News

Since January 2015, the MAP's Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) has been involved in the Preparedness for Oil-polluted Shoreline cleanup and Oiled Wildlife interventions – POSOW II Project, a follow up to the POSOW I Project, co-funded by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (DG ECHO) and coordinated by the Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre, France).

The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) is convening a Meeting of the Mediterranean Network of Law Enforcement Officials relating to MARPOL within the framework of the Barcelona Convention (MENELAS) in Toulon, France, from 29 September 2015 to 1 October 2015, which is partly financed by voluntary contributions from the Government of France and the Government of Malta and possibly others.

The Eleventh Meeting of the Focal Points of the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) was held in Malta, from 15 to 17 June 2015.

The Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development (MCSD) held its 16th meeting from 9 to 11 June 2015, in Marrakesh, hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and Plan Bleu.

By its Decision IG.20/13 (Governance) the 17th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocol has requested the Secretariat of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of the Barcelona Convention to complete the review of the list of MAP Partners on the basis of the criteria established in Decision 19/6 on “MAP/ Civil society cooperation and partnership”. On the road to the Nineteenth Meeting of the Contracting Parties that will be held in Athens in February 2016, UNEP/MAP Secretariat invites Mediterranean NGOs to be accredited as new MAP Partners.

Living in an increasingly globalized world, inhabited by 7 billion people, it is easy to underestimate the power of individual action. The annual World Environment Day reminds people across the globe that it is our personal choices that shape the world around us. Our daily decisions as consumers, multiplied by billions, have a colossal impact on the environment – some of them contribute to the further depletion of natural resources, others help to protect fragile ecosystems. Every time - the choice is ours.

Under the auspices of the Ministry for Environment of the Hellenic Republic, the United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) launched the celebration of its 40th anniversary in Athens, Greece on 19 May 2015. The launching came within the framework of the meeting of the MAP National Focal Points aiming to discuss the UNEP/MAP draft Mid-term Strategy for the period 2016-2021.

Nairobi, 19 May 2015 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today released its Annual Report 2014, showcasing global environmental successes such as the recovery of the ozone layer, significant advances in renewables investments and the first-ever United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).

Turkey leads as the first Mediterranean country to dispose of its Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) contaminated equipment in collaboration with UNEP/MAP. Athens – 27 April 2015: Turkey has started packing and shipping to France its transformers contaminated with PCBs, from electricity and industrial companies. The process of decontamination and disposal of the toxic substance in France is expected to last from 10 to 12 weeks, at the end of which, Turkey would have disposed of 634 tons of PCBs.

Nairobi/Rome, 7 April 2015 - Italy has today been named host of this year’s World Environment Day (WED) global celebrations on 5 June, in a joint announcement made by the Government of Italy and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The Meeting of National Experts on the Revision of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships was organized by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) and was held at the Palace Hotel, Sliema, Malta, between the 11 and 12 March 2015.

An online training session on Climate Variability and Change (CV&C) is being prepared by PAP/RACin the framework of the project "Integration of Climate Variability and Change into National Strategies to implement the ICZM Protocol in the Mediterranean" - the ClimVar & ICZM project (complementary to the GEF/UNEP/World Bank Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem - the MedPartnership).

Hosted by the Hellenic Government, this 4-day UN meeting is expected to discuss and adopt basin-wide strategies More than 150 delegates from 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union, all parties to the Barcelona Convention, are meeting in Athens from 9 to 12 February to decide on key environmental issues related to the marine and coastal areas of the region.

Common objectives, cooperation, solidarity, equity and participatory governance for sustainable development in the Mediterranean Representatives of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, stakeholders and institutions active in environment and sustainable development discussed the first draft of the revised Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) during a two-day conference in Malta on 17 and 18 February 2015.

The first draft of the revised Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) will be discussed during a two-day conference in Malta starting tomorrow. The Conference will be hosted by the Government of Malta and it is being organized in close collaboration with the Coordination Unit of the Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and Plan Bleu.

The National Action Plans (NAPs) update has advanced significantly in the second half of 2014 with completion of procedural and methodological frameworks to support and guide the process at regional and national levels. The process is expected to intensify in the first half of 2015 to lead to a delivery of updated NAPs by the last trimester of the year for submission to and endorsement by the next Conference of Parties to the Barcelona Convention (COP 19).

03.02.2015 The Catalonia Ecodesign Award is looking for innovative products, products under development and product-fostering strategies created by designers, manufacturers or promoters that are designed to improve the environmental performance of products and services over the course of their life cycle.

The Mediterranean area is widely considered as a "climate hotspot". Its climate is especially responsive to global change and potential climate change impacts are particularly strong. It has become crucial that Mediterranean countries react to be most effectively prepared to address those impacts, setting the objectives and priority actions.

As part of a regional consultation process, Focal Points of UNEP/MAP Sustainable Consumption and Production Regional Activity Centre (SCP/RAC) held an extraordinary meeting in Barcelona (Spain) on 25-26 November 2014. The meeting aimed to exchange views on the first draft of the SCP Action Plan for the Mediterranean, provide feedback on its structure and discuss its strategic and operational objectives.

The regional capacity building workshop for effective monitoring, compliance/ inspection implementation and enforcement of environmental legislation organized by MED POL was held in Athens, Greece from 25 to 27 November 2014.

This practical guide has been elaborated in order to provide a tool which will allow adopting a coherent and safe approach to monitor breeding of the Mediterranean Lesser Crested Tern, a population of extremely high conservation value and potentially vulnerable to many sources of threat, not least monitoring itself.

The third MonGOOS meeting was held in Lecce, Italy from the 26th to the 28th November 2014. It was hosted by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change. The meeting was attended by MonGOOS representatives and its partners. The main objective of the Meeting was to update all attendees on, inter alia, the MonGOOS status, the 2014 activities, as well as data and modeling working group activities

Three Italian regions, namely Emilia Romagna, Sardinia and Tuscany, presented their activities foreseen within the framework of the Coastal Area Management Programme (CAMP Italy) project, during the Inception conference held in Alghero, Sardinia on 12 November 2014.

The Coordination Group of the MedPartnership project held its 6th meeting in Barcelona on 4-5 November 2014. Coming to an end in December 2015, the project has implemented almost 80% of its foreseen activities. "We are very proud of our achievements, said Lorenzo Galbiati, the project manager. "This is a huge progress thanks to the efforts of all partners and national experts", he added.

The Zayed International Prize for the Environment (Zayed Prize) is the world's most valuable environmental award, worth US$1 million. It was established in 1999 by H.H.