The UK-Gulf Marine Environment Partnership Programme

Transcription

1 The UK-Gulf Marine Environment Partnership Programme

2 Gulf states have significant marine resources and potential to develop their marine-based economies, but face challenges in maximising sustainable social and economic benefits from their marine environment. Whilst each country has specific national priorities for managing their marine environment, there are also many common challenges across the region. The UK-Gulf Marine Environment Partnership (UK-GMEP) Programme enables Cefas, the UK Government s marine science advisory agency, to work with partner organisations in the Gulf to address the challenges of marine environmental management by strengthening regulation, developing the knowledge-base to inform management, and building capacity for long-term sustainable management. The UK-GMEP Programme builds on Cefas broad and long collaboration with partners across the Gulf, demonstrated by four decades of experience working on the marine environmental in six countries across the region, and by the presence of Cefas offices based in the British Embassies in Oman and Kuwait. Why now? This work is important now, at a time of rapid development and economic challenge, as the Gulf states are looking to manage their marine environments to enable economic diversification and sustainable development, as well as and to tackle global, regional and nationally important issues including food security, protection of human health, and adaptation to climate change. This is recognised and supported at the highest levels of government, as demonstrated by the Prime Minister and Heads of State of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Governments committing in December 2016 to build upon their already strong foundation of people to people contact through further enhancement [...] including on marine environmental issues. Through the UK-GMEP Programme we are working with government and regional management bodies to share scientific knowledge and to provide policy and management advice to build their capacity to understand, protect and sustainably use the Gulf s marine environment.

3 What are we doing? We are delivering and developing work with management and research bodies in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, as well as working with the Regional Organization for Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) and the GCC Secretariat. The UK-GMEP Programme is developing collaborations with Gulf states that focus on five key topic areas: enabling food security through effective management of fisheries and aquaculture; facilitating sustainable development of marine industries and economic diversification by balancing the challenges and trade-offs associated with multiple uses of the marine environment; protecting human health by improving water quality and facing novel challenges such as the propagation of antimicrobial resistance; understanding the options for adaptation to, and mitigating of, climate change impacts in the marine environment; enabling states to meet the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and other international commitments for management and conservation of the marine environment. We are achieving this, by working with partners to: develop the regulations, frameworks and management structures required for effective management; build the knowledge base and decision support tools required to inform targeted, evidence-based, management; design strategic work programmes to address local challenges for environmental management; provide capacity development and training, both in-country and by welcoming scientists to our Lowestoft and Weymouth laboratories and onboard our research vessel.

4 Case Study: OMAN Food Security & Economic Diversification Fisheries and aquaculture are both an important source of food, and industries that enable economic diversification and job creation. This is recognised by the government of Oman which has identified fisheries and aquaculture as one of the five main pillars for national economic diversification. Effective and informed management is required to enable industry to sustainably develop these sectors and to avoid the dangers of overfishing of wild fish, and to avoid the potentially devastating impacts of disease in aquaculture. Working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Cefas have drafted revised legislation for aquaculture health management; introduced national fisheries management and aquaculture health management development plans into the national economic diversification strategy; provided training to Ministry staff in aquaculture disease diagnosis and fisheries assessment techniques in our laboratories in the UK; initiated a baseline study of the presence of aquatic diseases in the natural environment to inform implementation of aquaculture regulation.

5 Case Study: KUWAIT Sustainable Development Kuwait is going through a period of rapid population growth and economic development. This is leading to rapid development of the coastline and increased maritime activity which are causing multiple pressures on the marine environment including pollution, habitat loss and decline in species of commercial and conservation significance. Cefas have been working with the Kuwait Environment Public Authority (EPA) to meet its regulatory requirements and to develop Kuwait s National Plan for Marine Environmental Management, including designing the emisk MARINE Programme to conduct a national marine environmental survey and establish the ongoing national marine environmental monitoring programme. This will provide Kuwait and the EPA with the evidence base it needs to protect biodiversity and inform environmental approvals for major marine and coastal development projects. Through the UK-GMEP Programme we are working with our partners at the Kuwait EPA and the British Embassy in Kuwait to explore how we can support delivery of their internationally ambitious emisk MARINE monitoring programme which will form a flagship marine environmental programme in the Gulf region.

