Dear readers,

As we announced before the financial basis for this newsletter is uncertain after April 1st since EUCC's co-sponsor will withdraw. The first call in January has resulted in many membership applications but so far this is not enough for the EUCC to sustain the present effort. WE STILL NEED 1000 SUBSCRIBERS TO JOIN THE EUCC - THIS MONTH. If this objective can not be met several options will be considered, also on the basis of the questionnaire. So if you didn't return it so far, please do so because we will take the results into account when reconsidering the set-up of the newsletter.

Information & Meetings
	Conferences & Events
	New Coastal Publications
	Integrated coastal management side event on biodiversity meeting
	New ICZM distance training modules in preparation

Organisations
	New hyperlinks to websites

Development & Trends
	Climate change might open Northern Sea Route within next five years
	British offshore windfarm projects face legal obstacles
	HELCOM and IBSFC combine efforts to boost dwindling fish stocks

Policy
	European Council cleared way for early ratification of Kyoto Protocol

Events recently announded

Please note:
The overview of the Coastal Guide conference and event  meeting list can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/meetings/
 

New Coastal Publications
 
 

Important Bird Areas in the Baltic Sea Birdlife Denmark, Vesterbrogade 140, DK-1620 Copenhagen V, Denmark. Fax +3331 2435. ISBN 87 90310 36 5 (2000, 287 pp.). A total of 169 coastal and marine important bird areas (IBAs) were identified by this inventory. The most frequently represented major habitat type among the identified IBAs is the littoral zone, which comprises 69% of all areas. However, the inventory shows that the majority of IBAs in the littoral zone are considerably smaller than the sites representing lagoons and the sub-littoral zone. The study also documents a new approach at systematically defining boundaries for IBAs in a seascape using interpolated census data and GIS. This publication is a valuable tool to improve the legal protection and management of IBAs in the Baltic Sea.

Fluvial Processes Monograph (with CD-ROM) and Fluvial Processes Solutions Manual By M. Selim and A.M. Ferreira da Silva (2001; 197 and 83 pp resp.). IAHR, Paseo Bajo Virgen del Puerto 3, 28005 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: iahr@iahr.org Fax +34 91 335 7935. ISBN 90 805649 2 3 and 90 805649 3 1 resp. Price 50 and 30 Euro resp. (75 Euro both). This monograph concerns the understanding and quantitative formulation of fluvial processes and the associated alluvial forms. It is designed for researchers and graduate students of hydraulic engineering, water-resources, and the related branches of earth sciences, as well as to practising professionals. The central theme is that the initiation of periodic large-scale alluvial forms is due to large-scale turbulence, the subsequent time-development of the so-initiated alluvial forms being guided by the regime trend.

Studi Costieri Numero 4, 2001 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Jacopo Nardi 2, 50132 Firenze, Italy. Fax +55 243486. Email: epranzini@unifi.it (2001, 169 pp.). ISSN 1129 8588. This publication (in Italian) is a special issue on the management of the Italian coast.

Coastal Systems By Simon K. Haslett (2000, 218 pp.). Routledge, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK. Fax +44 20 7822 4329. ISBN 0 415 21301 0 (hbk). ISBN 0 415 21302 9 (pbk). Price UK £ 15.99. This book offers a concise introduction to the processes, landforms, ecosystems and management of the coastal environment. It explains how coasts are studied within a systems framework. The role of waves, tides, rivers and sea level change in coastal evolution is explored, and human pressures and management of the coast are reviewed. Each chapter is illustrated and furnished with topical case studies from around the world.

The Indicative Map of the Pan-European Ecological Network for Central and Eastern Europe By I.M. Bouwma et al. (2001, 117 pp.). European Centre for Nature Conservation, P.O.Box 1352, 5004 BJ Tilburg, the Netherlands. Fax +13 466 32 50. Email: ecnc@ecnc.nl. This document outlines core areas, corridors and nature restoration areas of the Pan-European Ecological Network, based upon knowledge of the present and future distribution of important species and ecosystems and a sound assessment of threats and opportunities in central and eastern Europe.

Integrated coastal management side event on biodiversity meeting

EUCC - The Coastal Union, together with several other speakers, will give short presentations on how biodiversity issues are being integrated into coastal management schemes in Europe, Belize and Tanzania. The talks will be given during the lunch break on 15 August as part of the 6th meeting of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) from 8 to 19 in Den Haag, the Netherlands. EUCC will talk about examples of good practice in Estonia (the western archipelago), UK (Dorset coast) and Albania (the Albanian coast). The Dutch Coastal Zone Management Centre, who will provide an enticing lunch, will lead the discussion and draw appropriate conclusions. It is the intention to follow up the work during the next two years with a broad spectrum of participants who will tackle the emergent issues. Another objective will be to formulate recommendations that can be put to the 7th meeting of the parties in 2004. The main item on the agenda of that meeting will be integrated coastal management provided that current plans are not changed.
Some more information on the CBD meeting can be found on http://www.biodiversity-chm.nl

