More info: margarita.astralaga@iucn.org

The registration system for the Congress will open online in February 2008. In order to ensure that our Congress is as ‘green’ as possible, the IUCN Council, at its recent meeting, decided that all Congress related information and documentation shall be sent in electronic format, unless a member organization specifically requires printed copies.

More info: andres.alcantara@iucn.org

More info: ameer.abdulla@iucn.org

The workshop coincided with the UN designated “International Mountain Day” on 11th December, as a good opportunity to raise public awareness about the opportunities and constraints in Mediterranean mountain conservation and development in a changing world. The ecosystem approach- a spacial and temporal large-scale approach towards the mountain systems as a whole, which consider the functionality of the ecosystems, tackle the causes of its degradation and compromise all the actors involved- has been the key to tackle the questions that affect the sustainability of this biomes. The implementation of this approach ...

More info: rami.salman@iucn.org

Despite its small size, the Mediterranean is mainly under high sea status (beyond national jurisdictions), due to the fact that Mediterranean countries have not, or have only partially, declared their Exclusive Economic Zone (200 miles from the limit of the territorial Waters). This status does not allow a competent marine biodiversity management.  Consequently, IUCN has elaborated a project on how to improve the governance of the zone.

More info: francois.simard@iucn.org

The Alboran Sea is considered a very important area at geopolitical, strategic and scientific level. Due to the relevance of its ecosystems and biodiversity, it can also be considered as the dynamic engine for biodiversity in the Western Mediterranean. It deserves, therefore, to be protected and well managed. Representatives from Morocco, Spain and Algeria including research organisations, universities, governments and NGOs presented and discussed current data regarding the Alboran’s Geology and physical Geography, Ecology and Human-Political Geography in the region.

More info: francois.simard@iucn.org

More than 400 leaders from business, governments, the European Union and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) meeting in Lisbon have signaled a major shift in thinking on the role of business in biodiversity conservation.

Convergence between public and private sectors on the critical importance of biodiversity – the rich diversity of animals, plants and nature that supports us all – and what needs to be done now to stem a steadily worsening global crisis, emerged at the conference.

More info: aymeric.eeckman@iucn.org

The Network of Managers of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean (MedPAN), the Port-Cros National Park and WWF, coordinator of the network, organized the lst Conference of the Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas Network from 24 to 27 October 2007 on the island of Porquerolles (France), in close partnership with the Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas (United Nations Environment Programme) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The Conference brought together more than 110 experts in marine conservation from the management bodies of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), different governments from around the Mediterranean, non-governmental, intergovernmental and international organisations, the French National Fisheries Committee as well as the scientific community. Participants wished to draw up a Declaration to foster the development of measures designed to improve the levels of protection and conservation of the Mediterranean Sea.

More info: marina.gomei@iucn.org

The film, called The Oil Spill in Lebanon, depicts the environmentally-disastrous oil slick caused by Israel’s bombing of the Jiyyeh power plant in south Lebanon on July 13 and 15, 2006.

The documentary shows how the prevailing currents and winds carried the oil slick north, polluting more than 150 km of Lebanese shoreline and releasing about 15,000 tonnes of toxic fuel into the Mediterranean.