Control of Eutrophication, Hazardous Substances and Related Measures for Rehabilitating the Black Sea Ecosystem, Tranche 2

The environment of the Black Sea/Danube Basin has become degraded over the past four decades. Pollution of the waters of the Black Sea and its tributaries, notably the Danube, has caused significant losses to riparian countries through reduced revenues from tourism and fisheries, loss of biodiversity, and increased water-borne diseases. Extensive studies conducted during the 1990s have shown that over-fertilization of the water bodies by nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from municipal, industrial and agricultural sources ("eutrophication") were the most significant cause of the ecological degradation that the Black Sea and the Danube River have experienced. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea and Danube Basin has been established with the cooperation of the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other multilateral and bilateral financiers and basin countries. The Partnership aims to promote investments and capacity building to return the Black Sea/Danube Basin environment to its 1960s condition. The two elements of the Partnership are: - The WB Investment Fund for Nutrient Reduction in the Black Sea/Danube Basin to help finance investment projects in industrial and domestic wastewater treatment, wetland restoration and environmentally friendly agriculture; and - Two UNDP/UNEP Regional Projects designed to enhance the capacity of individual riparian countries and their commissions (Black Sea Commission, Danube Commission) and improve the policy framework to address Black Sea and Danube pollution. The project in its Phase 2 will continue supporting the Black Sea regional aspects of the Black Sea Strategic Partnership for Nutrient Control. It will assist and strengthen the role of the Black Sea Commission (of the Bucharest Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution) and ensure the provision of a suite of harmonised legal and policy instruments for tackling the problem of eutrophication, and release of certain hazardous substances, and to facilitate ecosystem recovery. An important feature of the project is its encouragement of broad stakeholder participation. This will be achieved by inter-sectoral co-ordination, the provision of small grants to local initiatives and support for public information and environmental education. The project will also enable a new suite of indicators for monitoring the effectiveness of the measures taken by the Partnership. These indicators, together with targeted scientific studies, will help to set new regional nutrient control targets within the concept of adaptive management. The current project will be part of the broader multi-donor Black Sea Environmental Programme and clear mechanisms will be established for donor co-ordination and for co-ordination and the sharing of objectives with the Danube and Dnipro GEF Projects.

TDA/SAP
Black Sea Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (2007) Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation of the Black Sea (2009)

Documents & Resources

outreach-material [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Testing of methodology on spatial planning for ICZM, Akcakoca Pilot Project, Turkey [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: 2007 Black Sea TDA: The 4 Major Transboundary Problems [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: 2007 Black Sea Strategic Action Programme – Technical Draft [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Kamchiya Nutrient Export Model [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Revision of the LBSA Protocol to the Bucharest Convention [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Black Sea Commission Institutional Review [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: International Black Sea Action Day (2006 – 2007) [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Crimea Regional Water & Sewerage Project [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: 15 Years of Collaboration-IAEA MESL [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Mykolaiv Water & Sewerage Project [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: BSERP Small Grants Programme [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Morpho-functional Indices of Seaweed Communities in Zernov's Phyllophora Field [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Development of the Habitat Mapping for Commercial Fish and Invertebrate Species [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Results from BSERP Research [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: BSERP Exit Strategy [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: The Black Sea Information System (BSIS) [BSERP] Final Seminar Poster: Vessel Traffic Oil Pollution System (VTOPIS) Pilot Project [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Sustaining results from the 15 years of UNDP/GEF Interventions [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project 2004 – 2008 (Final Report) [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Results of the monitoring activities for the last 15 years [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: 2006 International Black Sea Action Day [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Achievements and Results of Pilot Projects, Results and Scaling-up [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Revision of the LBSA Protocol to the Bucharest Convention - UNEP Involvement [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: BSERP Small Grants Programmes [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Increase in understanding of environmental status and functioning of the Black Sea ecosystem [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Activities related to the Conservation of Biological Diversity in the Black Sea Region [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: 2007 Black Sea TDA [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Black Sea SAP 2007 Technical Draft report [BSERP] Final Seminar Presentation: Final Report Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project 2004 – 2008