Red Sea and Gulf of Aden: protecting our shared treasures By Nizar Tawfiq

Our waters have been used for thousands of years for fishing and trading, and to transport religious pilgrims. Today the people of the region share these same waters with oil tankers, cargo ships and tourist boats, representing potentially serious risks to our relatively pristine marine ecosystems. Coastal populations are increasing, posing new and growing threats to the environment if this growth is not managed properly. Climate change and sea level rise, once considered distance threats, are an approaching danger for low-lying areas.

Our extensive and very beautiful coral reefs are inhabited by many species which occur nowhere else in the world. Today these reefs are attracting tourists in ever-increasing numbers, but if this growth industry is not well managed we are in danger of losing a priceless resource.

Many of the countries sharing the sea lack the resources needed to carry out their own comprehensive environmental management programmes. Only by joining hands could we hope to protect our shared heritage. This is why ours was one of the first Regional Seas Programmes to get off the ground with the adoption of the Jeddah Convention and the original Action Plan in 1982.

Our next two milestones were the formal launch in 1995 of PERSGA, the regional organization for the conservation of the environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and the launch in 1999 of our Strategic Action Programme (SAP) in cooperation with the Global Environment Facility and its implementing agencies, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank, and with support from the Islamic Development Bank.

The SAP has generated important new insights into our treasured environment. But there is still much to do and limited resources. So, as our regional programme enters its third decade, we will focus our energies in three directions: land-based pollution, navigation and port improvements, and monitoring.

With the help of the Coordinating Unit of UNEP’s Global Programme of Action (GPA), we will begin pilot activities to implement our new Protocol for the Control of Land-based Sources of Pollution and its related Action Plan.

We will work to have our region declared a ‘Special Area’ according to MARPOL 73-78, the establishment and provision of adequate number of port reception facilities. In cooperation with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the private sector we will identify which ports need improvement and seek financing through a public and private sector partnership of oil and shipping companies and port authorities.
Also, we will put into place a regional pollution monitoring programme to analyze contamination in seawater, sediments and indicator organisms. Working with our neighbour, the Mediterranean Action Plan, we will first assess the needs of member countries, and then establish or upgrade the needed laboratories, initiate standard practices, train personnel and secure sustainable financing.

Such intensive capacity building will leave a great legacy. It will allow many of our people to realize their inherent talents and develop their scientific skills. In return they will help us to fill the remaining gaps in our knowledge of our beautiful and fragile sea.

Finally, PERSGA is preparing for a renewed emphasis on sustainable development of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden toward reduction of poverty and attainment of healthier coastal communities through its new millennium goals.

Nizar Tawfiq is Secretary General of PERSGA

Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea And Gulf of Aden (PERSGA)
PO Box 53662, Jeddah 21583
Saudi Arabia
Tel: (966 2) 657 3224; Fax: (966 2) 652 1901
Email: persga@persga.org