EU/UNDP Project: European Union for Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea (EU4EMBLAS)

The Black Sea Basin environment is of paramount importance both in terms of regional development and of quality of life for its inhabitants. The Black Sea ecosystem is known to be rich and diverse but is also considered to be vulnerable as it experiences notably significant pressure from land-based pollution. The seriousness of environmental issues has been recognised by the countries of the region and they have responded with national and regional strategies and actions to tackle these issues. There is a number of environmental challenges in the Black Sea Basin that are shared by riparian countries, including two members of the European Union (EU). In the EU, these challenges have received increased political attention and commitment, including through policy dialogue conducted within the Black Sea Commission and the Bucharest Convention. In order to help its Eastern neighbors to improve the protection of the Black Sea environment, the EU jointly with UNDP have provided support to specific activities on the ground. The Project "European Union for Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea" (EU4EMBLAS) is one of such activities. EU4EMBLAS is building on the results of the previous project phases (EMBLAS-I, II and EMBLAS-Plus (2013-2020)) funded by the EU and UNDP, which were designed to tackle deficiencies and limitations in the availability of reliable data on marine environment, to build capacities of the involved countries to perform integrated environmental monitoring and assessment, as well as to increase public awareness and involvement in the protection of the Black Sea. The previous project phases brought new innovative approaches to the environmental monitoring and contributed to building capacities of the national institutions and experts in using novel methodologies and the state-of the art environmental monitoring practices. The high-quality scientific results obtained so far from national and regional monitoring surveys, implemented with support from EU and international institutions, facilitated preparation of the ecological status assessment of the Black Sea - a basis for the design and implementation of the Programme of Measures (required under EU MSFD/WFD), aimed at achieving good environmental status of the Black Sea. The overall objective of the project is to help improve protection of the Black Sea environment. This objective will be pursued through further technical assistance focused on establishing modern systems and facilities for environmental monitoring (in Georgia and Ukraine), capacity building, assessment of environmental status in line with EU MSFD/WFD and public awareness raising on the Black Sea environmental issues. The specific objectives: i) Upgrade of the technical facilities of key environmental organisations and laboratories involved in the monitoring of the Black Sea by procurement of modern analytical techniques and enabling their long term operation; ii) Building national capacities and skills in use of the up-to-date monitoring and analytical techniques aligned with the MSFD and WFD principles and methodologies and the Black Sea Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (BSIMAP), including environmental data sharing and assessment; iii) Raise awareness on the key environmental issues and increase public involvement in the Black Sea protection.