Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting (IGR-2) of the UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA)
Beijing, China, 16-20 October 2006

The Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) was adopted in 1995 by 108 Governments and the European Commission in response to the increasing threat to the marine environment from human activities on land. The GPA is designed to be a source of conceptual and practical guidance for national and/or regional authorities for devising and implementing sustained action to prevent, reduce, control and/or eliminate marine degradation from land-based activities.

The GPA is the only global mechanism explicitly addressing the linkages among freshwater, coastal, and marine environments. A major purpose of the GPA is to explicitly link the National Plans of Action under GPA to other integrated coastal and ocean management initiatives and to integrated water resources management initiatives, and to forward the achievement of ecosystem approaches to meet the 2010 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) target.

The United Nations Environment Programme acts as the secretariat for the GPA. The UNEP/GPA Coordination Office, located in The Hague, The Netherlands supports the implementation of the GPA by: promoting and facilitating the implementation of the GPA at the national level and the regional and sub-regional level and playing a catalytic role with other

About the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting of the UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (IGR-2)

The Intergovernmental Review Meetings are a forum where Governments and other stakeholders meet to review the status of the implementation of the GPA and decide on action to be taken to strengthen the implementation of the GPA. Building on the success of IGR-1 held in Montreal, Canada in 2001, representatives from governments, inter-governmental organizations, NGOs and other groups are expected to participate in IGR-2 in a highly inter-active and results orientated meeting.

The objectives of IGR-2 are to:

• Strengthen the implementation of the Global Programme of Action at national, regional and global levels.
• Contribute to the achievement of specific targets of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) as they relate to the Global Programme of Action, ecosystem approach, and sanitation.
• Provide guidance on the programme of work for the UNEP/GPA Coordination Office for the period 2007-2011.

For Further Information: please consult the UNEP/GPA IGR-2 Website

Preparatory Meeting

An informal preparatory meeting was held in Paris from 27-28 June at the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Government of France. Over 45 representatives participated and provided substantive and technical comments to various draft IGR-2 official documents.

For Further Information: please consult the UNEP/GPA Preparatory Meeting Website

Partnerships Day at IGR-2

Day 2 of the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting (IGR-2) of the Global Programme of Action is Partnerships Day. The Partnerships Day is a forum where existing and new partnerships that implement the GPA will meet and interact with government representatives and other stakeholders participating in IGR-2. A number of meetings were organized to begin collaboration among partners in preparation for IGR-2. The Global Forum and the Stakeholder Forum are collaborating with the UNEP-GPA Coordination Office in facilitating Partnerships Day sessions.

For Further Information: please consult the UNEP/GPA Partnerships Website

Preparatory meetings for Partnership Day

1. UNEP Oceans Policy Roundtable, Washington D.C., January 11th, 2006, UNEP Regional Office for North America, 1707 H Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006
Meeting Report 

2. Strategic planning meeting for Partnerships Day IGR-2, Beijing, April 21, UNEP Regional Office for North America, 1707 H Street, NW #300 Washington, DC 20006, organized by the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, in collaboration with the UNEP Regional Office for North America
Meeting Report 

3. Coordination meeting for the UNEP/GPA Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting (IGR-2) Partnerships Day, June 15, UNEP New York Office Conference Room (Room DC2-811), organized by the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands.
Meeting Report 

Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands at IGR-2

1. Global Forum - GPA Partnership Session

The Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands will be collaborating with entities around the world in the preparation of assessments, including: the UNEP/ GPA Coordination Office; the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO, the Global Environment Facility, Convention on Biological Diversity, UNEP Regional Seas Programme, the World Bank, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; SEMARNAT Mexico; Ministry of Environment, Brazil; PEMSEA (East Asia); NEPAD (Africa); SOPAC and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (Pacific Islands). The partnership will support further implementation of the GPA through the global review of status and trends, and through the detailed case studies, providing the GPA office with specific information on overcoming obstacles to integration of freshwater/coastal/ocean issues and on good practices for potential further dissemination.

An important part of the GPA mandate is to assess the status and trends of such initiatives at the global level, to ascertain progress, obstacles, and possibly needed changes in direction. The global-level reporting that will be carried out through this Partnership will identify varying patterns of implementation in different regions of the world, which will be useful in the further targeting of international assistance, support, and technical know-how to disseminate good practices in ecosystem-based integrated coastal and ocean management. The in-depth case studies will reveal explicit factors which account for successful linkages among coastal, marine, and freshwater environments, and suggest best practices for consideration in other national contexts.

