Civil society programs and activities

The potential role for effective civil society organizations is huge: many of the 500+ KBAs in the countries covered by the ecosystem profile update are inhabited or used by large numbers of people who rely heavily on them for water and other natural resources. Civil society is critically positioned between communities and government to facilitate and negotiate improvements which will conserve and sustain biodiversity while enhancing livelihoods. In some cases civil society organizations can also effectively stimulate partnership between the governments and the corporate sector for the conservation of biodiversity.

8.3.1 National-level CSOs

Despite the small number of conservation-focused NGOs in most of the countries covered by the ecosystem profile update, in several countries NGOs play an important role in the management of protected areas. During the phase 1 of the CEPF investment in the hotspot, the management of 26 protected areas was strengthened through grants to CSOs.

In the Balkans, the NGO role in protected areas is not enshrined in law, but is usually formalized through MoU or other agreements between NGO and local government or PA authority. Examples include the Centre for Protection and Research of Birds (CZIP, Montenegro, management of Tivat Solila), Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA, working in Narta-Vjosa Landscape Area), Regional Environment Centre (REC, Albania, management of the Dojran lake jointly with the municipality), Institute for Nature Conservation of Albania (INCA, providing support to Karaburun-Sazan National Park with the Regional Agency for Protected Areas of Vlora), and Naše ptice (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hutovo blato). The role played by the NGO is supporting, rather than taking on direct management responsibility, and includes raising funds, providing infrastructure and providing

guides. Occasionally international NGOs have also become involved, for example the NGO EuroNatura has supported the employment of rangers at Hutovo blato, with local partner Naše ptice.

In some countries in the Middle East, the role of NGOs is even more central to the management of PAs. In Jordan, government provides a mandate and support to NGOs to lead on the management of protected areas. This includes both larger national organizations and smaller local ones where their activities support a nationally important biodiversity site. The smaller NGOs are most often formed by interested members of the local communities where they operate. Through this system, all PAs in Jordan are completely managed by NGOs, with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) taking the lead in managing larger PAs, while smaller local NGOs manage special conservation areas. Outside PAs, RSCN is also mandated by government to enforce the hunting law. The situation in Lebanon is similar, although NGOs are not mandated to have complete control of the PA, in practice all major PAs are managed by locally-based NGOs. There are also several examples of NGOs with a mandate to manage PAs in Palestine. Only in Egypt does the government not grant any mandate to NGOs to be involved in PA management. The challenge and opportunity to play a key role in the protection of important sites has encouraged NGOs in the region to innovate, with the result that during the first phase of CEPF support, CSOs in the Middle East were instrumental in developing micro-reserves for plant conservation, declaration of special conservation areas, and re-invigorating traditional communal conservation approaches like Hima.

In North Africa, there are legal frameworks for NGOs to be involved in PA management to some extent in Morocco, Tunisia and Cabo Verde, and there were several successful examples of grants to CSO to improve PA management during the first phase of CEPF. In Tunisia the NGO Notre Grand Bleu was the pioneer of co-management at Kuriat (to be a Marine protected area), and in Morocco the NGO SPANA is managing the Sidi Boughaba national park. As noted in Section 8.1.1, the law in Cabo Verde encourages civil society engagement, with practical examples including Biosfera 1’s involvement in the Santa Luzia reserve.

8.3.2 Regional organisations and partnerships

Several organizations and networks exist within the Mediterranean region or cover parts of the Mediterranean and neighboring European or Arab countries.

The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) is a regional NGO providing a platform for NGOs, corporates, academic and research organizations to contribute to sustainable development in Arab countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Syria. Its main programs are policy, green economy and corporate social responsibility and education.

Conservatoire du Littoral works for the conservation and sustainable management of coastal ecosystems. It is governed by French national and regional state authorities, so is para-statal rather than a CSO, but is included here because of its role in international cooperation with partners across the Mediterranean. The Conservatoire provides technical support and assistance to coastal management agencies in partner countries, including Algeria and Tunisia, as well as collaborating on projects in Morocco, Libya and Albania (see also information on AFD and FFEM projects, Chapter 11). The organisation runs a Small Island Initiative to work on island restoration in the Mediterranean basin, and has recently established new partnerships in Montenegro and Lebanon. Conservatoire du Littoral is a member of MedPAN, the Marine protected areas network, and leads the development of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management protocol for the Barcelona Convention. It is also a member of the CEPF steering

committee for the Mediterranean Basin Hotspot.

