Training is an important tool of community involvement, information dissemination as well as an educational instrument and is usually taken to reinforce practical applications. During Project implementation period it is planned to provide training for local experts on management on marine protected areas in Ukraine (MPA).

Regional Training on Management and Marine Reserves

A regional training course on management of MPAs was delivered on March 11, 2009 in Odessa in association with stakeholder meeting. This training focused on disseminating best practice in establishing and managing MPAs in Europe and Black sea area. The ECBSea Project Biodiversity Key Expert, Paul Goriup lectured on the European Experience in establishing and managing MPAs. Tea Barbakadze of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia spoke about MPA management experience in Georgia using Kholketi National Park as a case study. Valentina Todorova of the Institute of Oceanography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, described the process of designating Marine Natura 2000 Sites in Romania and Bulgaria. Victor Karamushka, ECBSea national expert gave a presentation on MPA policy and practice in Ukraine.
The experience of preparing the designation dossier for the MPA in Karkinitsky Bay was used as a case study for a detailed examination of the MPA, designation and management. This included presentations from Boris Alexandrov of IBSS on Information Gathering, Field Surveying and MPA Identification; and Richard Lisovsky of UkrSCES will provide a training session on Digital Planning Tools, such as GIS and CMS.
The online version of the Karkinitsky Bay GIS and data base was demonstrated live on the local internet connection which generated a lot of interest among the participants. In addition all participants (a total of 28 people) received a CD-Rome with all presentations, Karkinitsky Bay documentation and maps, and an “MPA Library” comprising recent legislation, publications and guidelines from EU, UK, Germany, Ukraine, Bulgaria, EUCC and IUCN.