AN INTERNATIONAL COST CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BEYOND: APPROACHES, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS.

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1 AN INTERNATIONAL COST CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BEYOND: APPROACHES, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS April 2010 Organized by: Athens, Greece MEPIELAN Centre (Mediterranean Programme for International Environmental Law and Negotiation)/Panteion University of Athens, Greece Under the auspices of : The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action IS0802 Transformation of Global Environmental Governance (TGEG) Working Group 3 on Governance Architecture and Processes Τhe Panteion University of Athens Conference Director: Professor Dr. Evangelos Raftopoulos, Director of MEPIELAN Centre, Panteion University of Athens, Greece; Member, COST Action IS0802 Management Committee, Chair WG 3 (eraft@hol.gr) CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS A major three-days international conference "Environmental Governance in the Mediterranean and Beyond: Approaches, Challenges and Prospects, will be organized by MEPIELAN Centre/Panteion University of Athens under the auspices of the COST Action IS0802 and the Panteion University of Athens. It will be held at Athens on April The Conference will generally discuss the theoretical approaches to international environmental governance and their relevance to marine regions, the importance of understanding the polycentric pattern of international environmental governance 1

2 exercised through a multiplicity of international and transnational environmental regimes, the transformation of the architecture of the governance of these regimes in response to their contextuality, integration, and process, and the challenges of developing harmonized aspects and synergies inter- and intra- these environmental regimes. It will then address and critically present the existing and evolving international environmental governance of the Mediterranean Sea region established by the Barcelona Convention system and the Mediterranean Action Plan, illustrating its institutional structure and its thematic governance carried out by its seven specifying and performative Protocols governing dumping, emergencies at sea, landbased sources of pollution, biodiversity and specially protected areas, offshore activities, transboundary movement of hazardous wastes, and integrated coastal zone management. The process of transformation of environmental governance will be examined in this context, culminated by the recent signature of the Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (Madrid, 2008) which represents an innovative, integrated, comprehensive and pro-active approach to the management of various activities of the Mediterranean coastal zone. Also, the law and governance problems related to the Barcelona Convention system together with the promising developments related to the adoption of procedures and a mechanism on compliance as well as of guidelines for liability and compensation for environmental damage will be critically presented. Of central importance for the understanding and analyzing polycentricity in international environmental governance architecture and the nature, relational rules and impact of interplay of relevant global and regional environmental regimes is to look into the process and quality of their inter-linkages. The conference will address the inter-linkage problematique and issues between the Barcelona Convention system, on the one hand, and the relevant IMO Conventions, the EU marine and maritime governance. A special attention will be paid to the law of the sea issues affecting environmental governance in the Mediterranean and especially to the maritime zones problems. With respect to the EU, the conference will more generally examine the EU s general initiatives (such as the EU Marine Strategy and its Integrated Maritime Policy), its regional strategies (such as the Nordic Dimension, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, and the Black Sea Synergy), and the interaction of the different elements of the fragmented governance architecture (national, international, European, transnational) and its experience within the existing or developing environmental governance regimes in the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Arctic Sea. The conference will also address the phenomenon of developing competing frameworks of international environmental governance in the Mediterranean and the case of the Union for the Mediterranean, initiated by France and based on the Heads of State Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean State (13 July 2008) will be discussed in light of recent developments and the challenges it poses vis-à-vis the Barcelona Convention system. It will also put forward and critically examine the prospecting patterns of international environmental governance that may further be advanced in the Mediterranean Sea region, touching upon such diverse issues as environmental security, fisheries, noise pollution, genetic resources and management of new routes for the oil transport in the Mediterranean. Finally, the Conference will provide a broad picture of environmental governance in other marine regions, such as the Black Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Sea, and it will critically examine them from a comparative and coordinating perspective with the Mediterranean Sea region. It will thus offer the platform for a 2

3 multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach to environmental governance of regional seas, comparing their ways and means for achieving effective, efficient and socially acceptable governance at all levels (international/regional, national and local), the importance of contextual factors and the pragmatic perspectives of their synergies. The Conference will be divided into 6 themes, which are: I. The Theoretical Approaches to International Environmental Governance and Marine Regions: Between Polycentricity and Uniformity II. Conventional Environmental Governance in the Mediterranean and the Regime of the Barcelona Convention System and MAP: The Movement from Sectorial to Integrated Environmental Governance 1. The Sectoral Protocol Regimes: Transformations of Regional Environmental Governance Process The Governance of Dumping The Governance of Emergencies The Governance of Land-Based Sources of Pollution The Governance of Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity The Governance of Offshore Installations The Governance of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes 2. The Integrated Protocol Regime The Integrated Management of Coastal Zone 3. Law and Governance Problems: Challenges and Prospects III. The Interplay of Regional and Global Environmental Regimes: Architecture and Processes of their Interlinkages in Environmental Governance 1. The IMO Conventions of Maritime Governance and their Application in the Mediterranean Sea Region 2. The EU Marine and Maritime Governance and Aspects of its Operation in Regional Seas 3. The UN Law of the Sea Convention and Environmental Governance in the Mediterranean: The Problem of Maritime Zones IV. Emerging and Prospective Frameworks of International Environmental Governance in the Mediterranean 1. The Governance of Environmental Security in the Mediterranean 2. The Governance of Energy and of the Risks Associated with the Prospective Development of New Routes for the Oil Transport in the Mediterranean 3. The Governance of Fisheries in the Mediterranean 4. The Governance of Genetic Resources in the Mediterranean 5. The Governance of Noise Pollution in the Mediterranean 3

4 V. The Phenomenon of Developing Competing Frameworks of Environmental Governance in the Mediterranean 1. The Union for the Mediterranean and the Barcelona Convention Regime VI. Environmental Governance in Other Marine Regions: A Comparative and Coordinating Perspective 1. The Environmental Governance of the Black Sea 2. The Environmental Governance of the North Sea 3. The Environmental Governance of the Baltic Sea 4. The Environmental Governance of the Arctic Sea The conference will bring together international scholars and experts from different disciplines, sectors and theoretical view points, including law, policy, management, science and economics, associated with universities, research institutes and centres, scientific organizations, international organizations, government, NGOs and private sector. The purpose of the conference is to serve as a forum for promoting innovative and interdisciplinary approaches laying the foundation and the framework for a better understanding and knowledge of the process and transformation of environmental governance in the Mediterranean region. And this, by paying heed to the significance of its existence with the other regional regimes of marine environmental governance. We will encourage wide-range media coverage of the Conference. Conference Duration: 3 days Dates of the Conference: April 2010 Conference Venue: Athens, Greece Applications: Candidates are kindly requested to submit to conference.secretariat@mepielan.gr no later than 29 January 2010: A CV of two pages (Times New Roman 12 pt) A 3-4 pages executive summary of the proposed conference paper in English (Times New Roman 12 pt) Publication Plans: Executive Summaries of conference papers, to be available at the opening of the Conference A collection of conference papers to be published as a book produced by reputable publishers in the field. It will be widely disseminated among the academic community and decision makers. Contact and further Information Further enquiries should be sent to: conference.secretariat@mepielan.gr Information about the Conference is also available in the website of MEPIELAN Centre: as well as in the website for COST Action IS0802 (TGEG): 4

5 CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT Mr. Socrates Zachos, MEPIELAN Centre Ms. Kiki Monezi, MEPIELAN Centre Ms. Alkisti Florou, MEPIELAN Centre Tel: Fax: Website: 5