The Black Sea Commission and its Permanent Secretariat work with a regional institutional framework consisting of six Regional Activity Centres (RACs):
(1) Environmental Safety Aspects of Shipping in Varna, Bulgaria;
(2) Biological Diversity in Batumi, Georgia;
(3) Environmental Aspects of Management of Fisheries and Other Living Resources in Constanta, Romania;
(4) Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Krasnodar, Russia;
(5) Control of Pollution From Land Based Sources in Istanbul, Turkey; and
 (6) Pollution Monitoring and Assessment in Odessa, Ukraine.
At present seven Advisory Groups (AG) on specific issues, two ad hoc Working Groups: one on the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) and one on Information Management, and the Danube/Black Sea Joint Technical Working Group are supporting the implementation of the Convention. These groups meet on a regular basis. The results are reported by the Secretariat of the BSC and can be found on its website.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment. The GEF assistance for the protection of the Black Sea and the implementation of the Bucharest Convention, which started in 1993, was crucial. The new assistance i.e. the Black Sea-Danube River Basin Strategic Partnership was designed as three complementary components:

• Two regional projects for the Black Sea and the Danube River Basin
• A series of country-related investment projects executed through the World Bank-
  GEF Nutrient Investment Facility
• Other GEF and donor interventions in the basin targeting reduction of
  nutrient/toxic pollutants and restoration of biodiversity.

       The Black Sea Ecosystems Recovery Project (BSERP- phase II) which is financed by GEF, European Union (EU) and other partners, is providing technical support and planning assistance for the control of eutrophication, hazardous substances and related measures to rehabilitate the Black Sea ecosystem. Phase II runs from 2004 to 2007. BSERP has five objectives:

• Supporting   the   consolidation  and  operation  of institutional  mechanisms  for
  cooperation under the Black Sea Convention;
• Development of policy guidelines, legal and institutional instruments for pollution
  reduction from Land Based Activities (LBA), and the protection of the ecosystem
  of the Black Sea and its coastal zones;
• Development of economic instruments and promotion of investment opportunities in costal zones for pollution control and protection of the Black Sea ecosystem;
• Development of operational systems for monitoring, information management and
  research under the Bucharest Convention;
• Strengthening of public participation in environmental protection through access to
  information, stakeholder training and awareness raising and implementation of
  community actions.

       The European Union (EU) is a major political and financial actor in the Black Sea region. Since 1990; the EU has supported the environment of the region through its different funding mechanisms, in particular through PHARE and TACIS programmes. EU directly supports the BSC, financing staff of its Permanent Secretariat. TACIS assistance has focused on capacity building, in particular for the RACs in Batumi (Georgia), Krasnodar (Russia) and Odessa (Ukraine). The EU has special projects for Moldova, which are addressing environmental issues. Several EU Member States are engaged in bilateral environmental assistance. At present, a separate regional activity for the beneficiary countries is the TACIS "Black Sea Investment Facility" (BSIF) project, which totals to €3,9 million. The main objective of this project is to support and facilitate International Financing Institutions (IFIs) financing of priority water pollution abatement and environmental enhancement projects and to identify small investment projects with high environmental impact. An important instrument to channel environmental investment projects is the DABLAS Task Force , established by the European Commission (EC) in 2001, with the main aim of developing closer international cooperation and a pipeline of priority projects in the Danube and Black Sea regions. The EU is also providing funds for the multilateral agencies (notably WB and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD).

     At the fifth Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" ( Kyiv, May 2003) the EU launched a special component of its Water Initiative for Eastern Europe (EUWI), Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA). This Initiative seeks to provide a vehicle to overcome the weaknesses in the way the tremendous challenges of the water sector in the EECCA region are currently being addressed, namely through a plethora of often-uncoordinated programmes and projects sponsored by EU and other donors.

     The United Nations play an important role in the region: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the Implementing Agency of BSERP and supporting the project through intervention in its Environment and Governance focus areas under the Country and Regional Cooperation Frameworks. UNDP backstops the project with its own staff members. The UN resident coordinator and the Representative of UNDP in Turkey is Principal Resident Representative for the project. UNDP also provides support to beneficiaries through national and international projects in the environmental focus area. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is providing experienced specialists to lead the process of reviewing the legislative background.

     The Global Water Partnership (GWP) was established in 1996, as an international network open to all organizations involved in water resources management to provide favourable conditions in order to implement the integrated water recourses management (IWRM) principles. The beneficiary countries are member of the GWP sub-regional working groups. In general, the GWP sub-regional programmes provide the following activities:

• Establishing the regional water partnership between all stakeholders and analysis of the possibilities for IWRM implementation through dialogues and participation.
• Strengthening the regional and country partnerships and implementation of the IWRM principles using participatory tools and fund raising.
• Agreement on the strategy of further steps for water partnership development on the region to provide sustainable outputs.

