A meeting for several PEGASO partners was organized in Seville (Spain) on 28-29 May 2013, coordinated by the Universidad Pablo de Olavide. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the development of the Integrated Regional Assessment (IRA) and its interrelation with several tools and indicators produced during the project. The Integrated Regional Assessment seeks to provide an overview of governance and the institutional framework and their relation to the various threats and policy programmes. The IRA will also provide a baseline analysis before the implementation of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region, and will highlight the gaps to be addressed.

The IRA analysis focuses on the policy needed to implement ICZM, using data from the Land and Ecosystem Accounting (LEAC) methodology, the Cumulative Impact Index and the ten PEGASO pilot sites across the Mediterranean and Black Sea region (CASES).

The meeting discussed and explored possible ways of linking the regional assessment to the indicators and the work done at the various CASE sites, and examining how they can be incorporated into the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) through the development of the local geonodes.

Participants examined the results of a questionnaire on the use and effectiveness of the indicators and the information compiled on human pressures on ecosystem services, such as land use, seabed metal accumulation, exposure to different pollutants, maritime traffic hazards to cetaceans or fisheries pressure.

The preliminary outcomes of the Integrated Regional Assessment will be presented during Mediterranean Coast Day, which will be held this year in Rimini, Italy on 25 September.

For further info: Gonzalo Carlos Malvarez