ICZM in Romania (2003 – 2005)
EUCC is involved in a SENTER project in Romania with the general objective to introduce, and implement, ICZM and the EU Water Framework Directive in the Romanian coastal zone. It will address the need for an ICZM approach in the decision making and economic planning within the context of the EU ICZM Recommendation and Strategy and will take into account the lessons learned in other candidate and EU member states. An expert visit will be made to Romania to discuss specific problems with local ICZM specialists and a workshop will be held.

This work builds upon a critique which we produced concerning the, then, current Romanian Law (2003) which covers the Coastal and Marine Areas. We provided text and ideas for a new law which is currently being drafted. This assessment was presented at a high level workshop in Romania – and well received. The EUCC also drafted three Codes of Conduct on tourism, agriculture and protected areas in Romania (2003).

The Helsinki Convention (HELCOM) (1995-2005)
EUCC has been an observer to HELCOM since 1995 and contracted by the group on Nature Conservation and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (HELCOM Habitat) to develop several ICZM documents.

Most recently (2004), EUCC was commissioned to produce an ICZM reporting form based upon the ICZM Progress Indicator set to support HELCOM’s Recommendation on ICZM Implementation (a legally binding instrument) which was agreed in 2003. Work has already started in Germany, Denmark, Poland and Russia to produce relevant methodology before the group’s next meeting in May 2005.

This builds upon two important documents that HELCOM Habitat had previously commissioned from EUCC. The second, written in 2003 was entitled “A Common Approach to ICZM in the Baltic Region”. This was commissioned as a result of the EU Recommendation and Strategy on ICZM. The report took experience from the EU, Mediterranean Action Plan (Barcelona Convention) and national practices from the nine member states to delineate a common approach for ICZM in the region including a number of Strategic Principles which should be taken into account. It was designed to help the Baltic States both in their Stocktaking exercise and the development of a Strategy for ICZM. This forward thinking policy will be synergistic with the development of ICZM in the EU and also ensure complementarity between the eight EU states and Russa.

As preparation for this work in 2001, EUCC prepared a "State-of-the-Art" report on ICZM in the Baltic region. It included the various policies and legal instruments already to hand in the nine riparian states and addended a list of current ICZM projects underway.

ICZM in the Black sea (2003-2004)
EUCC has provided technical assistance to the Black Sea Environmental Programme. We provided expert ICZM support to enable the three Regional Activity Centres in Georgia, Russia and Ukraine to finalise their work, disseminate information and policy documents and help them to be implemented. A methodological approach and procedures for implementation of sustainable development with a special focus on pollution were developed. Special attention was paid to the existing legal procedures in the Black Sea countries. Furthermore, two ICZM pilot projects in Russia and Ukraine were carried out using the ICZM methodology developed in a previous TACIS project.

Conservation of Rusne island in the Nemunas delta, Lithuania (2002-2004)
The Nemunas delta (23,950 ha) is situated on the Russian/Lithuanian border, which is formed by the river Nemunas, in the western part of the delta, bordering the Curonian lagoon. It has the status of Regional Park and a management plan for the park has been developed. The delta is of a particular importance for birds. Several bird species are considered internationally endangered e.g. white-tailed eagle, barnacle goose, crane, dunlin and aquatic warbler. For migratory birds, the Nemunas delta is one of the most important stop-over areas in the northern part of the Western-Palaearctic migration route. Rusne Island, five square kilometres of grassland, fishponds, reed beds, and swampy areas, is situated in the centre of the Nemunas delta. The island and its surrounding parts of the Nemunas Delta Park like Minija nature reserve, Dreverna area and Minde grassland, are extremely important breeding and stopover places for grassland birds. EECONET Action Fund in cooperation with other funding organisations has secured long term support for nature conservation and sustainable development of Rusne island (more information can be found at www.eeconet.org).
This project, supported by the Frankfurt Zoological Society, aims to contribute to the sustainable conservation of the nature heritage of the delta as the most important coastal area for migratory birds in the Baltic Region and as an essential element of EECONET. The following objectives have been set:

• Counteract grassland birds habitat degradation due to vegetation succession and meadows damaging;
• Aquatic Warbler conservation;
• Development of eco -agriculture and eco-tourism as tools for nature preservation.

The project’s results are described within the Final project report.

Ten for Nature (2002-2004)
EUCC led a project called 'Ten for Nature' which helped five NGOs in five new accession countries (Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary & Slovakia) as well as three NGOs in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine to conserve high biodiversity values through field management practices in important areas of natural beauty e.g. Hortobagy National Park (HU), Tematinske hills (SK). One of the aims, through this work, was to help the organisations fund-raise - including private contributions - in order to widen the financial backing and reduce the dependence on single large grants in order to avoid the project ending when the funding runs out i.e to reach financial sustainability through field management practices in important areas of natural beauty. For further information see www.eeconet.org.

