Environmental Contracts in Marine Protected Areas

The Mediterranean basin is one of the most important global hotspots of biodiversity. However, it is facing ecosystem degradation due to its high exposure to anthropogenic impacts such as seasonal tourism, illegal fishing or overfishing, unsustainable agriculture methods, maritime transport pollution or other kinds of pollution such as plastics. Environmental issues linked directly to climate change such as extreme climatic events, extensive fires or invasive alien species, also play a role in this degradation process.

The Interreg MED TUNE UP project is addressing a governance gap to deal with the risk of biodiversity loss and unsustainable socio-economic activities in the Mediterranean region. It focuses specifically on the ongoing lack of multilevel governance, weak cooperation between stakeholders, unsustainable management and low public awareness.

Aim of the tool

Marine Protected Area Contracts are voluntary governance tools built on Environmental Contracts that originated in France in the early eighties to control pollution and flooding, manage hydraulic structures and raise stakeholder awareness. This tool responds to the need for a strategic and collaborative approach to Mediterranean marine protected area (MPA) management and biodiversity protection, based on the active participation of local stakeholders. The overall aim of the tool is to improve coordination and encourage the effectiveness of MPA management and planning in the Mediterranean.

The Environmental Contract has the proper features of a governance model. It must be adaptive and open to any possible update according to the external conditions that eventually determine or change the feasibility of decisions being implemented. This creates a synergy and a bottom-up dynamic between actors in order to share different perspectives and discover new ways of identifying and solving problems in MPAs.

Main objectives

The final objectives of the negotiated and voluntary management tool are to:

• Engage and strengthen the capacities of key stakeholders within novel territorial governance frameworks,
• Guide both the public and private sectors to accurately apply ecosystem-based approaches in their activities,
• Ensure multi-stakeholder coordination and prevent potential conflicts between different parties/sectors,
• Promote the achievement of long-term results to increase the size of protected areas in the Mediterranean, and
• Attract new sources of funding and exploit various financial tools, for concrete actions to be activated, in relation to MPAs’ effective management.

Technological infrastructure

No specific technological infrastructure is needed for the implementation of this tool. However, since this management tool is based on a participatory approach, technological materials for improving communication between participants, such as computers and the internet, can be necessary. They help to reinforce synchronisation and share knowledge between MPA managers and other stakeholders.

Training

It is important that the MPA managing authority launching the Contract has the capacity to lead the process and design a participation and communication strategy. Training to some employees or trained external advisors should be foreseen to ensure a proper management of both technical and scientific aspects of the process.

Investment

The final cost concerns the funding of the governance process and structure as previously described and will likely depend on factors such as the type and length of the process.

Concept

Environmental Contracts are not new plans. Rather they are designed to bring existing plans together in order to amplify their effectiveness in the target region. It is a complex procedure, because the tool has to take different socio-economic, political and sectoral dynamics into account. A long-term governance model also requires an adaptive governance approach, based on flexibility and a simplification of administrative procedures with a view to its application across different MPAs. This is also needed to reinforce stakeholder participation, communication and engagement, especially between those parties that possess sectoral expertise, local authorities and the catalysts of the Environmental Contract process.

Therefore, the Environmental Contract involves the preliminary definition of the territorial area to be considered, its legal and regulatory framework, a stakeholder map, questionnaires and a Memorandum of Understanding. The tool’s participatory approach allows for drafting three scenarios for each pilot site:

1. Trend scenario: considering negative tendencies in the current situation
2. Oriented scenario: considering a set of positive interventions to improve the situation
3. Preferred scenario: highlighting the proposals to achieve short and mid-term improvement goals

These scenarios comprise three strategic topics: governance, environment and socio-economic development, as well as the specific characteristics of each MPA. Thus, at the end of the process, the Contract is based on a shared vision, an action plan and an agreement between the stakeholders, based on the legal framework in place in the area. After signing, during the implementation stage, there is also a monitoring phase of contract compliance.

Pilot areas

Amvrakikos Gulf (Greece) , Cabo de Gata –Níjar Natural Park (Spain) , Kotor – Risan Bay (Montenegro) , L’Albufera (Spain) , Sazan – Karaburun (Albania) , Sečovlje Salina Landscape Park (Slovenia) , Sinis Peninsula – Mal di Ventre Island (Italy) , The former saltworks of Camargue (France) , Thermaikos Gulf – Axios delta (Greece) , Ventotene and Santo Stefano Islands (Italy)

Implementation Dates

The implementation timeline of the action plan that supports an Environmental Contract is 5 years.

The challenges observed in the pilot areas reveal the following Contract implementation challenges:

• Fragmentation of administrative boundaries and complexity of the institutional framework
• Lack of coordination between different stakeholders and insufficient collaborative governance approaches
• Ignoring crucial aspects of local development such as human, cultural and socio-economic dynamics
• Lack of a centralised system for data collection and dissemination policies
• Lack of public and institutional awareness

Other main challenges revolve around the need to prioritise the activities and clearly identify dates, budgets and responsibilities, while involving stakeholders both within and outside of the MPAs and public authorities in the process from the very beginning.

Quantitative results

The main result of the Environmental Contract is improved MPA management effectiveness at the Mediterranean basin. Overall, quantitative results include the number of stakeholders targeted and involved in the process, the people reached and impacted during the territorial labs, as well as the total area of the MPA involved and impacted.

Key deliverables

The tool encourages optimal engagement between stakeholders in the targeted area to achieve the best practices for biodiversity protection in the Mediterranean. It contains two key deliverables:

1. a Formal Agreement (signed legal act, binding for the undersigning parts), and
2. an Action Plan (including the sequence of alternative scenarios, responsible bodies, necessary economic and human resources, implementation terms).

Transfer potential

Environmental Contracts may be adopted by any MPA, and in numerous other contexts such as urban/rural/natural areas which have similar governance and management issues. Regardless of the complexity of the cultural, political, economic and social systems, it is an adaptable management tool that aims to solve governance challenges. It is a suitable tool to be used by different stakeholders (international, national, local authorities, private and public enterprises, civil society organisations, general public, etc.) as a formal agreement. This kind of transfer contributes to sharing different stakeholder experiences on community development, training methodologies, conflict resolution as well as communication and management skills.

• All Mediterranean stakeholders have a key role to play in the MPA governance process to ensure efficient and long-term MPA management.

• MPAs are impacted by numerous activities (fishing, tourism, agriculture, etc) and the active participation of local stakeholders have a key role in contributing to the improvement of MPA management.

• Strong and effective communication and engagement strategies for these stakeholders are also important to amplify the efficiency of MPA management.

In the Mediterranean, there is an urgent need to support the effectiveness of MPA management and this tool can contribute by fostering participatory approaches within and beyond territorial waters to improve local and regional governance.