PERSGA Coordinating Protection of Red Sea

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000270

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

Commerce for NOAA/International/Susan Ware-Harris
Interior for International/Senhadji and for NPS
Paris for US Mission UNESCO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV XF SA
SUBJECT: PERSGA Coordinating Protection of Red Sea

REFTEL: PREVIOUS JEDDAH CABLE ON PERSGA


1. Summary: PERSGA is a Jeddah-based intergovernmental
organization that builds capacity and organizes research for
the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden ecosystem. They are assessing
land-based activities that affect the Red Sea and working
with member governments on coastal zone management plans.
End Summary

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Red Sea Ecosystem Has High Biodiversity, Endemism
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2. PERSGA (www.persga.org) is an acronym for the Regional
Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the
Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Amman-based Regional
Environment Officer and Jeddah E/P Chief visited PERSGA on
March 18 and spoke with Secretary General Dr. Ziad Abu-
Ghararah, a PhD in environmental engineering from Virginia
Tech.


3. Dr. Abu-Ghararah said that PERSGA is an
intergovernmental organization whose seven members are Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Jordan, Yemen and Djibouti.
He commented that there is excellent cooperation and a
"united vision" towards the Red Sea by the members. He
called attention to the biodiversity of the Red Sea/Gulf of
Aden ecosystem, which includes coral reefs, sea birds,
mangroves, dugongs, sea turtles, and many species of shark.
There is a high level of endemism (species found only there)
in the Red Sea, he said. Saudi Arabia contributes 50% of
PERSGA's funding and Egypt contributes 30%. PERSGA has
sixteen staff, and expects to reach 40 staff within four
years.

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Possible World Heritage Sites?
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4. ESTH Officer said that the USG sits on the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee, that we are interested in expanding the
number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Arab world, and
that sites in the Red Sea might be an appropriate way to do
this. PERSGA's Dr. Abu-Ghararah supported this idea. He
said that he is already actively consulting with Saudi
colleagues on designating sites in the Red Sea as World
Heritage sites.

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Land-Based Activities Seen as Key
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5. Assessing land-based activities that affect the marine
environment is PERSGA's main priority. Their goal is to
ensure that development is done sustainably. For the last
few years, PERSGA has been assisting its member states,
under a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant, to develop
and implement strategic action plans for coastal zone
management. To accomplish this, PERSGA runs several
training courses per year on such topics as coastal zone
management, wastewater management, and sustainable tourism.


6. The two biggest components of that plan are assessing
the effect of land-based activities on the marine ecosystem,
and assessing the biodiversity of the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden
ecosystem. These in turn have individual components:
wastewater impacts, solid waste impacts, hazardous waste,
water quality, and biodiversity hotspots. Dr. Abu-Ghararah
said that NOAA assisted PERSGA with assessing the socio-
economic aspects of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management
plan for the region. With these quantitative measures on
the health of the Red Sea in hand, PERSGA plans to identify
gaps and priority areas, produce a project on managing the
effects of land-based activities and submit it to GEF for
funding.


7. PERSGA's upcoming five year plan focuses on economic
development and poverty alleviation in coastal areas, and

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good governance for coastal and marine areas, including
public participation.

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Interested in Cooperation and Support
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8. Dr. Abu-Ghararah said that PERSGA would be very
interested in American technical assistance in such areas as
seawater chemistry, marine biology, environmental
accounting, enforcement, coastline management, auditing,
contingency planning, legislation and regulation. He noted
the success of State's White Water to Blue Water program,
and said PERSGA would like to apply some of the best
practices from that program to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
area. Exchanges of Masters students would also be welcome,
he said.


9. PERSGA will host in Jeddah the October 2007 meeting of
UNEP's Regional Seas program. That meeting will evaluate
UNEP's Global Plan of Action on land-based activities that
affect the marine environment.

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Emergency Response to Marine Pollution, Oil Spills
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10. PERSGA has assisted its members in opening a Marine
Emergency Mutual Aid Center (MEMAC) in Hurghada, Egypt and
in developing a contingency plan for marine pollution
emergencies such as oil spills. The MEMAC, similar to but
not affiliated with another MEMAC center in Bahrain, works
with individual countries to develop their marine
contingency plans. MEMAC is a focal point for gathering
information such as types and locations of equipment, points
of contact and so on. In event of an emergency, MEMAC would
gather and distribute information, and organize the
deployment of manpower and equipment from the individual
countries in the region.

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NGO "Reef Chief" Doing Its Part
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11. ESTH Officer and E/P Chief also met Mr. Tarek Taher, a
businessman with a strong love for the Red Sea. Mr. Taher
has formed an NGO called "Reef Chief" and is organizing
activities to protect, promote and assess the marine
environment in the Red Sea. He funded and produced a short
but heartfelt documentary called "My Planet - The Red Sea"
that he introduced and showed at the JEDDAH ECONOMIC FORUM
on February 13 of this year. Reef Chief has been
documenting the Red Sea's aquatic life and using the video
and other means to raise awareness. Noting that he is "an
amateur," Mr. Taher is interested in supporting scientific
activities in the Red Sea, such as turtle tagging, and asked
for assistance to beef up his organization's ability to do a
professional job.

GFOELLER