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Funded by the European Union, the regional IMAP-MPA project concluded in August 2023 after 48 months of activities aimed at “Achieving the Good Environmental Status of the Mediterranean Sea and Coast through an Ecologically Representative, Efficiently Managed, and Monitored Network of Marine Protected Areas”.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organic compounds that used to be produced worldwide but are now banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), a global treaty aiming to eliminate or restrict the production, use and trade of chemicals that are recognized as persistent, bio-accumulative and harmful to human and environmental health.

The Plan of Action for a Model Mediterranean Sea by 2030 (PAMEx) and its Local Investment Finance Facility (PLIFF) held their second Steering Committee meeting online on 18 July 2023.

At INC-2 in Paris, as negotiators were poring

The Strategic Action Programme for the conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the Mediterranean Region, referred to in the relevant decisions of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity (SPA/BD) Protocol as “The Post-2020 SAPBIO”, is the Mediterranean region’s blueprint for the protection and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity.

“Fast fashion”, whereby linear (take-make-use-dispose) supply chains churn out garments modelled on the latest trends, has exacted a heavy toll on natural resources. According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, a truckload of abandoned textiles is dumped in landfill or incinerated every second. Meanwhile, it is estimated that people are buying 60 per cent more clothes and wearing them for half as long.

Photo: Fisherwomen building traditional fishing gear, Al Hoceima, Morocco.

The Plan of Action for a Model Mediterranean Sea by 2030 (PAMEx) will hold its first Steering Committee meeting on 24-25 January 2023 in Athens, Greece. Partners will follow up on the implementation of the 20 concrete actions that PAMEx encompasses.

On 15 December 2022 the 79th session of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 79) adopted the Mediterranean Sea Emission Control Area for Sulphur Oxides and Particulate Matter (Med SOx ECA), with effect from 1 May 2025, to further limit air pollution from ships, pursuant to Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

The PAMEx Local Investment Finance Facility (PLIFF) officially launched on 6 December 2022 following the official signing of its founding charter at the Forum Méditerranée du Futur held in Marseille, France. PLIFF is a financial mechanism created under the umbrella of the initiative titled “PAMEx: The Mediterranean: a model sea by 2030“.

Tunisia recently ratified the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol, almost 14 years after its adoption in Madrid, Spain. By virtue of Decree No 2022-917 dated 29 November 2022, which appeared in the Journal officiel de la Republique tunisienne, Tunisia has given its formal consent to be bound by the provisions of this legal instrument.

In addition to hosting critical natural habitats, Mediterranean coastal zones underpin crucial blue economy activities. As biologically active interfaces where complex land-sea interactions are at play, the coasts are hotspots of climate change vulnerability.

“Building a shared future for all life” is the slogan chosen for the 2022 edition of International Day for Biological Diversity (IBD, 22 May).

This special feature prepared by UNEP/MAP and the Regional Activity Centres SCP/RAC and SPA/RAC on the occasion of the 2021 edition of International Women’s Day aims to highlight the accomplishments of some (among many) of the everyday female heroes who embody the principles enshrined in the Barcelona Convention through their work.