Control of Eutrophication, Hazardous Substances and Related Measures for Rehabilitating the Black Sea Ecosystem, Tranche 2

The environment of the Black Sea/Danube Basin has become degraded over the past four decades. Pollution of the waters of the Black Sea and its tributaries, notably the Danube, has caused significant losses to riparian countries through reduced revenues from tourism and fisheries, loss of biodiversity, and increased water-borne diseases. Extensive studies conducted during the 1990s have shown that over-fertilization of the water bodies by nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from municipal, industrial and agricultural sources ("eutrophication") were the most significant cause of the ecological degradation that the Black Sea and the Danube River have experienced. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea and Danube Basin has been established with the cooperation of the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other multilateral and bilateral financiers and basin countries. The Partnership aims to promote investments and capacity building to return the Black Sea/Danube Basin environment to its 1960s condition. The two elements of the Partnership are: - The WB Investment Fund for Nutrient Reduction in the Black Sea/Danube Basin to help finance investment projects in industrial and domestic wastewater treatment, wetland restoration and environmentally friendly agriculture; and - Two UNDP/UNEP Regional Projects designed to enhance the capacity of individual riparian countries and their commissions (Black Sea Commission, Danube Commission) and improve the policy framework to address Black Sea and Danube pollution. The project in its Phase 2 will continue supporting the Black Sea regional aspects of the Black Sea Strategic Partnership for Nutrient Control. It will assist and strengthen the role of the Black Sea Commission (of the Bucharest Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution) and ensure the provision of a suite of harmonised legal and policy instruments for tackling the problem of eutrophication, and release of certain hazardous substances, and to facilitate ecosystem recovery. An important feature of the project is its encouragement of broad stakeholder participation. This will be achieved by inter-sectoral co-ordination, the provision of small grants to local initiatives and support for public information and environmental education. The project will also enable a new suite of indicators for monitoring the effectiveness of the measures taken by the Partnership. These indicators, together with targeted scientific studies, will help to set new regional nutrient control targets within the concept of adaptive management. The current project will be part of the broader multi-donor Black Sea Environmental Programme and clear mechanisms will be established for donor co-ordination and for co-ordination and the sharing of objectives with the Danube and Dnipro GEF Projects.

• Mr. Nick Remple
  Regional Coordinator, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (WB),
• Dr. Vladimir Mamaev
  DIKTAS implementing agency liaison, GEF Regional Technical Advisor, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
• Mr. Andrew Menz
  Deputy Regional Director, Europe and Middle East, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS),
• Dr. Yegor Volovik
  PIU Manager/Monitoring and Evaluation and Information Management Specialist , International Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea (ICPBS),
• Ms. Iosefina Lipan
  Regional Support Officer for Harmonisation with the EU Water Policies, PIU; Professioni Intellettuali Unite, Project Implementation Unit (PIU)
• Ms. Figen Canakci-Erpek
  Financial Administrator, PIU; Professioni Intellettuali Unite, Project Implementation Unit (PIU)
• Ms. Basak Gunduz
  Technical Assistant on Contracting, Danube Regional Project, Project Implementation Unit (PIU)
• Dr. Bill Parr
  Eutrophication/Marine Pollution Specialist, Danube Regional Project, Project Implementation Unit (PIU)

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• Outreach materials
  • The Day the Sea Nearly Died
  • A Sea That Has to Live
• Project Documents
  • Black Sea Eutrophication II - Project Brief
  • Black Sea Eutrophication - Project Brief [Annexes]. 290p. - [932K]
• Technical Reports
  • Black Sea - Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea. 1996. (72 KB)
  • Black Sea Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis 2007