MEMORANDUM OF COOPERATION
between
the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement on Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the contiguous Atlantic area
and
the Permanent Secretariat of the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution
concerning the Sub-regional Coordinating Unit for the Black Sea
Appendix
The Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement on Conservation of the Cetaceans of the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the contiguous Atlantic area (ACCOBAMS) as referred as “the Agreement”, hereafter referred to as the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement
And
The Permanent Secretariat of the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution
hereafter referred to as the Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat
stressing that:
- ACCOBAMS was born of an inter-convention process including Bucharest, Barcelona, Bern and Bonn Conventions;
- the Preamble to the Agreement refers to the Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution adopted in 1992;
- Resolution 3, adopted at the Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of the Black Sea, Bucharest, April 21-22, 1992, inviting "other intergovernmental organisation to cooperate with the Contracting Parties and/or the Commission by preparing and implementing specific programmes and projects, with a view to fulfilling the objectives of the Convention"
- The Declaration on the Protection of the Black Sea, Odessa, April 6-7, 1993;
- The Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea adopted in 1996 includes conservation measures for the marine mammals as foreseen also in the Agreement’s Conservation Plan;
Evoking:
- Article I.3.j describing the two subregions of the geographical scope of the Agreement: "the Black Sea" and "the Mediterranean and the contiguous Atlantic area"
- Article III.4 providing for, amongst other things, granting permanent observer status to the Permanent Secretariats of the other regional conventions and agreements concerned inter alia with the conservation of cetaceans;
- Article V of the Agreement instituting sub-regional coordinating units and defining their functions;
- Article III, 7 c stating that the Parties to the Agreement will designate “in each subregion, within an existing institution, a Coordination Unit”;
- the recommendation made to the Agreement’s Interim Permanent Secretariat by the signatories of the Final Act of the negotiation Meeting of the ACCOBAMS (Monaco, 24 November 1996) , that it would approach relevant inter-governmental organisations of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, with a view to identifying the Sub-regional Coordinating Units envisaged in Article V of the Agreement;
Evoking also
- Article VIII of the Bucharest Convention calling on the Black sea Commission to cooperate with competent international organizations, especially with a view to developing appropriate programmes or obtaining assistance in order to achieve the purposes of this Convention.
- The Odessa Declaration recognizing that the rehabilitation, protection and preservation of the Black Sea can be ensured only through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including cooperation with relevant international organizations;
- The Declaration on the Conservation of Black sea Marine Mammals, issued from the First International Symposium on the Marine Mammals of the Black sea (Istanbul, 27-30 June 1994) under the auspices of UNEP and Black Sea Environmental Program which inter alia calls the Governments of the Black Sea Countries "to conclude an Agreement under the Bonn Convention for the conservation of marine mammals of the Black Sea" on the basis of elements annexed to the Declaration.
Acknowledging
- That ACCOBAMS' Conservation Plan and the Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and the Protection of Black Sea present a set of converging goals on marine mammals conservation, confirming the potential synergies between the two Plans;
- That ACCOBAMS Conservation Plan fits with the recommendation of the Odessa Declaration "to encourage the development of comprehensive and coordinated plans for the restoration and conservation of biodiversity in the Black Sea" and "to take appropriate measures for the restoration and conservation of biodiversity in the Black Sea in the spirit of the 1992 Biodiversity Convention."
- That ACCOBAMS could be another link with and UNEP-OCA/PAC Regional Seas Program on training of environment specialist and protection of endangered species;
- That ACCOBAMS upgrade Black Sea Cetacean Action Plan at an compulsory level;
Underlining some common concerns, inter alia:
- Adoption and enforcement of national legislation
- Assessment and managements of human/marine biodiversity interaction including tourism and fisheries;
- Reinforcement of anti pollution measures;
- Attenuation of Fisheries interactions impact on biodiversity;
- Habitat protection, stressing the need to establish and improve nature conservation areas, which as ACCOBAMS stated, should be, as far as possible, established within the framework of appropriate instruments;
- Research and monitoring;
- Capacity building, collection and dissemination of information, training and education; covering public awareness and participation;
- Response to emergency situations;
- Implementation the Convention on Biological Diversity on a regional context;
Have agreed upon the following:
The Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat will be granted the permanent observer status to the Contracting Parties meetings pursuant to Article III. 4 of the Agreement.
