1. Ahmet Kideys,
Executive Director,
Permanent Secretariat, Black Sea Commission

3. The objective of the Black Sea Commission Institutional Review :
“…to enhance the sustainability of the Commission and to improve its effectiveness in meeting its goals under the Convention and the Black Sea Strategic Action Plan”

4. Bucharest Convention
Signature of this Convention together with its protocols in 1992 was a historical achievement, aiming the concerted action of the riparian countries to protect, their common natural asset, the Black Sea, Against Pollution.
in 1996, BS countries had reconfirmed their determination by signing the Strategic Action Plan which lays down concrete rules for taking necessary actions.

5. Black Sea Commission
The BSC, established for the Convention and has very important functions:
Promote implementation..
Elaborate criteria pertaining to the prevention, reduction and control of pollution ….
Cooperate with competent international organizations,
Make recommendations on measures necessary for achieving the aims of this Convention.
…recommend such amendments to the Convention and to the Protocols as….
Promote the adoption by the Contracting Parties of additional measures needed ….

6. Structure of the Review Report

7. The analysis focused on
1) legal
2) management & administration
3) financial/budgetary aspects of the Commission’s operations.

8. Recommendations
Immediate term
Short term
Longer Term

9. 1) Legal issues
“The legal analysis led to the conclusion that while the Convention is outdated and not consistent with current trends in international environmental law..”

10. On the Necessity of Convention amendments (excerpt from the Institutional Review)
“The Bucharest Convention and the protocols generally failed to incorporate the most up-to-date notions and principles widely accepted and employed in the practice of international law in the field of environmental protection. The conventional provisions are general and vague even for a “framework”-type instrument. There is practically no reference to such increasingly popular principles and concepts of environmental law as the precautionary approach, anticipatory action, polluter-pays principle, use of “best available techniques” (BAT) and “best environmental practices” (BEP), concept of sustainable development, environmental impact assessment, catchment (hydrologic basin) management and ecosystem approach, to name the most relevant.
The principal regulatory focus of the Bucharest Convention – prevention and control of pollution – does not fully reflect current environmental imperatives, such as integrated management of maritime and coastal areas and protection of biodiversity, including sustainable management of marine living resources. The Convention also lacks any concrete provisions for the implementation of its obligations, including compliance review and verification procedures, which have become a common feature of all recent environmental regimes.”……

11. Efforts to update the Convention
Resolution from the 13th Meeting of the BSC (15-17/02/2006):
“The Commission gives a mandate to the Permanent Secretariat to seek assistance of relevant international organisations (including the European Union) for legal and financial support for carrying out a detailed legal analysis of the Convention and preparation of the necessary amendments in order to make possible for international organisations to become signatories and parties to the Convention”

12. Efforts to update the Convention
With the support of the EC supported Black Sea EU-supported the Black Sea Environmental Collaboration Project :
Firstly, a legal analyses of the Convention was undertaken by May 2007
Then, the necessary amendments were drafted for updating the Convention
Based on this, the amendment of the Convention was repeatedly discussed during the 16th, 17th and 18th BSC Meeting.

13. The new Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBSA) Protocol and Strategic Action Plan (SAP) revision
There has been significant progress on updating LBSA
Updating work for the SAP is continuing

14. Revision of other legal texts of the Convention and Commission is progressing
“3.3. Update and Amendments of Documents related to Functioning of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution
The following amendments/updates to documents shall be prepared/drafted prior the Commission Meeting:
Amendments/updates to the Host Country Agreement (if any)
Amendments/updates to the Immunities and Privileges Agreement
Amendments/updates to the Rules of Procedure of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (if any)
Amendments/updates to the Staff Regulations and Procedures of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (if any)
Amendments/updates to the Financial Rules of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution “

15. 2) management & administration

16. Institutional Setup
The resources, both human and financial, required to maintain such a complex organization are neither cost effective nor sustainable.
A brief overview of the basic institutional structure of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution established under the Bucharest Convention.
The Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution
The Permanent Secretariat
7 Advisory Groups + ad hoc Advisory Group on the WFD and Joint Danube Black Sea Technical Working Group (not shown)
Formation and nominations of other groups is possible –with a decision of the Black Sea Commission.
Regional Activity Centers in the 6 Black Sea countries and
6 National focal points in each country (on shipping, pollution monitoring and assessment, land based sources, integrated coastal zone management, fisheries and marine living resources, and information and data management in the Permanent Secretariat).

17. Activity Centers
“The activity centres were designed as in kind contributions of the CP’s. The situation in several of the countries have changed over time due to government reorganizations and changing budget priorities. At the time of the Institutional Review the Review Team was able to confirm that only two of the original six currently have funding from CP’s to carry out activities to support the BSC.”

18. Advisory Groups
“The Advisory Groups have a number of issues which need to be addressed including: qualifications of members, continuity in membership and focus on outputs. The materials produced by the Advisory Groups are not generally used by the decision makers in the Black Sea countries because they are not seen as being relevant to policy making”

19. Secretariat
The Commission is supported by a Secretariat which is severely understaffed !
The Advisory Groups are all supported by a single member of the Secretariat

20. Staff Shortage
“The lack of environmental law and economics staff originally planned for the Secretariat makes it difficult to provide implementable policy and regulatory recommendations that consider scientific, legal and economic factors.”

21. 3) Financial Issues

22. Budget and Staff Increase Proposal
This is discussed during 17th and 18th BSC meetings

23. Why budget needs increase
To increase staff number
To meet additional expenses due to phasing out BSERP project
To meet extra expenses (electricity, maintenance etc), in the new premises
…..

24. Why Staff Number should be increased
Basically, for the Black Sea Commission to deal more effectively with the environmental problems, through a stronger Secretariat.
Single officer deals with all sectors (LBS, ICZM, PMA, CBD, FOMLR, ESAS, and others)
Revision, update of many legal texts ongoing sometime require permanent work of some specialised staff
Staff increase is necessary to attract funding capacity for the actions necessary for proper application of the BS/SAP.
For a stronger cooperation with the international organisations (EU, UNEP, UNDP, IMO, BSEC etc),
………

25. GEF/BSERP Project was paying for several actions, but not anymore
Full expenses of a total six Advisory Group meetings
Majority of travel expenses of Commissioners and sometimes of the Secretariat & Chairman
Technical personnel for office support (going to bank, to post, mass
photocopying, meeting preparations etc)
BSC conference
BS day
Miscellaneous projects
For many other activities of the Work Program.

26. Existing levels of contributions not sustainable
The approved budget of 2006/2007 and draft provisional budget of 2007/2008 were both higher than 425,000 USD. This is much lower than the total annual contribution of 261,360 USD (from 6 countries). There would be a deficit of approx. 160,000 USD per year

27. Several fold increase in BSC budget is necessary.

28. Discussions in the BSC
There is almost a consensus for a modest increase in country contribution levels!
Turkey kindly offered to make some voluntary contribution to the budget, at least to keep existing activities going.

29. Recommendations Immediate term: Short term:
Streamlining (e.g. Clearer definition of responsibilities, timetable and adequate resources etc)
-Apply the rules (e.g. budget approval still not in time)
-Focus on outputs (e.g. reporting, information dissemination)
Short term:
improving the visibility
Modest improvement of the Structure and budget
(In kind staff support from each counties).
-The Secretariat (additional two staff)
Longer Term (updating Legal texts)

30. Overall conclusion
There are some progress on certain issues but much more effort/work/action is needed on some other issues, most notably, on management and budget.