EUROSION (2002-2004)
The EUCC was responsible for two work packages of the service contract concerning Coastal Erosion – Evaluation of the Needs for Action. In the various deliverables the EUCC was responsible for the Scoping Study, Trends Report, Policy Recommendations, newsletters, and brochure. Particular attention was paid to coastal erosion as a natural process and to the sensitivity of coastal ecosystems to erosion – and even more to coastal defence measures and scenarios. We will continue to promote the EUROSION approach, conclusions and recommendations during the next years. To this end, the sixty-odd case studies have been incorporated in the CoPraNet project together wit the methodology. www.eurosion.org

ENRISK (2002-2004)
Within the 5th Framework Research Programme, under the Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Thematic Programme, EUCC worked on a project called ENRISK under the leadership of the European Centre for Nature Conservation. The aim of the project was to develop agri-environmental assessments by investigating the role of risk assessments as a means for policy implementation on sustainable land use at the European Level. EUCC’s contribution was to produce a case study on the effects of biodiversity in the Baltic Sea caused by eutrophication due to agricultural fertiliser run-off.

Pan European Ecological Network Map (N.E. Europe) (2000 - 2001)
A multinational project team lead by the European Centre for Nature Conservation and comprising EUCC, the All Russian Research Institute for Nature Protection (RU), Alterra (NL), Institute for Nature Conservation (PL), Kossuth Lajos University (HU), National Reference Centre for Nature Management (NL), University of Tartu (ES), Wageningen University (NL) and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UK) drew up an indicative map of the Pan European Ecological Network in the 12 North-East European countries. The task of the EUCC was to produce relevant coastal and marine information for inclusion in the map. This work has been followed up by a project to produce a similar map for South-East Europe.

Quality of Coastal Towns (1999-2001)
This Interreg IIC project was a good example of international, local and regional government partnership. It provided opportunities for information exchange between the eleven partners in the UK, Netherlands and Belgium for strategy development. Common interests resulted from the network should also offer examples for other local communities coping with similar problems. Ultimately, the measure of the success of regional strategies for coastal tourism will not be found within the pages of the strategy documents that are produced, but rather in the positive benefits they achieve for the quality, good management and, where possible, the quantity of experiences within the coastal zone.

Several of the partners have continued to work together in the Coastal Practice Network (CoPraNet) project.

The European Code of Conduct for Coastal Zones (1993 – 1999)
EUCC developed the European Code of Conduct for Coastal Zones under the auspices of the Council of Europe, elaborating the implications of environmental concerns and the precautionary principle for all economic sectors relevant for coastal management. The Code deals with direct threats (habitat destruction) as well as indirect threats (habitat degradation and health impacts on wildlife and humans as a result of pollution). It represents a vital effort to put the principles of sustainable development into practice, at all levels of society. www.coastalguide.org/code/

The European Coastal and Marine Ecological Network (1996-99)
EUCC developed and wrote the document 'European Coastal and Marine Ecological Network' which produced, amongst other things, a typology of European coastlines (landscapes, formations and habitats) as well as a new map ' Coastal systems of Europe', as an ecological basis for planning and decision making for any economic sector relevant for coastal management.

PECMEC (1999)
As a follow-up to the European Coastal and Marine Ecological Network projects, EUCC drew up recommendations to Member states to improve the protection of corridors which are used by many animal species to migrate from one important area in their life-cycle to another. This information was further used in an EU funded project led by European Centre For Nature Conservation of which EUCC was partner to develop a Map of the Pan-European Ecological Network.

Sustainable tourism in Russia (2003)
EUCC developed, and successfully sought funding for, a project in Chupa, Russia (the White Sea area). It involved local groups and was primarily concerned with sustainable coastal resource management in Russia. It included writing a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis for the coastal development in the Chupa region, Karelia (RU). This project has developed into a larger one concerning sustainable coastal resource management in Russia.

Linking ICZM to Biodiversity (2002)
As part of the Workshop on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in The Hague, Netherlands, April 2002, EUCC presented a report showing entitled IMCAM and Biodiversity in Europe.

The paper assessed the success with which biodiversity issues and CBD objectives have been taken into account in IMCAM instruments, mechanisms and projects in Europe. Two main integrated coastal management initiatives were considered viz. the coastal area management programme in the Mediterranean Sea and the EU IMCAM demonstration programme and strategy to which has been added the development of IMCAM in Central and Eastern Europe. For each one of these three European areas, a best example of IMCAM was chosen for an in-depth analysis. These are the Albanian coast, the UK Dorset coast and the West Estonian Archipelago