Project title: Promoting Protected Areas management through integrated marine and coastal ecosystems protection in coastal areas of Montenegro
Geographical scope: Montenegro
Time frame: Ongoing, July 2018 – December 2022
Priority area: Biodiversity and Protected Area
Partners: Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, UNEP Europe Office
Donor: Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund
Co-financiers: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Montenegro’s Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism
Contribution to SDGs: Project directly Direct contribute to SDG 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development), but also to SDG 3, SDG 12 and SDG 13.
Environmental challenge:
Establishing Marine Protected Areas in Montenegro is essential for preventing further threats to marine biodiversity and natural resources. Examples of threatened and declining biodiversity have been widely reported.. Priority locations for establishing new Marine Protected Areas have been identified in coastal waters at Platamuni, Katič and Stari Ulcinj. Biodiversity in these zones is mainly threatened mainly : habitat loss and fragmentation, the overexploitation of wildlife, and climate change.
Project:
The Global Environment Fund project aims to improve the conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine biodiversity through effective management of the Coastal and Marine Protected Areas (hereinafter referred to as C/MPAs) subsystem by addressing institutional and financial sustainability.
The project’s first aim is to proclaim three new C/MPAs Platamuni, Katič and Stari Ulcinj. Activities in this component of the project have been done in compliance with national and international standards and requirements, including UN Convention on Biological Diversity/Aichi targets and others. The expected outcomes of this component are:
- Representative C/MPAs identified to protect key coastal and marine ecosystems and biodiversity of global importance
- Management framework in place involving all relevant stakeholders for (1) network of C/MPAs in Montenegro; (2) expansion of C/MPAs; (3) compatibility of land/sea/natural resources usage with overall biodiversity management goals
- Status of protection for existing coastal Protected Areas covering 13,012.19 hectares revised and plans for expansion of the PA network for 2,301.2 ha in the coastal – marine area of Montenegro defined
- Three priority integrated C/MPAs established, namely Platamuni, Katič and Stari Ulcinj, covering a total of at least 2,301.2 hectares
The second aim covers the aims to provide first essential support to the Manager of new C/MPAs including preparation of Management Plan, Business Plan with Financial Strategy, and ensure overall management effectiveness in the C/MPAs. Within this component, the following primary outcomes are expected:
- Status of protection for existing coastal Protected Areas covering 13,012.19 hectares revised and plans for expansion of the PA network for 2,301.2 ha in the coastal – marine area of Montenegro defined
- Improved C/MPAs management effectiveness in three newly established C/MPAs Platamuni, Katič and Stari Ulcinj
- Lessons learned for establishing C/MPAs collected to guide future efforts to expand PAs.
The Project has so far demonstrated good practice in applying national and international standards to set up Coastal and Marine Protected Areas subsystems. Efficiency in implementing project activities and success in proclaiming the first Marine Protected Areas in the Country (Platamuni – 20 April 2021, Katič – 16 September 2021) have been provided due to own field data (biodiversity inventory, survey) provided and organized in a GIS database. These data are further used for preparing Studies for Protection for new C/MPAs and Revision Studies for existing Coastal Protected Areas. Prior to the proclamation by the government, consultations with relevant stakeholders and public hearings have been consistently provided and documented in public hearing reports (Platamuni, Katič and Stari Ulcinj), as required by national regulation. Proclamation of third C/MPA Stari Ulcinj is expected to be completed soon.
Trainings for the development of three management plans for new C/MPAs and Financial planning have been recently conducted and first steps on preparing management plans have been undertaken by the Manager (PE “Morsko Dobro”).
Any questions?
Sonja Gebert - sonja.gebert@un.org
Vasilije Bušković - vasilije.buskovic@un.org
