The partners' diversity in the PEGASO consortium allowed for an extensive survey to compile information from all the countries bordering the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and to explore new forms of transdisciplinary thinking and working required to face up the challenges of coastal sustainability.

The PEGASO partners produced a general compilation and comparison of sustainable development approaches. Subsequently, they highlighted the common sustainable development concepts and frameworks between several strategies, protocols, directives, etc. Particular attention was paid to build a common understanding of the scope and intention of the ICZM Protocol, and its relationship to other contemporary policy initiatives regarding the coastal, marine and maritime realms.

The collected and analysed elements were organised in a set of innovative, clear and synthetic tables, easy to read yet covering the overall strategic vision developed.

The Conceptual Framework document describes the principles on which ICZM is based and its relationship to other conceptual frameworks such as sustainable development, the ecosystem approach, ecosystem services and integrated water and river basin management. It also describes the development of policy based on ICZM in the Mediterranean and the current status of these ideas in the Black Sea.

The aim of this Conceptual Framework has been to set out the background to the ICZM PEGASO Governance Platform that is a key outcome of the PEGASO project. It is suggested that the Platform must be seen as a forum that enables experience to be exchanged between practitioners and researchers at regional, national and local scales. It must also serve as a vehicle by which the institutional changes necessary for the successful implementation of ICZM can be encouraged.

For further info: Zelijka Skaricic (PAP/RAC) 

Figure: The coastal zone as the "hinge" between terrestrial and maritime spaces. Adapter from Meiner (2010) in Haines-Young et al. (2014)