IUCN joins Málaga and Morocco in the Alboran Sea

February 2007

The Diputación de Málaga (province government) in Andalucia is supporting the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) also in Malaga in order to elaborate an action plan for the Alboran Sea. In order to do so, a first up-to-date and rigorous document on the future management strategy for a Conservation and Sustainable Development in the area is being prepared.

On the threshold to the Mediterranean, the Alboran Sea spreads between Spain, Morocco and Algeria and it is considered the hydrological engine of the Western Mediterranean. Its coastal zones are strategically very important due to several factors. Firstly, an increasing number of inhabitants and economic activities related to welfare and richness are located in these areas. Secondly, they are essential locations for transport and trade. Thirdly, they host some of the most valuable habitats from the point of view of their contribution to biodiversity and geodiversity. And above all, they are, at the same time, a priority resource for one of the main economic activities at global scale: tourism.

IUCN members and experts from the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO in Spanish), the Institut National de Recherche Halieutiques (INRH) in Morocco, the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation together with independent institutions and specialists in the field have constituted a working group that is currently developing the document that will help identify the best strategic elements that will allow for the evaluation, monitoring and conservation of life in the Alboran Sea in a sustainable way.

During the next phase of the project, the Alboran Working Group and other invited parties will meet in May in Tangier (Morocco) under the theme of: A New Future for Cooperation in the Alboran Sea to analyse, review and complete the document and hereafter develop an integrated action plan for the following three years to allow for the better protection of the natural resources shared between the two continents.

If you are interested to contribute to this document, please check the table of contents (only in Spanish for the moment) and send an email to francois.simard@iucn.org