Meetings and Workshops 2004

Danube - black sea stocktaking meeting, Bucharest, November 10-13, 2004
FileDanube - Black Sea Basin Stocktaking Meeting - Agenda
Draft Agenda
FileFramework Brief:GEF Strategic Partnership on the Danube/Black Sea Basin
In the International Waters focal area, countries often face very complex, water-related environmental problems. In order to develop the joint political commitment to be successful in addressing these transboundary problems, the GEF Operational Strategy recognized that a series of international waters projects may be needed over time to: (a) build the capacity of countries to work together, (b) jointly understand and set priorities based on the environmental status of their waterbody, (c) identify actions and develop the political commitment to address the top priority transboundary problems, and then (d) implement the agreed policy, legal, and institutional reforms and investments needed to address them.
FileReport to the Stocktaking Meeting of the Danube/ Black Sea Strategic Partnership
The long-term development objective of the proposed Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project (BSERP) is to contribute to sustainable human development in the Black Sea area through reinforcing the cooperation and the capacities of the Black Sea countries to take effective measures in reducing nutrients and other hazardous substances to such levels necessary to permit Black Sea ecosystems to recover to similar conditions as those observed in the 1960s. The overall objective of the project is to ensure (i) that all of the Black Sea countries take concrete measures (including investment activities) in the eutrophication causing sectors to reduce load of nutrients and hazardous substances on the Black Sea ecosystem and, (ii) that major findings and recommendations of the project have been incorporated in national policies, strategies and, where possible, in national legislation. The overall objective of the current GEF/UNDP Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project (BSERP) is to support participating countries in the development of national policies and legislation and the definition of priority actions to avoid that discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Black Sea exceed those levels as observed in 1997.
FileREPORT TO THE DANUBE – BLACK SEA STOCKTAKING MEETING
Until the 1960s, the Black Sea was known for its productive fishery, scenic beauty, and as a resort destination for millions of people. Since that time, as with other waterbodies around the world, massive overfertilization of the sea by nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture, municipal, and industrial sources has seriously degraded the ecosystem, disrupted the fisheries, reduced biodiversity, posed health threats to humans, and resulted in billions of dollars of economic losses to the economies of the 6 countries.
FileWorld Bank Investment Fund Contribution to the Achievement of Strategic Partnership Objectives
The objective of this report is to contribute to the discussions at the Stocktaking meeting for the GEF Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea / Danube Basin on progress made towards achieving the objectives of the Partnership. Information is provided on the status and composition of the portfolio of the World Bank – GEF Investment Fund (IF). However, the report is not a mid-term evaluation of the IF, since the IF implementation will reach its mid-point roughly in 2006.
FilePolicy and legal reforms and implementation of investment projects for pollution control and nutrient reduction in the Danube River Basin Countries
The Danube is the most international river in the world. Thirteen countries together comprise 99% of the territory of the basin and a further five countries have small amounts of land area in the basin. These thirteen major countries and the European Union signed the Danube River Protection Convention in 1994, that committed them to coordinated management of water resources. To coordinate the work under the Convention the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) was founded. The ICPDR has established a secretariat based in Vienna and developed a work group structure involving the input of experts from each of the countries. This report summarizes achievements that have been realized through work of the countries under the ICPDR. A focus of this analysis is on identifying the challenges that remain in order to streamline and target the implementation of the Strategic Partnership towards its objectives and indicators for further reinforcement of cooperation in the Danube – Black Sea Region.
FileTo the Danube – Black Sea Basin Stocktaking Meeting
The Black Sea is widely recognized as one of the regional seas most damaged by human activity. Almost one third of the entire land area of continental Europe drains into this sea. It is an area, which includes major parts of seventeen countries, thirteen capital cities and some 160 million persons. The second, third and fourth major European rivers, the Danube, Dnieper and Don, discharge into this sea while its only connection to the world's oceans is the narrow Bosphorus Strait. The Bosphorus is as little as 70 meters deep and 700 meters wide but the depth of the Black Sea itself exceeds two kilometers in places. Contaminants and nutrients enter the Black Sea via river run-off mainly and by direct discharge from land-based sources. The management of the Black Sea itself is the shared responsibility of the six coastal countries: Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, and Ukraine.
FileReport on UNEP Assistance in the Black Sea Basin
As of 2003 and in the context of the first phase of the GEF-BSERP project, UNEP agreed to assist in the implementation of objective 2 of the project which deals with: Regional actions for improving landbased activities and legislation to control eutrophication and for tackling emergent problems.
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