International water courses protection

Aegean Sea Region Georges Kremlis

Head of Unit Cohesion Policy & Environmental Assessments

European Commission, DG Environment

Contents

EU legal and policy framework Water Framework Directive Floods Directive Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Recommendation Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Barcelona process: Declaration of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water

Other tools for implementation of international water bodies management

Legal: Espoo Convention & European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation (EGTC)

Financial: Cohesion Policy, Pre-accession assistance, European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI)

EU legal and policy framework

Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) protecting all waters (surface & groundwater: streams, rivers,

estuaries, and coastal waters); good quality (‘good status’) to be achieved, as a rule, by 2015;

Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) Risk assessment, mapping and flood risk management plans

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) EU ICZM Recommendation (2002/413/EC)

Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) Good environmental status of the EU's marine waters by 2021

(including coastal waters)

Water Framework Directive (WFD)

Creation of International River Basins Districts (IRBD) for river basins that cover the territory of more than one Member State (60% of EU’s surface area - IRBDs)

Each MS is responsible for WFD implementation in the area of an IRBD lying within its territory and should coordinate these actions with other MSs in the district (existing conventions & other cooperation mechanisms may be used)

MSs have to designate competent authorities – all designated authorities are national authorities

International river basin commissions (i.e. Danube case) are coordinating bodies & do not directly administer the WFD implementation

River Basin Districtsin the EU

Aegean Sea Basin

River Basin Management Plans* – WFD Integrated river basin management planning

Long-term vision for the IRBD is an essential tool: to reach an agreement between authorities and stakeholders on

objectives; and then, to plan the necessary actions to reach progressively these

objectives.

Knowledge-based management (good initial assessment and effective monitoring) ~ capacity building

build capacity (starting with awareness raising) among economic sectors and NGOs, officials, planners and administrators;

enhance sharing of information and experience between countries and regions sharing river basins

* draft version by January 2009 and final by January 2010 (Art. 13)

Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)

Preliminary risk assessment - by December 2011

Flood mapping - by December 2013

Flood risk management plans - by December 2015

Package of measures to achieve the acceptable flood risk within the areas covered in the flood maps

IRBD – one single international flood risk management plan or a set of flood risk management plans coordinated at IRBD level

+ more detailed plans per sub-basin (possible)– coordinated at IRBD level

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Recommendation

A strategic approach to coastal zone management and planning. Aim: achieve sustainable development

Based on common principles, reflecting good territorial governance: (a) a broad thematic and geographic perspective (b) a long-term perspective (c) adaptive management and sound knowledge basis (d) local specificity (e) working with natural processes, “carrying capacity” (f) involving all the parties concerned (g) support and involvement of relevant administrative bodies at

national, regional and local level (h) use of a mix of instruments, to facilitate coherence between sectoral

policy objectives and coherence between planning and management.

ICZM Recommendation – regional seas

Member States should encourage, enter into or maintain dialogue and implement existing conventions with neighbouring countries, including non-Member States, in the same regional sea, to establish mechanisms for better coordination of responses to cross-border issues. (chapter V (1) of the Recommendation)

Among the problems that would need regional coordination: risk management – coastal erosion

Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Good environmental status within the marine environment by 2020 through Member States’ marine strategies.

“Marine strategies shall apply an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities, ensuring that the collective pressure of such activities is kept within levels compatible with the achievement of good environmental status and that the capacity of marine ecosystems to respond to human-induced changes is not compromised, while enabling the sustainable use of marine goods and services by present and future generations.” Article 1.3

Each Member State shall, in respect of each marine region or sub-region concerned, develop a marine strategy for its marine waters – coherence and co-ordination within the region or sub-region!

Region: the Mediterranean Sea, Sub-region: the Aegean-Levantine Sea.

Barcelona process: Declaration of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water*

the Ministers agree to define the Long Term Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean

tackle problems that go beyond the means of any one country, in particular those related to the impact of climate change and environmental needs

two main goals: conservation of water quality and the balance between the quantity of water used and the quantity of water available (incl. mitigating and preventing the consequences of droughts and water scarcity)

consider the most appropriate instruments to reach the objectives of the Strategy

Guidelines for the Strategy for water in the Mediterranean are defined as well Agreement on: an efficient and shared elaboration and follow up

mechanism – coordination and cooperation at regional, national and among countries!

*Jordan, 29 October 2008

Tools for implementation – ESPOO

Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo, 1991) – EIA Convention

Assessment of the environmental impact of certain activities/projects that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries (notification and potential participation of the affected countries)

Turkey is not a Party to the Convention Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (Kiev,

2003) – SEA Protocol Applies to plans/programmes (i.e. International River Basin

Management Plans) Not yet in force (signed by Cyprus, Greece, FYROM;

ratified by Albania, Bulgaria, European Community)

Tools for implementation – Regulation on a European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation (EGTC) - 1082/2006

Instruments for regional & international development Regional/local partners free to run co-operation projects as an EGTC Who can be a member? : Member States, regional authorities, local

authorities, bodies governed by public law (as defined by the public procurement

directive) + associations consisting of such bodies Bodies from at least two Member States Participation from third countries is possible, but only if the third

country adopts identical legislation into its national law or if covered by international agreements

National rules adopted in GR & BG Potential objective for EGTC: management of a common river basin &

associated risks Potential co-financing: cross-border or transnational programmes

Tools for implementation – financial resources 2007-2013

Cohesion Policy – transnational programme for South-East Europe – all Balkans countries

Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA): Cross-border cooperation programmes (i.e. GR-FYROM, GR-Albania, BG-FYROM)

MED (ERDF programme for the Mediterranean region) – GR & CY eligible

GR-CY cross-border Programme (ERDF)

European Neighborhood Policy Instrument (ENPI) – transnational programme for the Mediterannean – all Med. Countries (CY, GR, Turkey)

Conclusions

A series of legal, policy and financial tools exist at EU level and covering third countries as well, directly or indirectly related to international water bodies management and protection

Integrated long-term planning – key principle

Good environmental governance – premises for sustainable development and achieving the right balance between the various waters users

Further informationOn water policy at EU level:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/

On WFD CIRCA (guidance documents):

http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/env/wfd/library

On ICZM

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/home.htm On Maritime affairs at EU level

http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/index_en.html

On ESPOO Convention

http://www.unece.org/env/eia/

On co-financing sources

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/transnational/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/regional-cooperation/enpi-cross-border/programmes/index_en.htm

Thank you

Georges.Kremlis@ec.europa.eu