In the framework of the PEGASO collaborative project, Plan Bleu, Ifremer,Tour du Valat, Rhône Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency (as member of the PEGASO End User Committee), in collaboration with the Mohammed V-University Agdal Rabat organised a participatory workshop to share experiences and discuss the progress ahieved so far in the pilot CASE of Bouches du Rhône(France) and Al Hoceima Bay (Morocco).

Two wiki articles have recently been published in the PEGASO Wiki.

An article on the development and use of PEGASO project indicators for integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) in the Mediterranean and Black Seas has been produced by the partners at the Flanders Marine Institute (Belgium).

The PEGASO project has developed a core set of indicators that are instrumental in measuring the implementation of ICZM policies and programmes. This core set addresses the specific requirement of Article 27 of the ICZM Protocol to ‘define coastal management indicators´ and ‘establish and maintain up-to-date assessments of the use and management of coastal zones´ for the Mediterranean Sea.

Several PEGASO CASEs (pilot sites) are testing and validating the assessment tools developed during the project at different spatial scales. At the moment, all three CASEs in the Black Sea have started work on the methodological factsheets and indicators. The Guria Coastal region (Georgia) is adapting the ICZM progress indicator for use at national level, while the Sevastopol CASE (Ukraine) has gained useful experience with the water quality and pollution indicators in particular.  

A major challenge in applying the recently adopted Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol for the Mediterranean to help decision making is the integration of different types of data, together with the fragmentation of institutional responsibility for coastal areas at regional, national and local levels.

The last Steering Committee meeting for the PEGASO project was held at the University of Balamand in Lebanon on 28-29 January 2013. The purpose of the gathering was to report on the progress of the project, summarize the work done so far and prepare the programme for the upcoming 3rd PEGASO General Meeting. As the project is entering its final year, the participants carefully discussed and agreed on plans for developing the last stages of the work.

Maritime spatial planning is commonly understood as a public process for analysing and planning the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in sea areas to achieve economic, environmental and social objectives. The ultimate aim of maritime spatial planning is to draw up plans to identify the most efficient and sustainable use of maritime space. In 2008 the Commission published its ‘Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning: Achieving Common Principles in the EU´, followed up in 2010 with the Communication on ‘Maritime Spatial Planning in the EU-Achievements and Future Development´, which paved the way for the present proposal.