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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Tasks for coastal resources assessments and oil spill sensitivity mapping in the Arab States of the Gulf |
Summary
This report examines national capacity for coastal resources assessment and oil spill sensitivity mapping in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and the potential for UNESCO support and cooperation. Resource data are a pre-requisite for any aspect of coastal management; oil spill contingency planning is no exception. Emphasis is on protection priorities for coastal and marine areas (i.e. management of immediate oil spill response). Shore cleanup strategies and methods, although also important, do not form part of the assessment. Assessing the coastal zone of the Gulf is also essential for the identification, selection, and the preliminary delineation of potential Biosphere Reserves.
The findings presented are based on a fact-finding mission (October 2003), involving consultations with representatives from environmental agencies and organisations in each of the GCC countries. The missions helped identify national needs and also provided a regional perspective. Throughout the Gulf region there is keen appetite for expanding national oil spill contingency capacity and for UNESCO assistance.
Areas for potential support and cooperation include: (1) protection priority index maps (digital and hardcopy atlas), similar to the system already developed for Abu Dhabi; (2) national coastal resource datasets; (3) guidelines and standards for data collection and processing; (4) coastal habitat guide to promote coastal environmental awareness; and (5) capacity building in all areas.
Capacity building may include activities such as 'rotating' workshop held in different GCC countries; attendance of representatives at actual oil spill events to observe assessment and combat systems in action; support for in-country & overseas postgraduate studies and a UNESCO sponsored prize for best (university) student study of oil spill assessment/coastal protection. National coastal resource datasets (item 2 above) could also help identify candidate sites for coastal and marine biosphere reserves, thus providing an additional benefit of UNESCO support.
For each of the above five areas, concept summaries for projects are outlined. Because these are determined from a broad (GCC wide) assessment, they are necessarily rather generic. The next step would be development of the concept summaries into firm project documents/proposals (tailored as necessary to the specific needs of each GCC country). It is envisaged that UNESCO support would be principally facilitation and support (rather than implementation), involving scientific/technical assistance, organisation and/or sponsorship (e.g. meetings and workshops) as well as project planning, guidance and coordination. Funding for the projects will be sought from other government agencies and international organisations in conjunction with the commercial and private sector. This will augment core funding already available to UNESCO.
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