ABSTRACT
It is sometimes claimed that the Black Sea is the most degraded sea in the world (see e.g. Griffin 1993). Whatever the merits and grounds for such statements, it is clear that the Black Sea has undergone dramatic and probably irreversible environmental change since the 1960s. The years around 1990 saw important turning points both in environment and governance. Hypoxia events were at their most extreme, and new species and overfishing brought dramatic changes to the ecosystem, together resulting in overall ecosystem regime change. At the same time the USSR and the Warsaw Pact disintegrated and a series of new Black Sea states emerged, opening the way for regional cooperation on the Black Sea environment. Yet, the geopolitical situation around the Black Sea remains diffuse and tense, constraining regional cooperation on environmental issues. Recent enlargement of the EU to the shores of the Black Sea has further changed the context for management of Black Sea environmental issues. 1 What is now the character of Black Sea marine governance? To what extent is the current governance structure of the Black Sea able to tackle environmental issues of the sea? What role does the EU play in Black Sea marine governance and can the EU and other supra-national bodies contribute to strengthened environmental management of the Black Sea? To what extent has Black Sea regionalization around environmental issues been successful? A relevant policy related issue is whether a strategic choice to focus on Black Sea regional cooperation on environmental issues, being ‘soft’, fosters or stimulates regional integration. Or is successful cooperation on marine environmental issues difficult to achieve without the existence of deeper political cooperation and integration, without a lessening of geopolitical tension and the emergence of ‘bottom up’ regionalization?
