Björklund, Mona I.

RERO DOC Digital Library

Conferences & Meetings 313REGIONAL MEETING ON MARINE PARKS AND RESERVES INTHE NORTHERN INDIAN OCEAN, INCLUDING THE RED SEAAND THE PERSIAN GULF, HELD IN TEHRAN, IRAN,6-10 MARCH 1975The conservation of renewable (living) resources of coastalmarine areas, including the establishment of a regionalsystem of marine parks and other protected areas, was theobjective of this first regional marine working meeting,which was convened by IUCN and the Department of theEnvironment of the Imperial Government of Iran, in closecooperation with the United Nations Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP), UNESCO, and the World Wildlife Fund(WWF).The Meeting was attended by representatives of thefollowing countries: Iran, Bahrain, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya,Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Sudan.The Governments of the following States were also invitedbut did not send representatives: India, Iraq, Mauritius,Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates,Yemen (Arab Republic), and Yemen (People's DemocraticRepublic). In addition, there were representatives fromUNEP and UNESCO as well as from IUCN/WWF,including IUCN/WWF marine consultants.National, Regional, and Technical, reports were sub-mitted and considered in detail by the Meeting. In planningfor the development of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,the Persian Gulf, and the north-west Indian Ocean, so thatthe full scientific, educational, recreational, and economic,benefits for the region may be achieved, the Meeting parti-cularly emphasized the need to take into account the natunof coastal marine ecosystems. The facts that coastal zoneLprovide the richest known concentration of marine speciesand biotic communities, and that coastal breeding-groundsare essential for the maintenance of sustained-yield fisheries,were also stressed. Concern was expressed, however, overthe increasing deterioration which these areas are facingbecause of disturbance from human activities, such aspollution, coastal development for industry, recreation,waste disposal, dredging, and tourism—to mention onlysome of the more serious threats to the coastal zone.Understanding of downstream effects was considered vitalin coastal marine management, since watershed alteration(through overgrazing, damming, and deforestation) mayalter coastal systems by changing water quality, nutrientexchange, and siltation.The results of the ensuing discussions on how to guidefuture coastal development and how to prevent the deterio-ration of coastal areas, were considered by the GeneralPrinciples Working Group which submitted to the Meetinga number of Agreed Principles and General Recommenda-tions, which subsequently were adopted.The need for conserving representative parts of marineecosystems through the establishment of national andregional marine parks and reserves as an integrated part ofregional land and coastal marine planning, was stressed,as was the need for implementing research and monitoringprogrammes of the level and effects of pollution (usingmarine protected areas as controls).The Meeting recommended that establishment of marineparks should be implemented in various stages covering(a) site selection, (b) site (resource) inventory, (c) siteplanning, (d) site design, and (e) site use. It also recom-mended that the Governments of the region should considerand manage carefully those marine areas which are suitablefor research, monitoring, tourism, recreation, and educationof the public, as well as further the education and trainingof personnel for the management of marine protected areas.The importance of understanding processes, rather thanjust components of marine ecosystems, was emphasized.Action plans and recommendations on the Red Sea andthe Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, and the north-westIndian Ocean, were submitted by the three regional WorkingGroups covering these areas, and were adopted by theMeeting. The Working Groups strongly recommended theinitiation of detailed national and international oceano-graphic, biological, and ecological, surveys of the regionfor the purpose of determining sites for marine protectedareas. Training of management personnel was consideredan important part of the proposed marine conservationprogramme. Existing, proposed, and potential, marineparks and reserves in the region were identified by theWorking Groups. Some seventy sites were listed, eachwith a short description of outstanding features.The gist of the recommendations of the Regional andParks Planning Working Groups was that planning ofmarine parks and reserves is a continuing process that isrelated to the changing conditions in the environmentwhich alter through human use and the impact of techno-logical development. Altogether it is to be hoped that theAgreed Principles and General Recommendations of thisfirst marine Regional Meeting* will prove useful in futureefforts to improve the methods of planning, developing,and managing, marine resources on regional and otherlevels.MONA I. BJORKLUND, Executive OfficerCommission on EcologyIUCN Secretariat1110 Morges, Switzerland.* Published in a Special Supplement to the IUCN Bulletin,Vol. 6, No. 5, 3 pp., May 1975.—Ed.'MEDITERRANEAN ECOLOGY—A COOPERATIVEINTERNATIONAL CONCERN', BEING THE 45TH QUAKERINTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, HELD AT ST GEORGE'SSCHOOL, CLARENS, VAUD, SWITZERLAND, 11-19 JULY 1975Meeting for this occasion near Montreux, Switzerland,nationals of thirteen Mediterranean countries, togetherwith participants from Western Europe, Japan, theU.S.S.R., and the U.S.A., discussed in depth problems ofpollution in the Mediterranean as presented by authoritativespeakers. The Conference, after discussing dangers to theentire ecological system of the Mediterranean that stemfrom the various sources of pollution, and in considerationof the grave threats to the health, welfare, development, andpeace, of the region, that derive from ecological damage,agreed:1. That there is urgent need for an integrated programmeof international pollution control in the Mediterranean,including ship-board, harbour, coastal, and river-borne,sources:An important preliminary to the initiation of the neces-sary agreements to implement such a programme should bethe evaluation of the success achieved in implementingprevious relevant international agreements. This shouldserve as a guide to the Secretariat of UNEP (The UnitedNations Environment Programme) in drafting futureagreements and as a reminder to Governments of the needfor enforcement measures;Particular attention should be given to an early standard-ization and completion of oil reception facilities, ratificationand implementation of existing conventions, mandatoryuse of correctly documented log-books, specific studies onMediterranean pollution of terrestrial origin, and earlyprotocols to cover such pollution;The conference of plenipotentiaries that is being orga-nized by UNEP in Barcelona in February 1976 * should beurged to view the problems of the environment in theMediterranean basin in a comprehensive way, towards* See our last issue, pp. 235-6.—Ed.https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900001983Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 12:12:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at

Regional Meeting on Marine Parks and Reserves in the Northern Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, held in Tehran, Iran, 6-10 March 1975

Regional Meeting on Marine Parks and Reserves in the Northern Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, held in Tehran, Iran, 6-10 March 1975

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

RERO DOC Digital Library