Projects

The Mediterranean Sea Programme: Enhancing Environmental Security (MedProgramme)
2020-2026

The Mediterranean Sea Programme (MedProgramme): “Enhancing Environmental Security” is a six (6) year (2020–2026) Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded multi-focal area and cross-sectoral initiative implemented in Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Tunisia, and Türkiye. UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) is the leading executing Agency; the GEF Implementing Agencies are UNEP and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the executing partners are UNESCO/IHP, European Investment Bank (EIB), IUCN Med, GWP Med, WWF Med, University of Geneva-GRID Geneva, Plan Bleu, PAP/RAC, SCP/RAC, SPA/RAC and INFO/RAC. The Programme is also supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The MedProgramme operationalizes priority actions to reduce major transboundary environmental stresses in coastal areas while strengthening climate resilience and water security and improving the health and livelihoods of coastal populations. It also aims to promote sound environmental management that benefits women and men equally, through effective gender mainstreaming.

The MedProgramme is expected to achieve large-scale impacts in four GEF focal areas: International Waters (IW), Chemicals and Waste (CW), Biodiversity (BD), and Climate Change Adaptation (SCCF), with contributions from numerous partners including UN agencies, development banks, MAP Regional Activity Centers, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Regional Centers, national institutions, technical agencies and research institutes, NGOs, and others, under the leadership of UNEP/MAP.

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Bolstering Mediterranean biodiversity and Marine and Coastal Protected Areas for nature (SEMPA Project)
2023-2027

The SEMPA Project, funded by the European Union, contributes to the achievement of Good Environmental Status (GES) in the Mediterranean Sea and Coast in seven (7) countries that are contracting parties to the Barcelona Convention, namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.

The project is endowed with a budget of 4 million Euros for a duration 48 months and is executed by the UNEP/MAP Coordinating Unit, and the Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Centre (SPA/RAC).

SEMPA is part of the UNEP/MAP portfolio of EU-funded projects, which also includes the follow-up phases of the EcAp MED III and Marine Litter MED II projects. The trio will operate until mid-2027 with complementary objectives and activities, further boosting the implementation of GES based on the findings of the 2023 Mediterranean Quality Status Report.

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Supporting the Southern Mediterranean Contracting Parties in Implementing Ecosystem Approach to Achieve GES (EcAp MED PLUS Project)
2024-2027

The EcAp MED PLUS Project builds on the achievements of EcAp MED III Project. Its overall objective is to support the institutional and technical capacities of the Southern Mediterranean Contracting Parties (SMCPs) (i.e., Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia) in upgrading and implementing the Ecosystem Approach (EcAp) policy and the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) in the Mediterranean, thus ensuring a sound progression towards achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Namely the EcAp MED PLUS Project will support the Southern Mediterranean Contacting Parties to address the following specific objectives:

1. Support the next phase of implementation of the EcAp policy and roadmap, in particular by supporting SMCPs in updating IMAP at regional and national levels, as well as updating IMAP Info System;
2. Further strengthen and progressively improve the capacities of SMCPs on effective IMAP implementation;
3. Complementarily to the above-mentioned specific objectives, support SMCPs in reviewing/developing/upgrading the national Programmes of Measures (PoMs) and National Action Plans (NAPs);
4. Support SMCPs in further developing cooperation capacities and opportunities at regional and sub-regional level in achieving GES and SDGs in the Mediterranean.

EcAp MED PLUS aims to further develop and streamline a solid base for a broadened Science Policy Interface (SPI) approach. The Project also aims to upscale the achievements of the SMCPs from its three previous phases, while providing an integrated contribution to the implementation of the UNEP/MAP 2022-2027 Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) and the upcoming biennial COP adopted Programmes of Work (PoW) for 2024-2025 and 2026-2027.

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The Marine Litter MED PLUS Project
2024-2027

Building on Marine Litter MED projects executed since 2016, the Marine Litter MED PLUS project will further support the implementation of the updated Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean at national, sub-regional and regional level with a particular focus on Southern Mediterranean Contracting Parties namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. The overall objective of the Marine Litter MED PLUS project is to reduce and prevent the generation of marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea through an expanded implementation of key reduction and prevention measures as provided for in the updated Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean. The project aims at enhancing the implementation of the selected measures in terms of geographical scope and impact. The project will also support the upgrade of Ecological Objective 10 (EO10 – Marine Litter) of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) for the Mediterranean Sea and Coast, including for its Candidate Common Indicator 24. Interregional Cooperation will be further enhanced in particular through tangible interventions in the Black Sea, in cooperation with the Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat(BSC), as well as in the Mediterranean with General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).

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