In July 2019, a cooperative audit report on the designation and effective management of marine protected areas within the Mediterranean Sea was published. It was compiled by 7 member states of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing (EUROSAI WGEA), namely by SAI Albania, SAI Cyprus, SAI Greece, SAI Malta, SAI Portugal, SAI France and SAI Slovenia. The first 5 SAIs implemented the concerned audit in 2018 in the mutually agreed scope, while SAI France and SAI Slovenia provided their findings from the already previously carried out audits.
The purpose of the cooperative audit is to establish how successful are the states involved in conserving biodiversity within the Mediterranean Sea. The cooperative audit report thus presents findings and provides recommendations pertaining to the following fields:
- legislative framework regulating management of marine protected areas,
- framework provided by national strategies for managing marine protected areas,
- assessments on which marine protected areas were defined,
- adoption and implementation of plans for managing marine protected areas,
- monitoring the implementation of measures and control over the marine protected areas.
The Court of Audit provided for the cooperative report its findings from the field of control, namely from the audit on the efficiency of managing St Jernej Canal, which is part of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park protected area and also part of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas.
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