One of the activities developed by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) as a partner of the POCTEFEX-Alboran project is to promote the design and structure of a geoportal (web portal) to provide access to geographic information and associated geographic services on natural resources in the Alboran Sea. In order to better understand the environmental geographic information database available on the Alboran Sea, IUCN-Med organized a second technical meeting in Seville on 17-18 September. More than a dozen scientific, administrative and academic institutions from both Spain and Morocco participated in this workshop which was inaugurated by Javier Madrid, Director General of Management of the Environment of the regional government of Junta de Andalucía.

The invited institutions welcomed the workshop with interest and willingness to share their geographic information through a future geoportal on the Alboran Sea. Among the first steps identified, the participants pledged to contribute the well-developed information they already have available to initiate the pilot stages of the geoportal.

The Spanish institutions invited to participate were: the Environmental Information Network of Andalusia (REDIAM), the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy, the Centre for Ports and Coasts Studies of CEDEX and the Department of Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea, along with the Biodiversity Foundation, both belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA). From Morocco, the Universities of Essadi Tetouan and of Rabat, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Fisheries and the Scientific Institute of Marine Fisheries (INRH). At international and regional level, a representative of the Regional Centre of Activities for Specially Protected Areas from the Barcelona Convention and another from the international NGO of Oceana also attended.

The meeting is part of the Alboran Project which is funded by the Program of Cross-border Cooperation Spain - External Borders POCTEFEX, a European initiative to foster partnerships between Spain and Morocco. The meeting was also co-financed by the Biodiversity Foundation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment in Spain.

For further info: Andrés Alcántara