New ICZM distance training modules in preparation

EUCC - The Coastal Union has received two new grants from the Dutch government to develop long-distance training modules on public participation and integrated biodiversity conservation as part of the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) vocational training programme "Coastlearn" for accession countries and the New Independent States. A kick-off meeting for both projects took place on 28 February and 1 March in St. Petersburg, Russia. The aim is to introduce coastal managers, planners, decision makers and NGOs in the target countries to the principles and methodology of sustainable multiple use of natural areas and of involving the public in all phases of integrated coastal zone management. The modules will complement the existing chapters of the Coastlearn programme (see http://www.coastlearn.org) which is available free of charge via the internet and on CD-ROM. The new projects are a collaborative effort of four Russian partners - the Committee for Environmental Protection of St. Petersburg, the Kaliningrad State Technical University, the Biodiversity Conservation Centre in Moscow, and the Baltic Fund for Nature, St. Petersburg - as well as the ICM Management Centre for the Black Sea based in Krasnodar, Russia, the Natural Heritage Fund, Ukraine, the PAP/RAC of the Mediterranean Action Programme in Split, Croatia, the University of Akdeniz, Turkey, the University of Szczecin, Poland, the Coastal Zone Management Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Transport, IHE Delft and the lead partner EUCC. The new modules will be produced within the next two years and then widely disseminated.
For further information, contact Irene Lucius at the EUCC, e-mail: ilucius@eucc.nl.

New hyperlinks to websites

Coastal Management for Practitioners
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cms/cls/cmp.html
Coastal Management for Practitioners is a multi-topic curriculum designed to provide practical skills and information that coastal managers may not have acquired in-depth through their formal education.

Coastal Management Framework
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cmfp/admin/welcome.htm
This on-line course helps practitioners understand how to address complex issues by incorporating scientific knowledge and multiple perspectives within the legal and administrative framework

Essex Estuaries Initiative (EEI)
http://www.essexestuaries.org.uk
The Essex Estuaries Initiative (EEI) came into being in 1998 to provide an 'umbrella framework' for a variety of coastal initiatives. The Essex Estuaries is a European Marine Site and part of the EU "Natura 2000" network.

International Geographical Union Commission on Coastal Systems
http://igu-ccs.ucc.ie/
The website for the IGU-CCS, giving news, contact details, diary of events, newsletters, etc

Check out the other Website Links on the Coastal Guide
 

Climate change might open Northern Sea Route within next five years

The Arctic ice cap is melting at a rate that could allow routine commercial shipping through the North-West Passage in a decade and open up new fisheries, according to a New Scientist article published on 2 March. The Northern Sea Route across the top of Russia could allow shipping for at least two months a year in as little as five years. The resulting boom in shipping could lead to new conflicts as nations try to enforce fisheries rules and protect the Arctic environment from oil spills.

British offshore windfarm projects face legal obstacles

British planning lawyers have warned wind farm developers that interest groups such as fishermen and sailors opposed to the construction of new wind turbines within 12 miles of the shoreline could refer to common-law navigation rights and force them to apply for Transport and Works Act orders, according to a Financial Times article of 4 March. This might course considerable delay as well as higher costs. The British government's target of increasing the percentage of renewable energy to 10 percent relies heavily on the further development of wind farms, particularly off-shore.
More information on British wind farm projects can be found on the website of the British Wind Energy Association, http://www.britishwindenergy.co.uk

HELCOM and IBSFC combine efforts to boost dwindling fish stocks

At a joint seminar held in Gdynia, Poland, on 20 and 21 February, HELCOM and the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission (IBSFC) agreed on a sustainable fishery management strategy designed to meet the needs of the whole Baltic ecosystem. HELCOM and IBSFC agreed that current levels of commercial fishing have been having a major impact on the Baltic food web. HELCOM and IBSFC have resolved to co-operate closely on the following measures:

• Reducing by-catches and discards
• Developing selective fishing gears and better fishing practices
• Protecting local seal populations, and possibly actively managing them - on the basis of scientifically approved information on the state of the seal populations;
  
• Restoring stocks of wild salmon and other salmonids, including spawning and nursery areas, according to the IBSFC Salmon Action Plan 1997-2010
  
• Restoring the common sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) population
  
• Participating in European-level measures to restore eel stocks
  
• Intensifying monitoring and research, particularly concerning contaminants such as dioxins which have been affecting fisheries
  
• Resolving conflicts involving fishermen, concerning the protection of seals and fisheries management, for instance
  
• Promoting research into the environmental impact of offshore wind-power plants on fish populations, spawning grounds and important bird areas.

For further information please contact: Ulrike Hassink, Information Secretary, HELCOM, e-mail: Ulrike.Hassink@helcom.fi, phone: +358-9-62202235

European Council cleared way for early ratification of Kyoto Protocol

On 4 March, the Council of EU environment ministers adopted the European Commission's proposal for a decision to ratify the Kyoto protocol. This decision raises hopes that the protocol will come into force at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August/September 2002 in Johannesburg. It also makes the EU member states' greenhouse gas reduction commitments agreed in June 1998 legally binding. The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, expressed his confidence "that member states will take the necessary steps in order to allow a simultaneous ratification together with the European Community before 1 June 2002".

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 6: 20 March, 2002

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) with financial support of Stichting DOEN, the foundation of the Dutch lottery "Postcode Loterij" and the Department of International Nature Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. For free subscriptions, comments or contributions to this newsletter, please contact news@coastalguide.org. 

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Erik Devilee, Irene Lucius, Hanneke Mesters, Albert Salman, Virginie Terrier.
 

Established in 1989, the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) is an association involving the largest coastal network in Europe with 750 members and member organisations in 40 countries. For more information please contact EUCC International Secretariat, POB 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl
 

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