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Mediterranean coastal cities and local authorities are invited to submit their applications for the fifth edition of the Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award (IEFCA). The deadline for the submission of applications is 15th April 2025

Mediterranean Coast Day (25 September) is an annual observance introduced by the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP). PAP/RAC, the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre dedicated to the protection and sustainable management of the coastal zones, established Mediterranean Coast Day within the framework of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Protocol to the Barce

Under the auspices of H.E.

Portoroz, 8 December 2023—The 23rd Meeting (COP23) of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols, which took place on 5-8 December 2023 in Portoroz (Slovenia), adopted important steps to protect ecosystems in the face of the rising impacts of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Portoroz, 7 December 2023 —The Mediterranean coastal city of Genoa (Italy) is the winner of the fourth edition (2023) of the Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award. Mr.

Financé par l'Union européenne, le projet régional IMAP-MPA s'est terminé en août 2023 après 48 mois d'activités visant « Vers le bon état écologique de la mer et des côtes méditerranéennes à travers un réseau d’aires marines protégées écologiquement représentatives, bien gérées et surveillées ».

Ms. Fatma Varank, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of Türkiye, and President of the Bureau of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, opened the 2023 meeting of the Focal Points of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), which took place on 12-15 September in Istanbul (Türkiye).

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.

Mediterranean Coast Day (25 September) is an annual observance introduced by the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP).

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.

Athènes / Paris, 19 Juin 2023 — La 20ème réunion de la Commission méditerranéenne de développement durable (CMDD), établie sous les auspices du Plan d'action pour la Méditerranée du Programme des Nations Unies pour l'environnement (PNUE/PAM), s'est tenue à Marseille (France) du 14 au 16 juin 2023. 

At INC-2 in Paris, as negotiators were poring

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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.

Le délai de candidature à la quatrième édition du Prix Istanbul de la Ville respectueuse de l'Environnement (2022-2023) a été prolongé jusqu'au 30 juin 2023. Nous vous invitons à saisir cette chance pour faire connaître les réalisations de votre ville dans le domaine de la durabilité en milieu urbain. La dernière édition en date du Prix a été décernée à Málaga (Espagne) en 2021.

On 14-16 March 2023 representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Montenegro and Tunisia—participating countries in the GEF-UNEP MedProgramme— met in Sarajevo with the institutions supporting implementation to review progress on two (out of eight) Child Projects (CP):  CP 1.1 (“Reducing pollution from harmful chemicals and wastes in the Mediterranean hotspots and measuring progress to impacts”) and CP 4.1 (“Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

“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.

Le Plan d’action pour une Méditerranée exemplaire d’ici 2030 (PAMEx) tiendra la première réunion de son Comité de pilotage les 24 et 25 janvier 2023 à Athènes, en Grèce. Les partenaires du PAMEx y examineront l’état de mise en œuvre des 20 actions concrètes que le plan d’action comprend.

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).

Adoptée par l’Organisation maritime internationale (OMI), la zone de contrôle des émissions d’oxydes de soufre et de particules de la mer Méditerranée (ECA SOx Med) est prévue d’entrer en vigueur le 1er mai 2025.

The Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) will contribute to advocacy efforts on the sidelines of the crucial negotiations at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) taking place from 7-19 December 2022 in Montreal, Canada.

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“.

La Tunisie a récemment ratifié le Protocole de Gestion Intégrée des Zones Côtières (GIZC), près de 14 ans après son adoption à Madrid, en Espagne. En vertu du décret n° 2022-917 du 29 novembre 2022, paru au Journal officiel de la République tunisienne, la Tunisie a donné son consentement formel à être liée par les dispositions de cet instrument juridique.

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.