The second technical meeting of the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture, in which Med-INA is a member, took place in Dar Zaghouane, Tunisia from 18th to 20 th January 2016. Its first technical meeting which set the foundations for the smooth operation of the Consortium as a long standing, collaborative entity had taken place in July 2015 in the village of Vovousa in Greece. On the part of Med-INA, present in the meeting were Mr. Thymio Papayannis, Director of Med-INA and Mr. Alexis Katsaros, project coordinator for the Consortium.
The second technical meeting was hosted by WWF North Africa and focused on the new, two year project obtained by the Consortium which is funded by the MAVA Foundation. This project is the continuation and extension of the Consortium’s first project, titled ‘Understanding and supporting cultural conservation practices in the Mediterranean’. In this second phase the partners will continue the work they have started on transhumance in the Mediterranean focusing on further documenting and promoting the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of transhumant shepherds, on demonstrating the way in which transhumance and mobile pastoralism can contribute to wider efforts to respond to climate change and finally, on producing an advocacy strategy to be used at national and EU level in order to promote favorable policies towards transhumant shepherds. In addition during the next two years the Consortium will extend its work to the fields of traditional fisheries and farming.
The participants exchanged ideas and strategized on the specific objectives of the new project and each partner presented their case study and selected pilot site. The issue of communication and branding was discussed as well and a work plan was agreed upon. In terms of the organizational structure of the Consortium, Mr. Faouzi Maamouri, director of WWF North Africa took over the chairing of the Steering Group from Mr. Thymio Papayannis until the third technical meeting.
The final day the participants went on a field trip to Ghar el Melh which hosts Tunisia’s 12th Ramsar Site, the Ghar el Melh Lagoon and Mejerda Delta where they visited artisanal fisheries and a traditional farm and had the opportunity to learn about these practices.
