Partners from the PEGASO project were participating at the Coordination meeting of FP7 projects in the Mediterranean & Black Sea regions that was held 13-14 June in Athens. This two-days workshop was organized by Vangelis Papathanassiou, the PERSEUS scientific coordinator, and was attended by the representatives of 18 projects (CLEANSEA, COCONET, CREAM, EMBLAS, Kill*Spill, JELLYRISK-MED, MARLISCO, MEDINA, MEDISEH, MEDSEA, MERMAID, MISIS, MYOCEAN2, STAGES, ODEMM, PEGASO, PERSEUS, ULIXES, VECTORS). 

The first day of the workshop was devoted to short presentations of each of the projects, while on the second day, a road map of collaboration for the future, with clear and focused actions was developed and discussed. Best practice for monitoring, research cruises, modeling capacities and results, stakeholder involvement, training issues etc. were topics considered during the meeting.

PEGASO was also invited to participate at the 15th meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) held in Malta from 10 to 12 June 2013. Several intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other partners attended the meeting as observers to share best practices at the regional, national and local level.

During the meeting, participants asked for better implementation of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) priority fields of action such as Integrated Coastal Zone Management and relevant processes such as the Ecosystem Approach.

The MCSD meeting gathers representatives of Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, experts as well as a number of UNEP/MAP partners. It is a platform for exchanges of national and regional experiences on sustainable development and provides advice to the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Regions in the Mediterranean. The focus of the MCSD this year was on the implications of Rio+20 for the Mediterranean.

For further info: Françoise Breton

PHOTO: Coordination meeting of FP7 projects in the Mediterranean & Black Sea regions