     The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Task Force for Implementation of the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe (OECD EAP TF) was established in 1993 by the decision of the Lucerne Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" (Lucerne, Switzerland). The Environment Directorate of the Non-Member Countries Branch of OECD serves as the secretariat of EAP TF. The beneficiary countries have actively participated in the work of the EAP TF. Water issues are one of the main priorities of the TF. At the ministerial meeting in Almaty in October 2000, MS ministers endorsed "Guiding Principles for the Reform of the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in the NIS". The programme of work of the EAP TF includes Urban Water Sector Reform (Programme area 1.), with three projects: Monitoring water sector reform; Legal and institutional reforms; Promoting financial reform and managing their social impacts.

     The "Environment for Europe" process, involves several actors and promotes cooperation in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region. At the 2003 Kyiv "Environment for Europe" conference, Ministers adopted the EECCA Environmental Strategy. The main goal of the strategy is to improve environmental conditions and implement the WSSD Plan of Implementation.

The Strategy focuses on seven objectives, of which 3 are relevant for this project:

• Objective 1. Environmental policy and legislation development
• Objective 2.2 Municipal water and sanitation
• Objective 3. Integrated Water Resources Management (river basins and regional seas).

     To review the activities after the Kyiv conference, a meeting of EECCA Ministers and their partners was held in Tbilisi, 21-22 October 2004. The meeting stressed the importance of two types of cooperation: Donor - EECCA cooperation and cooperation among EECCA countries, including sub-regional co-operation.

     World Bank. Apart from The WB-GEF Danube/Black Sea Nutrient Reduction Investment Fund (USD 70 million) the WB has its own national projects in municipal environmental infrastructure. In the four beneficiary countries, the projects include: Integrated Coastal Zone Management (Georgia); Water Supply and Sanitation (Moldova); Municipal Water and Wastewater (Russia); Lviv Water and Wastewater (Ukraine).
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) finances municipal environmental infrastructure projects, which have been mainly in water and wastewater facilities. In the four beneficiary countries and their river basins that drain into the Black Sea, the Bank's investment in such projects has been relatively limited (e.g. Moldova -Chisinau Water Services Project; and Ukraine - Mariupol and Kherson Wastewater Projects in collaboration with EU-TACIS).

     Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has an environmental component in its lending programme to the Black Sea region (e.g. in ports and oil pollution control), and may expand in the future as an individual lender or as a co-financier with other IFIs.

     Interstate Ecological Council (for countries of the Federation of Newly Independent States, NIS). This Council was established in 1992 and the beneficiary countries (as they are members of NIS) have special agreements on environmental cooperation. Some of the beneficiaries have also bilateral agreements (e.g. Moldova and Ukraine on trans-boundary rivers, Ukraine and Georgia have general agreement).

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is the world’s largest conservation network. Founded in 1948 it brings together States, government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organizations in a unique world partnership: 1.086 members in all, spread across some 147 countries.

As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. A central Secretariat coordinates the IUCN Programme and serves the Union membership, representing their views on the world stage and providing them with the strategies, services, scientific knowledge and technical support they need to achieve their goals.

The volunteer experts of IUCN are organized in six Commissions: Species Survival Commission (SSC), World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), Commission on Environmental Law (CEL), Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), and Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM).

 IUCN draws together over 10 000 expert volunteers in project teams and action groups, focusing in particular on species and biodiversity conservation and the management of habitats and natural resources. The Union has helped many countries to prepare National Conservation Strategies, and demonstrates the application of its knowledge through the field projects it supervises.

The World Conservation Union builds on the strengths of its members, networks and partners to enhance their capacity and to support global alliances to safeguard natural resources at local, regional and global levels. Its headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Black Sea SCENE project aims to establish a Black Sea Scientific Network of leading environmental and socio-economic research institutes, universities and NGO’s from the countries around the Black Sea and to develop a virtual data and information infrastructure that will be populated and maintained by these organisations to improve the identification, access, exchange, quality indication and use of their data and information about the Black Sea.

The Black Sea SCENE project is undertaken by 25 partners from Black Sea countries: Ukraine (5), Russia (7), Turkey (3), Romania (2), Bulgaria (4), Georgia (4), together with 7 partners from EU member states (6) and (1) Associated State.

Black Sea SCENE supports the integrated provision of infrastructure related services to the Black Sea region research community. The Black Sea SCENE research infrastructure aims at stimulating scientific cooperation, exchange of knowledge and expertise, and strengthen the regional capacity.

The ECBSea Project Contractor is Consortium of Euroconsult Mott MacDonald (The Netherlands) in association with Mott MacDonald Ltd (UK) and Milieu Ltd (Belgium).