Taza National Park is making big strides towards the creation of an MPA in the marine area adjacent to the Park. The Algerian law is in parallel being revised to offer a legal framework to the creation and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPA). And that's good news, because as it is the case in the other Mediterranean countries, Algeria houses exceptional marine sites threatened with over-exploitation.

Under supervision of the Direction Générale des Forêts, Taza National Park is one of three Algerian National Park, with Gouraya and El Kala, to work on the "gazetting" (the bulk of information and documents that need to be produced to have a marine area legally established) of their marine areas with great dynamism. Zoning, management plan, capacity building, cooperation with local stakeholders are the main chapters of this work. 

Already a partner in the first MedPAN activities during the INTERREG IIIc project between 2005 and 2007, the Park's team rallied to secure the financial and technical support needed to develop the MPA creation process. This support is provided since 2009 by the MedPAN South Project, a project led by WWF Mediterranean in collaboration with UNEP-MAP RAC/SPA and part of the MedPartnership GEF full size project "Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem".

As Nadia Ramdane, MedPAN South project leader for the Park, points out: "A key element in the preparation of the documents is to ensure that we cooperate with all local stakeholders in a participatory process. Failure to do so would seriously compromise the chances of success of the project". 

A steering committee, chaired by the Wali of the wilaya of Jijel (the head of the local province), and composed of about 20 key members representing the local institutions, including the local cell of the Ministry of Environment Commissariat Littoral, convenes twice a year to guide the project. 

Consultation commissions will also soon ensure the transparency of the project and the involvement of the partners concerned by the future management and the viability of this marine area, project that aims to be pilot in Algeria. 

Through workshops and seminars, local actors have been given the opportunity to better understand what an MPA is all about and sometimes correct misconceptions. A work day on fishing with local fishermen communities and Professor Alfonso Ramos of the University of Alicante, Spain, has brought out the potential benefits of the future MPA, specifically in terms of fishing rentability. It allowed to ease some anxiety and reluctance. 

Taza National Park also collaborates with numerous Algerian universities and administrations to carry out the required surveys and studies: biodiversity assessment, fishing resource assessment, socio economic study, carrying capacity... 

This collaboration approach also crosses borders since Taza National Park works closely with the nearby and upcoming MPA of Cap Négro - Cap Serrat in Tunisia, or takes advantage, through the MedPAN South Project, of exchange visits with other Mediterranean MPAs, the Bonifacio Natural Reserve in Corsica for example.

The goal is to file Taza National Park MPA dossier by the end of 2011 with the Algerian Ministry of Environment. 

One of the last big steps in the preparation of the dossier is the set up and implementation of the GIS database, the main planning tool. Nadia Ramdane is clear: "This database is the heart of the project and will enable us to define the zoning well for the current and future management of the Park. As this database is centralized at the Direction Générale des Forêts and as it will integrate data from the other parks as well, we will be able to have a global vision of the network, which will allow us to better manage our Algerian MPAs."

She concludes: "This project is a great example of Mediterranean cooperation as it is with the contribution of all local partners in Algeria and of the regional partners, represented by the MedPAN South partnership, that a mutual understanding and an exchange of experience on a regional level was made possible, with the same common goal of protecting our Mediterranean sea".