Doc. 9345

1 February 2002

Protection of the Mediterranean coast

Motion for a recommendation

presented by Mr Guillermo Martínez Casañ and others

1.       The Mediterranean coast is doubly in danger. Firstly, it is affected by the general process of alteration of coastal areas, where the gradual abandonment of traditional activities (farming and fishing) is accompanied by creeping tertiary and urban development. In addition, it borders a semi-enclosed sea whose characteristics and vulnerability accentuate the adverse effects of rapid economic and demographic growth in littoral countries.

2.       Whether as a result of its natural characteristics (soil erosion, desertification, climate) or human action (tourism, urban development, industrialisation, pollution), the Mediterranean basin, and in particular its coasts, have long been under constant, growing and cumulative attack which threatens not only natural resources but also traditional human activity and endangers the delicate balance - in those places where it has so far been preserved - of the coastal zone.

3.       The situation is extremely serious in the more developed countries of the northern shore but these have started taking measures to contain the damage and to protect and rescue the coast by introducing integrated coastal-development policies to ensure compatibility of the different uses made of the coast and secure its sustainable development.

4.       Although their coasts have suffered less from development-related damage, the countries of the southern shore are laying themselves open to similar risks, which, in addition to posing problems for them, would dramatically worsen the overall threat to the Mediterranean, which is probably not capable of absorbing double the environmental damage.

5.       The damage is especially serious when it affects species which are part of the Mediterranean coast’s natural or cultural heritage. Deltas and other wet zones have always provided habitats or stopovers for a great many endemic or migratory species and are places where, sometimes over a period of many centuries, man has evolved activities, in particular agriculture, which respected the natural environment and was sustainable in the present sense of that term.

6.       The Assembly accordingly recommends that the Committee of Ministers and member states:

-       urgently apply in coastal areas a policy of integrated, sustainable development which takes into account environmental as well as economic factors so as to preserve natural coastal areas and the agriculture and fisheries which have traditionally been carried on there;

-       to that end implement the relevant international conventions and agreements, work towards concluding whatever other instrument is constructive at European level, bring in programmes and strategies for the conservation of coastal areas that need protecting, and allocate to them the necessary financial resources;

-       have regard to coastal areas’ special features in the discussions under way regarding various European policies, notably in the context of reform of the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy as regards the European Union and the European conferences of spatial-planning and environment ministers as regards the Council of Europe;

-       pay particular attention to the sea-land interface by maintaining a balance between terrestrial and marine activities, adopting policies that avoid disruption of local communities, and endeavouring to preserve the local ways of life and traditional modes of production;

-       promote agricultural and fishing products from protected coastal areas by awarding them quality marks that guarantee district of origin and the traditional, natural, healthy and sustainable methods of production and by encouraging a management approach for rural coastal areas that is compatible with preserving an environment and natural resources of outstanding vulnerability;

-       in agreement with local and regional authorities concerned, adapt spatial-planning and urban-development policies so that destruction of coastal areas and construction or proliferation of buildings or other infrastructure in coastal zones, deltas and wet zones, in particular around large cities and industrial or tourist sites, are strictly regulated.

Signed : ¹

Martínez Casañ, Spain, EPP/CD

Agudo, Spain, SOC

Briane, France, EPP/CD

Chapman, United Kingdom, EDG

Etherington, United Kingdom, SOC

Fehr, Switzerland, LDR

Fernández Aguilar, Spain, EPP/CD

Flynn, United Kingdom, SOC

Grignon, France, PPE/DC

Gubert, Italy, PPE/DC

Janowski, Poland, EPP/CD

Juric, Croatia, LDR

Kalkan, Turkey, EDG

Korkeaoja, Finland, LDR

Kostytsky, Ukraine, EPP/CD

Kurucsai, Hungary, EPP/CD

Libicki, Poland, EDG

Meale, United Kingdom, SOC

Mikaelsson, Sweden, UEL

Monteiro, Portugal, SOC

Pavlidis, Greece, EPP/CD

Podobnik, Slovenia, EPP/CD

de Puig, Spain, SOC

Stankevič, Lithuania, LDR

Stoejberg, Denmark, LDR

Yürür, Turkey, EDG

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group