SPA/RAC is organising two workshops for the validation of the national monitoring programmes on biodiversity in Libya and Tunisia, from 18 to 20 April 2017 in Tunis

The Ecosystem Approach is a strategy for an integrated management for land, water and biological resources which aim to foster the conservation and sustainable use of resources to ensure equitable exploitation, as stipulated in the Biological Diversity Convention.

The adoption of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment programme (IMAP) by the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention (COP 19 decision IG.22/7) is one of the key elements of the implementation of this integrated and multidisciplinary approach (EcAp) in the Mediterranean.

SPA/RAC is actively contributing to the implementation of the IMAP, particularly its biodiversity and non-indigenous species (NIS) components. The centre supports Southern Mediterranean Contracting Parties to develop/update their monitoring programmes on biodiversity in line with the IMAP recommendations.

In this context, SPA/RAC is organising two workshops in Tunis for the validation of the national monitoring programmes on biodiversity in Libya (18-19 April 2017) and Tunisia (20 April 2017).

Different stakeholders, experts and scientists involved in the monitoring of the biodiversity take part to these workshops, with the main aim to:

• discuss a first draft of the national monitoring programme on biodiversity;
• discuss and validate a list of habitats and species to be considered in the short, medium and long term, based on a reference list;
• select at least two monitoring sites, one in a low pressure area (i.e. Marine Protected Area / Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI)), and one in a High pressure area linked to human activities.

The detailed programme is available in the following links (18-19 April 2017, 20 April 2017).