For Further Information: please consult the Global Forum Partnership  and the Report of the Partnership Session 

2. Global Forum side event on Advancing the Oceans, Coasts, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Freshwater/Oceans Agenda in the Next Decade: Key Issues and Opportunities

The Global Forum will also be sponsoring a side event during IGR-2, to be held 19 October, 2006. The side event, titled Advancing the Oceans, Coasts, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Freshwater/Oceans Agenda in the Next Decade: Key Issues and Opportunities, will focus on key challenges and opportunities for the integrated implementation of the oceans, coasts, SIDS, and the freshwater/oceans agenda in the next decade, 2006-2016, paying particular attention to the forthcoming review of the oceans agenda by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2014-2015.

For Further Information: please consult the Side Event Brochure 

3. Preparatory Activities Organized by the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands

The Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, through the Global Environment Facility Project on Fostering a Global Dialogue on Oceans, Coasts, and SIDS, and on Freshwater-Coastal-Marine Interlinkages, focuses on improving interlinkages between freshwater and oceans issues, through policy analyses that address the incorporation of integrated coastal and river basin management approaches and related institutional, legal, and financial arrangements into national and regional environmental and developmental policies, in recognition of the inextricable connections between freshwater and oceans. This work is facilitated by a Freshwater to Oceans Task Force, which is composed of experts in both watershed management and integrated coastal and ocean management from various organizations and regions.

Preparatory activities of the Freshwater to Oceans Taskforce

1. The International Workshop on Freshwater-Coastal-Marine Management Interlinkages was held on January 10-11, 2006 in Mexico City, organized by the Consejo Consultivo del Agua, Mexico, SEMARNAT, Mexico, Centro EPOMEX, the Global Forum, UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) and other collaborating organizations. Thirty-nine (39) experts from 29 countries participated in the workshop.



2. This issue was also addressed at the Third Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, held in UNESCO, Paris, France, from January 23-28, 2006, along with preparations for the second Intergovernmental Review of the UNEP-GPA (IGR-2) to be held on October 16-20, 2006, in Beijing, People's Republic of China, through a panel session and multi-stakeholder dialogues.



3. A session on Management Link for Freshwaters and Coasts - Progress in Local Actions organized by the UNEP/GPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Global Forum was be held at the 4th World Water Forum on March 18, 2006, which aimed to promote integrated watershed and coastal management through the UNEP-GPA framework, partnerships and other approaches.

For Further Information: please consult the Freshwater to Oceans Website

Collaboration with Stakeholder Forum at IGR-2

Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future's mission is to inform, influence, promote, and advance the implementation of sustainable development. Stakeholder Forum fulfils this mission by developing and facilitating multi-stakeholder processes that engage stakeholders in the development and implementation of sustainable development policy. To support multi-stakeholder processes, Stakeholder Forum also undertakes activities related to capacity building, training, and policy development.

Stakeholder Forum is working with UNEP GPA to undertake outreach and conduct dialogue with stakeholders to ensure that the IGR-2 will gain from the experience and expertise of a broad range of stakeholders.

For Further Information: please consult the Stakeholder Forum Website

GPA Outreach

The GPA Outreach is a newsletter that supports the preparatory work for the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting (IGR-2) of the UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA). The World Water Week Series of GPA Outreach is produced by Stakeholder Forum and the Global Forum on Oceans Coasts and Islands, in collaboration with the UNEP/GPA Coordination Office and the Stockholm International Water Institute. This Series is intended to provide more information to the participants of the World Water Week, August 20-25, 2006, Stockholm, about the GPA, IGR-2, and the need to develop linkages between freshwater management and coastal and ocean management.

Day 2 of the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting (IGR-2) of the Global Programme of Action is Partnerships Day. The Partnerships Day is a forum where existing and new partnerships that implement the GPA will meet and interact with government representatives and other stakeholders participating in IGR-2. The Partnership Spotlight section in this Series aims to profile a selection of the more than twenty Partnerships that will be featured at the IGR-2.

- GPA Outreach, August 21, 2006 
- GPA Outreach, August 22, 2006 
- GPA Outreach, August 23, 2006 
- GPA Outreach, August 24, 2006 
- GPA Outreach, October 16, 2006 
- GPA Outreach, October 18, 2006 

The GPA Outreach will produce three issues during IGR-2 with a focus on the important role that Major Groups play in the implementation of the GPA.

GPA Event at the World Water Week: Developing Solutions to Protect the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities: Stakeholder Consultation, Tuesday 22 August, 2006

In preparation for the GPA's Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting (IGR-2), this side event brought together stakeholders from around the world to discuss issues threatening the marine environment. Participants were given the opportunity to comment on the draft Beijing Declaration on furthering the implementation of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities. The outcomes of this side-event will input into the upcoming GPA's IGR-2.

For Further Information: please consult the World Water Week GPA Event Report