EuroNatur is a non-profit charitable foundation founded in 1987 by BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), NABU (BirdLife Germany) and Deutsche Umwelthilfe. It promotes transboundary conservation efforts in Europe, but also engages in advocacy towards the European Union, and focuses on sustainable rural livelihoods and economies as well as biodiversity protection. Its extended network includes nature conservation associations, scientists and their research teams, volunteers, and public sector representatives in many European countries. Within the countries covered by the ecosystem profile update, EuroNatur is active in the Balkans: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia, including at important KBA sites such as Lake Ohrid, Lake Skadar, Neretva Delta, and Bojana River.

The Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE), is a non-profit Federation of 126 Mediterranean NGOs working on Environment, Development and Culture from all Mediterranean countries. In co- operation with governments, international organizations and other socio-economic partners, MIO-ECSDE plays an active role for the protection of the environment and culture and the promotion of the sustainable development of the Mediterranean region and its countries. In the hotspot countries covered by the ecosystem profile update it has members in Albania, Algeria, Eygpt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Turkey.

The MedPan Initiative is a network of 50 marine protected areas in 11 countries around the shores of the Mediterranean²². The initiative was originally established in 1990 by IUCN and the French Government with the support of the World Bank, and was re-launched in 2003/2004 with funding from the European Commission Interreg III C South Initiative Funds, with WWF- France as the lead partner.

The Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet) brings together 26 Mediterranean and peri-Mediterranean countries that are Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971). Its mission is to ensure and support the effective conservation of the functions and values of Mediterranean wetlands and the sustainable use of their resources and services.

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is an international organisation with a mission to assist in addressing environmental issues. The Center fulfils this mission by promoting cooperation among stakeholders, non-governmental organisations, businesses and other environmental stakeholders and by supporting free exchange of information and public participation in environmental decision making. The REC has country and field offices in 17 beneficiary countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. The REC actively participates in key global, regional and local processes and contributes to environmental and sustainability solutions within and beyond its country office network, transferring transitional knowledge and experience to countries and regions.

Tour du Valat is a private foundation dedicated to halting the loss and degradation of Mediterranean wetlands and their natural resources, and to restoring them. It is based in the Carmargue wetland in Mediterranean France, where its reserve and research facilities are used

22 MedPan currently has 57 MPA member, 8 founding members, 37 partners.

by scientists, teachers and students from around the Mediterranean. Tour du Valat addresses its mission through four main objectives: improving and sharing knowledge of Mediterranean wetlands, develop adaptive management approaches to wetlands management, develop the capacity of decision makers and resource managers to use wetlands widely, and to support development of scientific teams specializing on wetlands. Recent projects have included work in Tunisia and with the MedWet and MedWetCoast initiatives in Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Morocco.

8.3.3 Sub-regional and transboundary partnerships and networks

There are many sub-regional networks in the Northern Mediterranean, many of them promoted by EU regional policies. In the countries covered by the ecosystem profile update, however, there are far fewer. One of the most important impacts of the first phase of CEPF investment in Civil Society development was the fostering of networks and collaborative actions. Several formal and informal networks, have been formed a result of CEPF support: in Tunisia with organizations working on coastal areas, in the Balkans around Lake Skadar and Lake Orhid, in Albania on the hunting issue, and in Lebanon on the protection of endangered flora.

In the Balkan States there are few cross-border networks active in biodiversity, with the Balkan Vulture Action Plan (promoted by the Vulture Conservation Foundation, Frankfurt Zoological Society and BirdLife International, together with local NGOs and governments) being the most notable. This plan is consolidating a regional network of local NGOs to work on nature conservation and sustainable development using vultures as flagship species. At site level, there is transboundary cooperation over the management of Prespa lakes (Macedonia, Albania and Greece) and Skadar Lake (Montenegro and Albania).

Another regional project is the Balkan Green Belt is part of the wider European Green Belt Initiative and includes nine Balkan countries. The Parks Dinarides network comprises 56 protected areas from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.

