OST-Øst-Europa-programmene

The marine and coastal areas and resources, and their sustainable development, are of high importance for both Norway and Croatia. In Croatia, various marine-related issues have in recent years occupied an increasingly important place. To suport an inform ed policy-making and public debate, there is a need for scientific research that can enable both broader thematic scope and inter-disciplinary support to legal and policy studies of marine environmental protection and resource management in the Adriatic S ea. This is the purpose of the present project, to be implemented through a longer-term (2006 to 2009) cooperation between the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, and five among foremost Croatian academic institutions on various aspects of marine studies: the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law; the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law; the Institute for Oceanography and Fisheries in Split; the Institute for Marine and Coastal Research at the University of Dubrovnik and the Hydrographic Institute of the Republic of Croatia. The overall goal of the project is to analyse and identify key trends in global, regional and national policy and legal developments on maritime uses, marine environmental protection and resource management, primarily related to the A driatic Sea and Croatia, but also to broader regional Adriatic coopertation; and to offer sound policy and legal options for responding to the challenges involved. Specific institutional issue-areas studied will embrace new developments in: 1) the Interna tional Maritime Organization and the Adriatic Sea; 2) marine issues within the European Union, both sectoral and integrative, and the Adriatic Sea; 3) the regional cooperation on marine environment, including understanding of "the region", and the Adriati c Sea; 4) global and regional fisheries management organizations and the Adriatic Sea; and 5) delimitation disputes in the Adriatic Sea, and their impact on marine environmental protection and resource management.