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Ministers and Heads of Delegations from 21 Mediterranean Countries Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, and the European Commission committed to take all the necessary measures to make the Mediterranean a clean, healthy and productive sea with conserved ecosystems. This came in the framework of the 18th Ordinary Contracting parties meeting (CoP 18) that was held in Turkey from 3 to 6 December, organized by UNEP/MAP, the Barcelona Convention Secretariat and hosted by the Turkish Government.

Representatives of 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union started their 4-day discussions on the state of their shared marine and coastal environment and on policy decisions to ensure a healthy and productive Mediterranean. This comes within the framework of the 18th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of Mediterranean and its Protocols (CoP18), held every two years.

Leading policy-makers from 21 Mediterranean countries as well as the European Union will meet in Istanbul on 3-6 December 2013 to discuss the state of their shared marine and coastal environment and make policy decisions to ensure a healthy and productive Mediterranean.

The Workshop on Regional Response Capacity and Co-ordination for Major Oil Spill in the Mediterranean Sea (MEDEXPOL 2013), will be held in Athens, Greece between on 10-12 December 2013. As announced at the 1st Meeting of the ad hoc Working Group on the Offshore Protocol, MEDEXPOL 2013 will also address contingency planning and response operations in case of an offshore incident as well as progress made in the implementation of Decision IG.20/12 on the Action Plan to implement the Offshore Protocol. The principal objectives of the Workshop will be:

A National Seminar on the Ballast Water Management Convention was held in Algeria between the 1 and 2 October 2013. The Seminar, which was organised by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) in close co-operation with the Ministry of Transport of Algeria was funded by IMO’s Integrated Technical Co-operation Programme (ITCP) and supported by the GEF/UNDP/IMO GloBallast Partnerships Project. REMPEC is the Regional Coordinating Organization (RCO) for the GloBallast Project in the Mediterranean.

Five aircraft from Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco and Spain operated twelve flights to detect marine pollution from ships in a designated area of the Western Mediterranean between 24 and 26 June 2013. This came within the Coordinated Aerial Surveillance Operation for illicit ship pollution discharges (OSCAR-MED 2013) in the Western Mediterranean, organised by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC).

The Offshore Protocol Working Group held its 1st Meeting in Valletta, Malta on 13-14 June 2013, pursuant to a request by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention by their Decision (IG.20/12) related to the Action Plan for the implementation of the Offshore Protocol. More than 40 participants attended the meeting that was organized by REMPEC, including representatives of 14 Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention. They benefited from the experience of well-known regulators and experts from various governments, international organizations and operators.

The 15th meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) was held from 10 to 12 June 2013, hosted by the Maltese Government In his welcoming address, H.E. Leo Brincat, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Climate Change of Malta said that the MCSD could evolve in a platform that would promote both green and blue growth in the Mediterranean region. “Things can only evolve when each one of our member countries shoulders responsibility at national, regional and global level” he added.

Athens, 5 June 2013 - Under the auspices and in the presence of his Excellency Pr. Evangelos Livieratos, Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and on the occasion of Environment Day, the Hellenic Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and the United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) held a presentation ceremony of the State of the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Environment Report today.

The steering committee of the “Update Priority Investment Projects for Protecting the Mediterranean Sea from Pollution” held its third meeting, on 17 April in Athens, with a particular focus on the investment portfolio of the National Action Plans (NAPs).

The 15th meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) will be held in Malta from 10 to 12 June 2013.

Under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme /Mediterranean Action Plan, the nationwide "Clean-Up the Med 2013" campaign, coordinated by the MedSOS in Greece, was launched in Athens on 24 April 2013. Among the participants to the event were representatives of the UNEP/MAP, academic institutions, the scientific community, national and local authorities, environmental NGOs, journalists and volunteers.

The MedPartnership Coordination group held its annual meeting at the UNESCO in Paris, France from 3 to 5 April 2013 and was attended by experts from all executing partners of the MedPartnership, as well as representatives from UNEP DEPI and the European Commission.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as the Secretariat of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP), is pleased to pre-launch the online Global SCP Clearinghouse, a unique one-stop hub dedicated to advancing Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) worldwide.

H. E. Mr. Evangelos Livieratos Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Greece visited the offices of UNEP/MAP in Athens and met with the Executive Secretary and Coordinator Maria Luisa Silva Mejías. The discussion revolved around strengthening and expanding the cooperation between the Ministry and the UNEP/MAP, particularly vis-à-vis the monitoring and pollution programmes. In particular, they looked into ways to enhance the capacity of the system by introducing new technologies to analyze and present the monitoring information.

The “State of the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Environment Report” report provides information on the overall nature of Mediterranean ecosystems and defines pressures affecting the state of Mediterranean’s environment, to which 21 countries have coast. It also offers detailed information on the vital services that coastal and marine habitats provide to their inhabitants. To get the full version click here

The European Union has announced its accession to the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution resulting from exploration and exploitation of the continental shelf and the seabed and its subsoil. With this new accession of the European Union, seven contracting parties would have approved the protocol, which entered into force on 24 March 2011. The Protocol had already been ratified by Albania, Cyprus, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia. Management and monitoring of the protection of the Mediterranean Sea

The United Nations Environment Programme Coordinating Unit for the Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be launching on 16 January the “State of the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Environment Report” for year 2012, in Ankara, Turkey, in coordination with the UNDP Turkey and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. The event is set to gather high-ranking officials from Turkey, representatives of the contracting parties of the Barcelona Convention, in Turkey, as well as NGOs partners to the UNEP/MAP.