Available at
www.eucc-d.de/newsletter.php

Available at
www.dancore.dk/news/newsletters

The Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) co-organised several workshops at the 3rd edition of the European Maritime Day Stakeholder Conference that took place in Gijón 19-21 May. The conference was organised by the European Commission and hosted by the upcoming Spanish Presidency of the European Union and the Government of the Principality of Asturias. Among the personalities, the Prince of Spain attended the 20th to officially open the day (picture on the right).

More than 1250 participants from 14 Member States and 10 other countries registered for the conference. The agenda included over 50 workshops focusing on the main strategic directions of the Integrated Maritime Policy today and in particular on sustainable economic growth, employment and innovation, cross-cutting policy tools, sustainability and the governance of sea basins.

EUCC’s contributions included: a workshop “Coastal and Maritime Tourism”, including the presentation of the QualityCoast programme and 2010 Awards to the Azores Islands (Portugal) and Guetary (France); and the Venice Platform Conference “Contributions to a European maritime platform”, which included, among others, a presentation of the MARCOM+ project, funded under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and contributions from the SPICOSA project following the presentation done at EUROMARES Conference that took place on the 19th alongside with the Maritime Day Conference. The Venice platform is gathering a wide variety of maritime stakeholders seeking an integrated and participative European policy. The outcome of the event was to continue working together through a work plan and bridging with the EC so the dialogue and exchange become stronger.

In conclusion, this week in Gijón was a great opportunity to materialize the EC will to make a more integrated maritime policy, which was evident through the variety of stakeholders and issues discussed. In fact, it is not usual to see the navy, scientist and managers sitting together! Next venue for the European Maritime Day will be Gdansk, in Poland. For more information on the European Maritime Day, sessions conclusions, pictures and videos, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/maritimeday/

The SUSTAIN partners have recently met in Cavalaire-Sur-mer, in the French Mediterranean coast, on the occasion of the 2nd inter-regional exchange visit of the partners. It was organized by the Marine Observatory / Public Association of 'Communes' of the Littoral of Maures, one of the SUSTAIN partners that also represent other two local communities in the project - La Croix Valmer and Le Rayol-Canadel. On this occasion, local and regional experiences have been presented and attention has been paid to the role of local authorities in sustainability.

Furthermore, the  project website is now available in English at www.sustain-eu.net - please visit and get acquainted with the details of SUSTAIN!

The Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) and ECNC are working together towards a sustainable and beautiful Europe within the ECNC Group.
Over 60 Natura 2000 stakeholders from north-western Europe discussed the reasons for conflict arising in the management of Natura 2000 sites and how to solve them, at a workshop organized by ECNC at the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences in Brussels in early Spring. The workshop was organized in the framework of the project ‘Conflict Management in the Natura 2000 Network’ carried out by Alterra, Eurosite and ECNC on behalf of the European Commission, DG Environment.

The participants shared their knowledge and experience regarding the avoidance, management and resolution of conflicts in, and around, Natura 2000 areas. The participants included local, regional, national and European level representatives of stakeholder groups (farmers, foresters, hunters, wind-farm developers, miners, etc.), policymakers and site managers. This mix led to lively discussions and interesting and useful insights, key messages and recommendations.

The extended version of this news item can be found in the ECNC news at www.ecnc.org/publications/update For more information: Ayşegül Çil, ECNC Programme Manager – Nature and Society;

The IMCORE partnership met in Auray (Brittany, France) in May. With 18 months until the conclusion of the project, particular attention was given to the transnational working groups established as mechanisms to better support the approaches being applied within the Expert Couplet Nodes but also as platforms to discuss the messages and enhancement of the final products that will come out of IMCORE. Clearly in the right direction but still with considerable work ahead, this was the best chance to apply a new impetus and tune the activities under development. The meeting allowed to see, both in practice and detail, some of the issues and approaches from the Couplet of France: AMURE (University of Brittany) and SIAGM (Intercommunal Development Association of the Gulf of Morbihan). The Gulf of Morbihan is a multi-use area that receives 2 million visitors each year and its communities are highly dependent on the oyster farming that is done on the banks of this lagoon. An integrated and sustainable management, promoted by SIAGM, is essential to assure the viability and compatibility of all these activities.

Furthermore, it is extremely important to develop an adaptive strategy to factors that will induce change – such as sea-level rise or the recent outbreak of an oyster disease, which is also threatening oyster production in other areas of southern Europe. One of the 40 islands within the gulf – the Island of Ilur - was bought by the Conservatoire du Littoral and is now being managed in a sustainable way, as a pilot site. The goal is that this island becomes energy independent with economic autonomy, guaranteeing the preservation of its natural values while allowing visitors to enjoy its beauty.

Keep informed about IMCORE - Innovative Management for Europe’s Changing Coastal Resource – online!

A new issue of Coastline Reports appeared: A. Kannen, G. Schernewski, I. Krämer, M. Lange, H. Janßen & N. Stybel (Hrsg.): Forschung für ein Integriertes Küstenzonenmanagement: Fallbeispiele Odermündungsregion und Offshore-Windkraft in der Nordsee, Coastline Reports 15 (2010) (Research for an Integrated Coastal Zone Management: Case studies Oder Lagoon and Offshore-Wind Power in the North Sea).

Communities and decision makers will meet the future challenge of changing coastal and marine zones. To further the research for a sustainable Coastal Zone Management, the two projects “Zukunft Küste – Coastal Futures” on the North Sea and “IKZM-Oder” on the Baltic Sea were founded between 2004 and 2010 by the federal ministry of education and research (BMBF). This issue presents the main results. It is written in German with English abstracts. For ordering Coastline Reports 15 (2010) (25 Euro including postage, 15 Euro for members of EUCC Germany) please send an e-mail with your addresses for delivery and invoice to: eucc@eucc-d.de.

The complete report can be downloaded as an Acrobat PDF-File ).