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Your EUCC Coastal Guide News editorial team

Information & Meetings
	Conferences & Events
	New Coastal Publications
	DG Environment commissioned project to tackle coastal erosion
	Vacancy

Organisations
	New hyperlinks to websites

Environment
	EEA analysed how to better apply the precautionary principle

Development & Trends
	World's largest off-shore wind farm approved by Irish government

Policy
	Europe's ICZM strategy passed second EP reading
	Ramsar site "Dnestr Delta" in Ukraine will become National Park
	Urgent call against privatisation of Italian beaches

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
 
 

TERRA coastal zone management project report - English summary This report summarises the outcome of the TERRA coastal zone management project conducted by the regions of Kavala/Greece, Flanders/Belgium, and Algarve/Portugal from 1998 to 2001. It describes the elements of the Action Plan for the Belgian coast, recommendations for ICZM in Belgium, present trends along the coast, and conclusions. Furthermore, there are annexes on the results of a data and conflict analysis and an inventory of legislation for the Flemish coastal zone. The English summary can be downloaded from http://www.coastalguide.org/icm/terraczm.pdf. The full version in Dutch can be received from Kathy Belpaeme of the Province of West-Flanders, e-mail: kathy.belpaeme@west-vlaanderen.be, tel.: +32-50-403291

Responsible Coastal Zone Management. The challenge of the 21st Century By Antonieta Pozar-Domac (editor) (2000, 71 pp). Period biol, Vol 102, Supplement 2, Zagreb. ISSN 0031 5362. This publication is the second part of the proceedings of the LITTORAL 2000 conference. It contains all papers which could not be included in the original proceedings. In addition the programme of this fifth International Conference of EUROCOAST is given.

DG Environment commissioned project to tackle coastal erosion

This month the two-year project "Eurosion" has started. It aims at providing the European Commission with recommendations for policy-making and management practices to address the issue of coastal erosion in the European Union. The project consortium is led by the Dutch National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management (RIKZ) and includes EUCC - The Coastal Union, the French Environment Institute IGNFI, IFEN (responsible for state of environment reporting in France), the University of Barcelona, the French IT developer MATRA and BRGM (Institute for Sustainable Resource Management. One quarter of the European Union's coast (16 000 km of coastline) is currently eroding despite the development of a wide range of measures to protect shorelines from eroding and flooding. The prospect of further sea level rise due to climate change and the heritage of mismanagement in the past - such as inappropriate infrastructure and development too close to the shoreline - imply that coastal erosion will be a growing concern in the future. Management solutions to be developed in the framework of Eurosion will be based on an integrated coastal zone management approach. The project will result in a European database on coastal erosion for use by the Directorate General of the European Commission as well as a collection of good practice examples and recommendations for effective data management at a local level. Coastal Guide News will inform you as soon as the Eurosion website is on-line.
For more information, contact the project manager Stephane Lombardo, lombardo@eurosion.org

Marine Pollution Officer

English Nature is looking for a Marine Pollution Officer for its Maritime Team in Peterborough. The work will involve leading and co-ordinating English Nature's capability to respond to marine pollution events; undertaking projects to inform or advice on marine pollution and related sectors; ensuring wildlife interests are taken account of in hydrocarbon and shipping matters, including contingency planning; responding to national consultations; and liaising with a wide range of organisations. For further details and an application form for all posts, please contact Sue Lenaghan, Maritime Team, English Nature, Northminster House, Peterborough, PE1 1UA. Telephone: 01733 455226, or apply on-line at the English Nature website address. http://www.english-nature.org.uk

New hyperlinks to websites

Centre for Maritime and Regional History, Denmark
http://www.cmrh.dk/
A research centre and postgraduate study programme in maritime, regional and marine environmental history, and integrated coastal zone management.

CoNet CZA 21 - Coastal Network - Coastal Zone Agenda 21
http://www.conet21.de
The project aims at sustainable coastal zone development in the (entire) Baltic Sea Region. CoNet CZA 21 is funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU).

HELCOM - Marine Environment Protection Commission
http://www.helcom.fi
This website has been re-designed to provide latest news and comprehensive background articles about salient issues related to the Baltic marine environment.

