Dubai, UAE – The Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME), together with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and the United Nations Environment Programme – Regional Office in West Asia (UNEP-ROWA) organised a four-day workshop in Dubai to work towards the development of a regional Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Strategy in the ROPME Sea Area. AGEDI gave an insightful presentation about bridging the data gap to support ecosystems services. The workshop welcomed country representatives from across the region, as well as academic institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

During the workshop, a set of recommendations were adopted to facilitate the development of the EBM Strategy;  these include the establishment of a working group to develop the strategy, the need to recognise the current level of understanding of the marine and coastal ecosystems in the ROPME Sea Area as a key part of the strategy as well as the utilisation of an inventory of policies, legislation, organisations, projects and initiatives at the national and regional level.