More than 600 participants attended the 1st Forum of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR), jointly organised by the European Commission and the Government of Croatia in Dubrovnik (Croatia) on 12 and 13 May 2016. The event provided ample possibilities for networking on the four pillars of the Strategy (1. Blue growth; 2. Connecting the region \u2013 transport and energy networks; 3. Environmental quality; and 4. Sustainable tourism) and was a great opportunity to reach out to a wide range of stakeholders from the Region, including national, regional and local administrations, the business sector, the academia and the civil society at large.<\/p>\n
PAP\/RAC Director was invited to attend as a panellist in the parallel session entitled \u201cReconciling conflicting interests in a shared maritime space\u201d. That was an occasion to present and represent the entire UNEP\/MAP system and to promote the Barcelona Convention, its Protocols and the EcAp process as an adequate legal and strategic framework for the implementation of EUSAIR, and in particular its environmental pillar. Having summarised the achievements reached so far with regard to the implementation of two integrative processes within UNEP\/MAP, ICZM and EcAp, the PAP\/RAC Director focused on the issue of MSP in the Mediterranean Region, i.e. its rationale and constitutive elements and the future UNEP\/MAP activities in the field, in particular the Conceptual Framework for MSP in the Mediterranean that will be prepared in the actual biennium (2016-2017) as a part of a broader Regional (Mediterranean) Framework for ICZM to be submitted for adoption by COP20.<\/p>\n