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. In addition to governance matters and the functioning of the Local Investment Finance Facility (PLIFF)—the innovative financial mechanism created to underpin the implementation of PAMEx—the Steering Committee meeting will review ongoing projects and seek ways to accelerate action for nature in the Mediterranean.
PAMEx stems from an initiative launched at the 2021 edition of the IUCN World Conservation Congress. It is an inclusive framework for action that brings together 12 countries and five organizations.
The Coordinating Unit of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) hosts the technical secretariat of PAMEx, reflecting a firm anchoring in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) and its Protocols.
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Here are three ways in which PAMEx is working to achieve healthy marine and coastal ecosystems in the Mediterranean by 2030:
1. Action grounded in evidence
PAMEx articulates responses to challenges identified based on science and observation. The evidence it draws upon is contained in global and regional environmental assessments, including the State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (SoED), the First Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR 1) and the State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries (SoMFi). By building on the work of science-policy interfaces such as MedECC, PAMEx is helping transform knowledge into action. This matters because resources must be directed where they are needed most to halt and reverse the trends of environmental degradation that the SoED report describes.
2. A new momentum for implementation
As an action plan, PAMEx is structured around four components that resonate with key themes addressed by the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols: marine and coastal biodiversity, overfishing, pollution, and maritime transport. The implementation of the Barcelona Convention, its Protocols and associated regional plans and strategies will accelerate the achievement of Good Environmental Status and underpin the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda in the Mediterranean.
PAMEx is also pursuing the implementation of other regional commitments, including the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) agenda and portfolio of activities on the blue economy, environment and climate action and related ministerial declarations.
3. Stronger partnerships for impact
Acting in the context of existing international and regional commitments, PAMEx acknowledges the need to steer clear of “duplications or overlaps”. As a voluntary platform aiming to accelerate transformative action for climate and biodiversity, it is fostering regional cooperation for a carbon-neutral and nature-positive Mediterranean region by 2030.
In addition to UNEP/MAP and UfM, PAMEx brings together the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (FAO-GFCM), the Trust Fund for Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MedFund) and the Network of Marine Protected Area Managers (MedPAN). One of the items on the agenda of the first PAMEx Steering Committee in Athens is to coordinate and package activities by all partners into unified annual action plans with the aim of deriving greater impact from synergy.