The functions related to the ACCOBAMS Sub-regional Coordination Unit for the Black Sea (BSSRCU) are entrusted to the Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat. The activities of the BSSRCU will focus on the Black Sea as defined by Article I of the ACCOBAMS.
Roles and functions of the BSSRCU :
The BSSRCU’s functions will consist in :
- facilitating and promoting the implementation of the Conservation Plan of ACCOBAMS taking in consideration the guidance of the Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement;
- collecting and assessing the information which will allow the aims of implementing the ACCOBAMS to be better reached, and an appropriate broadcasting of this information provided for;
- providing administrative and technical support at the ACCOBAMS Black Sea sub region level for the meetings of the Scientific Committee and preparing a report for the meeting of the Contracting Parties of the ACCOBAMS through the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement on the implementation of the activities carried out within the ACCOBAMS framework in the area covered by the BSRCU.
The Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat will provide the link with the measures and activities of the Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea, with the view of ensuring that the activities carried out within the ACCOBAMS framework and those carried out in the context of the Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea are in synergy to the extent possible.
The BSSRCU representative will attend the meetings of the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS and will assist the Agreement Permanent Secretariat in ensuring the Permanent Secretariat functions of these meetings.
Furthermore, in consultation with the Scientific Committee and the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement, the BSSRCU:
- will facilitate the preparation of a series of international reviews or publications, to be updated regularly including:
• reports on the status and trends of populations, as well as gaps in scientific knowledge;
• a sub-regional directory of important areas for cetaceans;
• a sub-regional directory of national authorities, research and rescue centres, scientists and non-governmental organisations concerned with cetaceans.
- will cooperate with the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement to prepare guidelines dealing inter alia with:
• the reduction or elimination, as far as possible of adverse human/cetacean interactions;
• habitats protection and natural resources management methods as they relate to cetaceans;
• emergency in case of massive stranding, major pollution event or epizootics;
• rescue methods for wounded or sick animals
ACCOBAMS Permanent Secretariat will,
- Present sub regional priorities and their budgetary implications, drafted in collaboration with BSSRCU, for consideration by its Meeting of the Parties;
- Look for financial resources oriented to these priorities, through the supplementary conservation Funds;
- Facilitate sub regional NGO participation to ACCOBAMS implementation and education
- Stress the need of capacity building for the sub region and facilitate exchanges with the Mediterranean and Atlantic contiguous zone sub region;
- Provide the Permanent Secretariat for the Commission for the Black Sea with the information and documentation that are necessary for implementing the present Memorandum, and will take the necessary steps to facilitate BSSRCU missions in the countries of the region.
Practical and financial arrangements
The Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement and the Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat will consult together with a view to ensuring that the ACCOBAMS, the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against the Pollution and the Strategic Action Plan in the field of biodiversity, as well as any other related activity, will be harmoniously implemented, and will ensure as far as their means permit that meetings and other events organized within the ACCOBAMS framework and that of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against the Pollution and the Strategic Action Plan on the relevant field will be co organized , organized back to back, or permit that their respective representatives take part as observersin order to achieve the most effective use of the funds available;
The Permanent Secretariat for the Commission for the Black Sea will assign to one of its experts to guarantee the monitoring of the technical implementation of the present Memorandum and will be the technical vis-à-vis of the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement.
