn.org or Mr. Andrez Alcantara in Malaga, Spain, at iucnma@ari.es.  

Revised NetCoast services

The international coastal management internet platform NetCoast has made its services more user friendly. One major change is a flexible mailinglist in which the user can determine the type information (topic and geographical region) he or she wants to receive by e-mail. You can subcribe by going to http://www.netcoast.nl and choosing under "communication" your "maillist". The Netcoast team is eager to receive further suggestions how to improve the system. Further information: Carla Bennink, NetCoast webmaster, e-mail: c.a.bennink@rikz.rws.minvenw.nl

Sweden wants to tackle problems of "Northern Dimension"

Sweden wants to use its current EU presidency to put the environment and the so-called Northern Dimension on top of the European policy agenda. The Northern Dimension concept focuses on a region of approximately 140 million inhabitants and covers the North West region of Russia and the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. Kaliningrad is paid particular attention to because of its unique future position as a Russian enclave within the enlarged Union and its high level of environmental pollution and health problems. The European Commission is currently preparing a Communication on Kaliningrad, to carry work forward. The 15 EU Foreign Ministers and their colleagues from the seven Northern Dimension Partner Countries will meet in Luxembourg on April 9, 2001 to review progress on the implementation of the Action Plan tabled by the Commission. The Commission has three specific funding instruments for the region, each comprising a cross-border co-operation chapter: Phare, Tacis and Interreg.

For more information visit the External Relations Directorate-General website at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/news/patten/speech_99_161.htm
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/news/patten/north_dim.htm

EC took further measures to prevent marine pollution

The European Commission will set up a Community framework for co-operation in the field of accidental or deliberate marine pollution for the period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2006, with a budget of 7 million EUR. It is intended to support and supplement the Member States' efforts for the protection of the marine environment. Within the framework, a Community Information System for the purpose of exchanging data on the preparedness for and response to accidental or deliberate marine pollution will be established. The Commission will open a website "the Community homepage", and each Member State will open within six months a national homepage, which will be connected with the whole system.
Further info: Decision No 2850/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2000: http://www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2000/l_332/l_33220001228en00010006.pdf
EC DG Environment - Civil Protection & Environmental Agencies
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/civil/index.htm

Furthermore the European Commission has submitted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Committee on Safe Seas and amending the Regulations on marine safety and the prevention of pollution from ships. This will be an improvement of the pertinent Community legislation on maritime safety by creating a single committee, to be known as the Committee on Safe Seas, and by facilitating the process of amending the legislation. The role of the Committee on Safe Seas is to centralise the tasks of the committees set up under the Community legislation on maritime safety. The Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Member States.
Further info: Proposal: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2000/ce365/ce36520001219en02760279.pdf
EC DG Energy & Transport - Maritime Transport
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/themes/maritime/english/mt_en.html

Russia and Azerbaijan agreed on how to split Caspian Sea resources

On his visit to Azerbaijan, the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Heydar Aliev signed a statement of their shared conviction that the seabed of the Caspian should be divided between the five littoral states along the modified median line, while the waters should remain in common use, ITAR-TASS reported. Each littoral state should have exclusive rights to the mineral resources - in particular the hydrocarbon reserves - on its sector of the sea. This might clear the way for a convention on the Caspian environment and conservation measures for the seriously threatened sturgeon species. The two presidents furthermore expressed support for Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's proposal to convene a summit of Caspian littoral states in March to discuss the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 2/2001:
Wednesday January 24,  2001

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) with financial support of Stichting DOEN, the foundation of the Dutch lottery "Postcode Loterij" and the Department of International Nature Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. For free subscriptions, comments or contributions to this newsletter, please contact news@coastalguide.org. 

© Articles may be reproduced free of charge with acknowledgement and citation of Coastal Guide News and the URL of the Coastal Guide (http://www.coastalguide.org). The articles of this and previous issues of Coastal Guide News can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/news

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Erik Devilee, Irene Lucius, Hanneke Mesters, and Albert Salman. 

Established in 1989, the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) is an association involving the largest coastal network in Europe with 750 members and member organisations in 40 countries. For more information please contact EUCC International Secretariat, POB 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl

© EUCC, 2001