The 27th Assembly of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO was held in Paris, from June 26 to July 5, 2013. The IOC Assembly, composed of 145 Member States, meets every two years. It is the principal organ to approve the IOC general policy and main lines of work, including programmes and projects.

The IOC Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) Programme aims at increasing the collective capacity to respond to challenges in coastal and marine environment, through further development of science-based management tools.

On the occasion of this 27th IOC Assembly, the PEGASO project and its achievements were presented to the IOC Member States. The PEGASO project was described as a regional approach to help develop Member States capacity for the application of ecosystems-based management tools. IOC is one of the 25 partners participating in the PEGASO project.

Furthermore, IOC presented the indicators for the implementation of the ICZM Protocol in the Mediterranean, which are also widely applicable in the context of implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management elsewhere. IOC also explained the chosen approach to prepare the Integrated Regional Assessment (IRA), in order to get a better understanding of the complexity of multidimensional issues related to the coastal and marine environment of the Mediterranean and the Black seas.

For more information: Julian Barbière and Francesca Santoro 

Photo: (c) UNESCO