In order to facilitate the implementation of the present memorandum a programme-budget is established according to the priorities defined by the Contracting Parties to ACCOBAMS and approved by the Black Sea Commission. It will be part of the ACCOBAMS budget and could be presented in the annex to this Memorandum and could be jointly amended by the two parties to take into account the decisions of the ACCOBAMS Contracting Parties and funds availability. The activities of the BSSRCU mentioned in the “Roles and Functions of the BSSRCU” part of this Memorandum will be implemented as far as funded by this programme-budget.
These funds shall be used to implement activities that are additional or complementary to those carried out by the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution within the framework of the implementation of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution and the Strategic Action Plan. For the activities within the Black Sea Convention and Action Plan or within ACCOBAMS implementation whose objectives are in conformity, co-funding mechanism should be, as far as possible, explored.
The Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement and the Permanent Secretariat of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution will act together to obtain supplementary funding to that provided by the Agreement Parties' contributions.
The Permanent Secretariat of the Commission for the Black Sea, after consultation with the Agreement Permanent Secretariat, could subcontract the carrying out of certain activities covered by the present Memorandum of Cooperation. But it does remain the sole responsible vis-à-vis of the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement for the activities in question.
Before 31 January every year, the Permanent Secretariat BSSRCU will make an annual report on the activities being carried on in the context of the present Memorandum, including information on use of the budget set aside for the BSSRCU. Preparation of any other reports could be stipulated by the two Permanent Secretariats on case-by-case basis and taking into account the resources availability
Legal rights on the products of activities
All the legal rights world-wide concerning the products (documents, maps, drawings and photographs, etc) of activities being carried on in the context of the present Memorandum of Agreement belong to the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement and to the Permanent Secretariat of the Commission for the Black Sea. Both Parties may use as they find convenient the said products for non-commercial purposes.
Confidentiality
As a general rule, any information or product directly concerning the present Memorandum of Cooperation or related to it, including documentation, correspondence, preliminary and final reports, and audio-visual material, is open for public consultation. But when one of the two Parties believes that the circumstances require confidentiality, it may request the other Party to treat the information or product in question as confidential information or a confidential product.
Duration and Amendment
This memorandum will go on until the next Meeting of the Parties of ACCOBAMS and could be renewed by tacit agreement, taking into account that, pursuant to article III .8and V.1 of the Agreement, at each their ordinary session the Meeting of the Parties will review, as appropriate, the arrangements of the sub-regional Coordination units.
Entering into force
The present memorandum of cooperation will enter into force one month after its signature by both Parties.
Denunciation
The present memorandum could be denunciated on decision of ACCOBAMS Contracting Parties (or its Bureau) or Black Sea Commission. The denunciation shall take effect sixty days after notification by written to both Permanent Secretariats.
Done in Sofia on the 14th day of the month of June in two copirs in the English language. ….
For the Black sea Commission Permanent Secretariat
(signed)
Plamen Dzhadzhev,
BSC PS Executive Director
For ACCOBAMS Permanent Secretariat
(signed)
Marie-Christine Van Klaveren
ACCOBAMS Executive Secretary
APPENDIX
Programme and funds availability for the period 2002-2004
The activities proposed below, for the first implementation period (2002-2204), were worked out taking into account the provisions of ACCOBAMS and the priorities adopted within the Strategic Action Plan of the Bucharest Convention and approved by the Contracting Parties to ACCOBAMS. Their actual implementation will be subject to funds availability.
Activities |
Estimated budget |
Other sources |
Term |
Elaboration of the Black Sea directory of national authorities, research and rescue centres, and non-governmental organisations dealing with cetaceans Products: Electronic-format directory that can be installed on website and printed |
|
|
6 months |
Code of conduct for strandings of live cetaceans Product: Code of conduct |
|
|
18 months |
Workshop on interaction with fishing Products: Technical documentation |
|
|
24 months |
Cetacean Survey in the Black Sea Product: Report on the cetacean populations in the Black Sea, including the results of the assignment |
|
|
|
Technical assistance and information gathering in countries |
|
|
|
The unit’s internal expenses (communications, staff, participation at ACCOBAMS meetings, etc.) |
|
|
|
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