6 Case Study: SAUDI ARABIA Human Health The World Health Organisation considers antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the most pressing global issues which poses a fundamental threat to human health, development, and security. Microbial resistance to antibiotics spans all known classes of natural and synthetic agents and drug resistant infections are rising with recent estimates suggesting that up to 50,000 lives are lost each year to antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe and the US alone. As the receiving environment for antimicrobial compounds and resistant bacteria from sewage systems, agricultural runoff and aquaculture discharges, the marine environment is not only a reservoir for AMR, but also potentially an environment that can enable the development and spread of AMR. Evaluating the role of marine and aquatic environments in the development of AMR has been acknowledged as a key knowledge gap for the implementation of the Global Action Plan on AMR. We are working with partners in King Abdulaziz University, and across the region, to develop regional understanding of the potential role of the marine environment in developing AMR, and to identify regional priorities to address this issue. We are seeking to increase understanding of this issue by conducting a regional field survey of the presence of AMR in the Gulf marine environment.

7 Case Study: ROPME Climate Change Climate change will affect every ecosystem on the planet, and will have significant impacts on the marine environment, the life it supports, and the role it plays in human lives. Cefas Centre of Excellence in Marine Climate Change have been exploring the current and future implications of a changing climate and are working with Gulf experts to inform efforts to minimise and mitigate its effects. The Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) coordinates policy and science across the 8 countries bordering the Gulf. ROPME and Cefas are working together on issues related to marine climate change across the region evaluating the potential impacts of climate change to inform the development of adaptation plans, and to understand options for mitigation. This will provide the ROPME member states with the evidence base and tools required to effectively prepare for the challenges of climate change that lie ahead. Case Study: BAHRAIN Sustainable Development Bahrain is impacted by well-studied examples of sewage pollution in Tubli Bay, and oil and industrial pollution in the vicinity of the BAPCO oil refinery. The Bahraini Supreme Council for Environment (SCE) is seeking to address what are perceived as wide-ranging pollution issues, and to establish new standards for the marine environment to ensure that impacts associated with ongoing development are balanced with the need to maintain the environment to support fisheries, tourism and maintain recreational opportunities and quality of life. We have conducted a field survey of marine pollution and reviewed the SCE monitoring data, and contrary to expectations have shown that whilst impacted areas are clearly present there are also large areas of the Bahrain marine environment that are not impacted by pollution. This information can be used to inform spatial zoning and designation of tourism development areas. Building on this work we are advising on the establishment of environmental standards and revisions to the Bahrain national marine environmental monitoring programme.

8 Cefas Laboratory Pakefield Road, Lowestoft NR33 0HT United Kingdom Web: As an executive agency of the UK government s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Cefas has a century s worth of experience supporting governments, businesses, and society in the UK and internationally to ensure that seas and rivers are healthy and productive. Developing from our beginning as a small fisheries laboratory in 1902, Cefas now employs almost 600 staff dedicated to marine environmental issues between our main sites in Lowestoft and Weymouth in the UK, and offices in Kuwait and Oman. We work with governments, regional organisations, private companies, and academic organisations to provide world leading marine science solutions. There is an abundance of enthusiasm, energy and excitement across the Gulf for new and innovative marine science and environmental management approaches. We at Cefas are proud to be supporting Gulf states as they seek to develop and implement ambitious programmes to diversify their economies, develop their fisheries and aquaculture sectors, achieve cleaner seas and take steps to understand the impacts of and build resilience to marine climate change. Dr Will Le Quesne Cefas Middle East Programme Leader