In 2007 the Euro-Mediterranean University in Slovenia (EMUNI) was created with the support of the European Union, which complements a second academic initiative, the Centre of Research and Studies for the Eastern Mediterranean (CREMO) led by the University of the Aegean. Combined, these institutions have the potential to increase research on conservation and sustainable development in the Mediterranean Basin, among other issues.

There are some examples of networking at national level, including the Federation of Environmental NGO's in Jordan in 2014. This coalition brings together environmental and nature protection NGOs under one umbrella, and provides the platform for cooperation and coordination between the member NGOs of the federation. A similar initiative in Palestine is the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON)²³ which bring together 16 NGOs around environmental issues, and it is registered as an NGO (Constantini et al. 2011).

In the Macaronesia sub-region, there is an intense cooperation between the Canaries and the Madeira and Azores islands supported by EU programs. Recently the Interreg –Mac initiative, for the Macaronesian archipelagos, includes Cabo Verde as third country.

23 PENGON is FoE Palestine (PENGON 2017).

8.3.4 Global organizations and networks

BirdLife International is a network of national partner NGOs, and is present in the region at two levels: the national partners, with the recent incorporation of a new partner in Morocco, and three regional secretariats for Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. There are partners in all of the EU hotspot countries, and nine of the 16 countries covered by the ecosystem profile update, including all four Middle East countries, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa, Macedonia FYR and Montenegro in the Balkans. There are several projects that have been coordinated among the different countries in the region, for example the MAVA funded Capacity Development for Flyway Conservation in the Mediterranean, ending in 2016, and the GEF/UNDP Migratory Soaring Birds project which involves all of the countries in the Middle East and Egypt.

The Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) is a global alliance of attorneys, scientists and other advocates who provide legal support to grassroots activists taking action for their local environment. Activities include providing advice through publications, training paralegals, and bringing legal actions against corporations. In the Mediterranean Basin Hotspot the organization has activities and partners in Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

The Friends of the Earth network includes FoE Middle East, which is the only NGO with national branches in Jordan, Palestine and Israel, being active in climate change and environmental issues along the Dead Sea Rift Valley.

IUCN has seen an increase in the number of organizations joining in all countries around Mediterranean. In the countries covered by the ecosystem profile update, IUCN is dominated by NGOs, with 77 NGOs in 13 of the 16 countries (though most of them are in Jordan and Lebanon), while government is represented by only 5 agencies in 3 countries, and five state parties (Table 8.1). The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation is a member-based organization structured around collaboration with members. It includes more than 140 NGOS and 14 governments in the Mediterranean, international organizations, and volunteer experts of the six IUCN Commissions. The Centre’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist Mediterranean societies to conserve and sustainably use the natural resources of the region and work with IUCN members and cooperate with all other agencies that share the objectives of IUCN.

Table 8.1 IUCN members in the hotspot countries covered by the updated ecosystem profile Country State members Government Agencies National NGO Total

Albania 0 0 2 2

Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 0 1 1

Kosovo 0 0 0 0

Macedonia FYR 0 1 1 2

Montenegro 0 2 1 3

Balkans sub-region 0 3 5 8

Jordan 1 2 22 25

Lebanon 0 0 14 14

Palestine 0 0 7 7

Syria 0 0 1 1

Middle East sub-region 1 2 44 47

Algeria 1 0 2 3

Cabo Verde 0 0 0 0

Egypt* 0 0 4 4

Libya 0 0 0 0

Morocco 1 0 10 11

Tunisia 1 0 6 7

North Africa sub-region 3 0 22 25

Turkey 1 0 6 7

TOTAL 5 5 77 87

Note: * = The national NGO total for Egypt includes one NGO based in Egypt that works regionally.

WWF has country offices in six of the EU countries in the hotspot and in Turkey, but not elsewhere in the hotspot. However the WWF Mediterranean program has a presence in four of the countries covered by the ecosystem profile update, Morocco, Tunisia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, coordinating work in several countries in the Mediterranean. The Living Planet / WWF Tunisia office is gradually moving towards a regional role for North Africa. The WWF Mediterranean program focuses on the creation and management of Marine Protected Areas, fisheries policy reform, creation of new terrestrial protected areas, advocacy to prevent damaging hydropower projects, and promotion of sustainable forest management through the FSC system. Focal sites in the hotspot include the Karaburun MPA in Albania, the Kas-Kevova MPA in Turkey, and the Taza National Park MPA in Algeria.