Black Sea NGO Forum, 8th edition, Tbilisi

Blue Growth in the Black Sea

What is it about?

Relevance for the environment

Role of the civil society

Funding opportunities

Integrated Maritime Policy

Relevance for the marine environment

MSP – thinking ahead• Public process: analysing

and allocating spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in maritime zones to achieve environmental, economic and social objectives.

• Multi-sector: reconciliation of concurrent human activities and their impact on the marine environment.

Environmental Benefits

• Reduction of pressure on the marine environment

• Reduction of environmentally damaging activities in or near protected areas

• Inclusion of ecosystem services in planning

• Support for implementation of environmental legislation

• Reduce conflicts on access to maritime space

• Reduce cumulative impact of maritime activities on the environment

• Improve certainty and predictability for private investments

• Reduce co-ordination costs for public authorities

Why is MSP a priority for the EU?

Role of the civil society

Role of the civil society• Inform our policies

(e.g. regional advisory councils, spatial planning)

• Support/monitor implementation process(e.g. spatial planning, marine protected areas)

• Craft partnerships at local level (e.g. community-led local action groups – FLAGs, marine protected areas)

• Driving societal change

Funding opportunities

Funding – ESIF / EMFF

The new fund will:•help fishermen / sector in transition to sustainable fishing

•support coastal communities in diversifying their economies

•finance projects to create new jobs, improve quality of life along European coasts --> make best use of fishermen's knowledge, experience, use this potential in Blue Growth areas such as tourism

•Support actions to improve maritime governance

•Promote IMP dialogue and cooperation within and among MS, and internationally

•Promote cross-sectoral cooperation networks…

EMFF - relevance for tourism?

Local actors from public, private / civil society sector draw up local development strategies (CLLD - FLAGs):

•To enhance and capitalise on environmental assets;

•To develop tourism-related project, such as eco-tourism, pesca-tourism, accommodation, tourist trails, diving, etc.

•To address "diversification" – either to replace fishing or to provide complementary activities & income for fishermen

•To develop professional trainings, life-long learning and acquisition of new professional skills.

Call for proposals: Blue EconomyThe main aim of this call is to support coordinated action in the context of the IMP, which will carry inter-sectoral and cross-border elements.

The call will award one grant to each of the following actions:•to pilot partnerships between public and private stakeholders (public-private partnerships) in the areas: 

• sustainable coastal and maritime tourism;• marine research and business integration;• access to finance and funding for maritime business;

•to promote networking between maritime clusters in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean in relation to the maritime policy and the blue economy.

Available funding: EUR 569.000 split between the winning bids.

Geographical scope: Black Sea and the Mediterranean regions.

Eligibility: Stakeholders from EU Member States and partner countries bordering both sea basins and participating in the respective cooperation frameworks (e.g. Union for the Mediterranean, EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian region, Black Sea Synergy, etc.) as well as regional and international organisations active in the targeted sea basins.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 26 November 2015.

•All information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund.

European structural and investment funds

• Cross-border Cooperation or transnational/Interregional programmes• (notably: CBC Black Sea, RO-MD, MD-UA, RO-UA, RO-BG, BG-

TR, EL-BG, AR-GE, Danube transnational programme)

• East Regional Programmes• (notably: EaP SMEs development support, EaP Youth Window,

EaP Culture programme, EaPIC, Neighbourhood Civil Society Facility)

• Others programmes• (e.g. COSME, Horizon 2020, Erasmus +)