Check out the other Website Links on the Coastal Guide
 

EEA analysed how to better apply the precautionary principle

Twelve key lessons for decision-making have emerged from an analysis by the European Environment Agency (EEA) of cases, three of them related to the coastal environment, where public policy was formulated against a background of scientific uncertainty or surprise developments, or where clear evidence of hazards to people and the environment was ignored. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) for example, were used primarily in electrical equipment since the thirties of last century. Although the effect of bio-accumulation in the coastal and marine environment and resulting reduced fertility rates of seals and other animals was known since the early sixties, industry and governments started taking measures only in the 1970s. The story of the antifoulant Tributyltin (TBT) used in shipping is similar. The substance lead for example to the collapse of the shellfish industry at the French Atlantic coast, but its phasing out started only lately because the environmental and economic effects were underestimated for too long a time. The chapter "Fisheries: taking stock" points at the fact that the principles and consequences of overfishing which recently lead to dramatic reduction of some fish stocks, have been known for even centuries. The report and its individual chapters can be downloaded from the EEA website at http://reports.eea.eu.int/environmental_issue_report_2001_22/en

World's largest off-shore wind farm approved by Irish government

The Irish government has approved plans for the world's largest offshore electricity-generating wind farm, to be built on a sandbank in the Irish Sea south of Dublin. When completed, the 200 turbines will produce 10% of the country's electricity needs. The plant capacity will ultimately reach 520 megawatts, which is three times the generating capacity of all current offshore wind farms worldwide. The plant on the 27-kilometre- long Arklow sandbank will be built by a private Irish company called Eirtricity. It will be about seven kilometres from the shore at its nearest point. Further information: BBC press release: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1755000/1755413.stm
Eirtricity : http://www.eirtricity.ie

Europe's ICZM strategy passed second EP reading

On 22 January, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament accepted the Common Position of the Council regarding the European Commission's document "Implementation of integrated coastal zone management in Europe" (COM (2000) 545 final) in second reading without any amendments. Deadline to submit amendments is the 1st of March and a final decision is scheduled for the session of 9-12 April, if no amendments will be proposed.
For more information on the ICZM strategy, visit EUCC's Coastal Guide at http://www.coastalguide.org/icm/index.html

Ramsar site "Dnestr Delta" in Ukraine will become National Park

On 11 January, the Odessa County Council in Southern Ukraine took the decision to establish a National Park of 21.400 ha on the Dnestr Delta. The area is rich in valuable habitats such as seasonally flooded forests and meadows, reed beds, and freshwater lakes. The Rasmar site constitutes one of the major bird migration routes through Ukraine and provides breeding ground for over 150 bird species, many of them endangered. However, many other rare animals, among them otter, mink and wild cat, also depend on the territory. During decades of Soviet rule, 40.000 ha of precious wildlife habitat were destroyed when the hydrological balance was changed and intensive agriculture as well as aquaculture were introduced. This is why concerned citizens, among them EUCC's Ivan and Tamara Rusev, started campaigning for a national park in 1985. Knowing that the support of local people and organisations is essential, they began to spread information about the threatened natural values of the Dnestr Delta with the help of the mass media and research institutions. The biggest opposition came from the fishing and hunting lobby. The group finally succeeded in establishing a nature reserve on 7620 ha ("Dnestrovskie Plavny") in 1993 as a first step towards a national park status. The Eeconet Action Fund and EUCC's Green Islands programme began to support education programmes and lobbying efforts towards local authorities that contributed to further positive development. After the decision of the Odessa Council, it is now up to the President of Ukraine to actually establish the national park, a decision that is expected in four to five months. For more information, please contact Ivan and Tamara Rusev at wildlife@paco.net

Urgent call against privatisation of Italian beaches

In December 2001 a new law was approved in Italy (law n. 448/2001-Article 71 of the "Legge Finanziara 2002"), which will render possible the privatization of Italian beaches that have been up to now property of the Italian government. The new law stipulates that all state-owned areas which are not used for civil service purposes and on which unauthorized urbanization and construction works were undertaken before December 31 1990, could be transferred to the municipalities as part of a transitional stage before their definitive privatization. Consequently, owners of illegal constructions and camping would be able to purchase back these public properties regardless of the abuses and illegal acts already perpetrated. This law could have devastating consequences on the environment: less nature and more pollution. Moreover the competition that will arise amongst private companies and organizations to get hold of the Italian beaches will jeopardize Italian citizens' and foreigners' right to access the seashore. This law will render void all the efforts made by the "Magistratura" to prevent illegal camping and tourist villages built on public maritime properties such as Villagio Coppola-Pinetamare in Castelvolturno. A call addressed to the Italian President asks for the urgent substitution of Article 71 by a new law (Decreto Legge) that would come immediately into force in order to protect the Italian coast. In response the Government promised that the law would be repealed and a proposal for an Act amending the law was drafted at the Senate. For more information contact Massimo Leone ma.leone@libero.it. A draft letter addressed to the President can be found at http://www.wwf.it

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 3: 6 February, 2002

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. 

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

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
 

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