International Waters learning Exchange & Resource Network

Expanding the reach of LME22 for greater impact

21 Dec 2023 | by m-duque@unesco.org
Reflecting on 2023, we spotlight a key outcome of the LME22 held from 11-13 July 2023 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. This Annual Consultation Meeting of Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) and Coastal Partners served as a vital reunion for the LME community, reconnecting everyone after the 2019 LME21, fostering significant progress and milestones.

One of the tangible outcomes and impacts of the LME22 meeting was the strengthened collaboration between representatives of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and the Black Sea Commission (BSC) that intervened as one of the four transboundary River Basin Organization-Large Marine Ecosystem (RBO-LME) pairs in a World café session on “Strengthening Source-to-Sea partnerships”. These partnership discussions were further considered and facilitated in subsequent meetings, including the:

  • UNEP/MAP Focal Points meeting (Türkiye, Istanbul, 12-15 September, 2023);
  •  Informal online correspondence between representatives of Slovenian Presidency, the ICPDR Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) and Black Sea Commission Secretariat regarding the possibility to establish a trilateral cooperation mechanism in the basins of Danube River, the Mediterranean and Black Sea;
  • Side Event during the 23rd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (COP23, Portoroz, Slovenia, 5-8 December 2023) called “Transboundary collaboration from source-to-sea: Danube, Mediterranean and Black Sea” (5 December, 2023). This side event highlighted the necessity to create a trilateral mechanism in the basins of the Danube River, the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Representatives of ICPDR Secretariat, UNEP/MAP Secretariat and Black Sea Commission Secretariat presented their vision and best practices of cooperation in the region and agreed to draft a roadmap for future joint undertakings;
  • Portorož Ministerial Declaration adopted at 23rd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols (COP 23, Portorož, Slovenia, 5-8 December 2023) states that countries “17. Commit to strengthen cooperation with other relevant Regional Seas Conventions and their Action Plans, and to enhance interregional cooperation between the Mediterranean, the Danube, and the Black Sea, through a ‘Source-to-Sea’ approach”.

Iryna Makarenko, Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer of the Permanent Secretariat of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention, highlighted these successes during her panel intervention at the International symposium of the United Nations Regular Process on strengthening the ocean science-policy interface, organized by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) in collaboration with IOC/UNESCO, held on 12-13 December 2023 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. 

The full report of the LME22 meeting is now available. Download now.

Iryna Makarenko (third from left) making her intervention on the strengthened partnership between the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and the Black Sea Commission (BSC) along the “Source-to-Sea” paradigm during the International Symposium of the United Nations Regular Process on strengthening the ocean science-policy interface organized by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) in collaboration with IOC/UNESCO (12-13 December 2023, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France), prompted by the partnerships and interactions at the LME22 meeting (11-13 July 2023, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France).