Manama, 19 February, 2007, The United Nation Environment Programme/Regional Office of West Asia organized a Capacity Building and Coordination Meeting for the Arab Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Team in Manama-Kingdom of Bahrain. The goal of the meeting is to build capacity on the concept of integrated ecosystem assessment and encourage the exchange of expertise among the project teams. It also aims on following up on progress made and agreeing on harmonized structure and content of the reports, which target decision makers concerned with ecosystems under investigation.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a 4-year “multi-scale” integrated assessment, launched in 2001, that is designed to meet the needs of decision-makers for scientific information on the links between ecosystem change and human well-being.   More specifically, the MA is interacting closely with the Parties to the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), and the Ramsar Wetlands Convention (Ramsar Convention) in order to contribute to the fulfillment of their assessment needs.

The Arab Region Millennium Ecosystem Assessment conducted a pilot phase that paves the way for widespread adoption of integrated assessment approaches in the Arab region, including national and local assessments. The objective is to develop, within one framework, a coordinated and integrated regional collaborative multi-scale effort of assessment for the region, to prepare the ground for decision-makers with a view to the comprehensive and sustainable management of the natural environment.

The project was implemented initially in three sites in the Arab region, namely; the Assir National Park, Saudi Arabia; the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt and the Tafilalt Oasis, Morocco. It is conducted in collaboration with national partners lead by the Presidency of Metrology and Protection of Environment in Saudi Arabia, the Suez Canal University in Egypt and the National Observatory for the Environment in Morocco. The project is funded by the generous contribution of the Kingdom of the Saudi Arabia, with complementary funding from other sources.

Participants in the meeting were experts from the sites under investigation supported by experts from UNEP and the Arab Gulf University. The meeting will also discuss the structure and the contents of the regional integrated report.