Paving the road for the Green List in Tunisia and Catalonia

Improving the equitable and effective management of Protected and Conserved Areas in the Maghreb

The workshop in Tunisia served to strengthen the Green List process in North Africa by bringing relevant administrations and protected area managers together to jointly discuss avenues to further support its implementation in the country.  

National administrations, protected area representatives and authorities with a role in Protected and Conserved Area management and the Maghreb Expert Assessment Group for the Green List, also known as the EAGL, received training and updates on the latest Green List standard and tool. Participants included the Ministry of Agriculture (DGF) – Director General of Forests, director of conservation, sub director of protected areas; the Ministry of the Environment – Director general and IUCN focal point; and representatives of three Tunisian Protected Areas currently in the Green List Process: National Parc El Feija, National Parc Jbel Serj and National Parc Dghoumes.  

The Expert Assessment Groups for the Green List (EAGL) primary tasks are to ensure that the IUCN Green List Standard is applicable in their jurisdiction and to evaluate protected areas against the indicators of the Standard. At present, the Maghreb Expert Assessment Group for the Green List (EAGL) is composed of members from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. This workshop was co-organised with WWF North Africa, the implementing partner for the Green List in the Maghreb region. The workshop was an opportunity to provide an in-depth overview of the Green List programme, including its goals, standard, implementation at the global and regional level, processes and the Green List Improvement benchmarking and Evaluation index (IBEX). The workshop also allowed for discussing with protected area managers and administration representatives the next steps for the Green List in Tunisia and the tools and resources needed to support its implementation.  

A training session for the Maghreb EAGL to ensure they are ready to assess sites in due time was held as part of the workshop. Protected area managers were guided to work through the IBEX self-assessment tool, currently under development, which allows sites to benchmark their performance against the indicators, criteria and components of the IUCN Green List standard. The tool aims to support the green list process by providing a user-friendly, simpler and flexible means to help protected areas understand their current situation regarding the Green List. Feedback from pilot applications in Tunisia will be used to improve the tool.

Creation of a Committee for the Green List in Tunisia

The Green List can be used both to guide improved management at the site level, as well as a framework for protected area management at national level by integrating its principles and components into the design of management plans from the outset. During the discussion session with government and site representatives, it was agreed that centralised support from public authorities would improve capacities to join the Green List.  

To this end, several measures were agreed such as the creation of a Committee for the Green List in Tunisa with membership across different government bodies to ensure coordinated and continuous support, and to enhance the alignment of protected area management plans with the Green List. The three protected areas in Tunisia will continue the IBEX self-assessment process with support from IUCN MED and WWF NA to guide the development of a strategy for implementing the Green List.  

Moreover, similar workshops will be co-organized on the Green List in Morocco and Algeria, and potentially Libya, which is considering joining the Green List, aiming at building on the momentum to leverage the Green List to best support and guide effective protected areas in the Maghreb and across the Mediterranean Region.  

Further impetus for the Green List in Catalunya

The Barcelona Workshop on the other hand has brought together representatives from different administrations and protected area managers to explore the potential application of the Green List in the Catalonia region, including representatives from Generalitat de Catalunya,  Diputacio de Girona, Diputacio de Barcelona, Fundacio Catalunya la Pedrera (member of IUCN as well as member of WCPA specialist group on privately protected areas), and representatives from 5 Catalan protected areas: Parc Natural Alt Pirineu, Parc Natural Capçaleres del Ter I Fresser, Parc Natural del Montgri les Illes Medes I el Baix Ter, Parc Natural Collserola, Parc Natural Sant Llorenç del Munt I l’Obac.  

The workshop co-organised with Generalitat de Catalunya included a Green List training session introducing the programme, the standard and process, discussion on its potential application in Catalonia, an Introduction to the IBEX and the start of guided self-assessment with protected area managers. There was a general agreement that IBEX can be a useful tool to guide strategic planning as it can help identify key areas for improvement, as well as to identify sites which might be close to the requirements of the Green List standard.  

Having both administration and protected areas in the room allowed for a productive, initial discussion on what support is needed and how the administration could further contribute. It was agreed that would be ideal if the standard could be embedded into the current requirements to ensure that the process is streamlined and provides a useful common framework to guide management of protected areas under different management types.  

The sites will continue their self-assessment with support from IUCN MED and discussion with the relevant decision makers to understand how best to support the Green List process in this region.  

The Green List in the Mediterranean  

A Green List site is a protected or conserved area that reaches the IUCN Green List Standard and is certified and recognised as achieving ongoing results for people and nature in a fair and effective way. Any site can join, and work its way towards achieving verified success, and then maintain the Standard or further improve.  

Through dedicated trainings at the national and regional levels, IUCN MED is supporting sites and administrations to understand the potential of the Green List to foster fairer and more effective management in protected and conserved areas across the Mediterranean  

IUCN MED will continue accompanying the Green List process in the Maghreb and in Catalunya and seek to engage additional sites and jurisdictions to promote the expansion of the Green List in Mediterranean countries, across North Africa and Southern Europe.  

• IUCN Green List Algeria - IUCN Green List
• IUCN Green List Italy - IUCN Green List
• IUCN Green List Morocco - IUCN Green List
• IUCN Green List Spain - IUCN Green List
• IUCN Green List Tunisia - IUCN Green List

 For further information, please contact Jose Postigo: [email protected]