Towards achieving the Good Environmental Status of the Mediterranean Sea and coast through an ecologically representative and efficiently managed and monitored network of Marine Protected Areas (IMAP-MPA)
2019-2023
The IMAP-MPA project, funded by the European Union, contributes to the achievement of Good Environmental Status (GES) in the Mediterranean Sea and Coast in seven (7) beneficiary countries, 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, the UNEP/MAP Programme for the Assessment and Control of Marine Pollution in the Mediterranean (MED POL) and SPA/RAC.
Objectives
The overall objective of the IMAP-MPA Project is to contribute to the achievement of Good Environmental Status (GES) in the Mediterranean Sea and coast.
The specific objectives are:
- to consolidate, integrate and strengthen the ecosystem approach (EcAp) for Marine Protected Area (MPA) management and their sustainable development. This is to be achieved through the monitoring and assessment of environmental status in the Mediterranean Sea and its coast, including MPAs, in a comparative and integrated manner;
- to enhance MPA management through the coordinated implementation of the MAP Roadmap for a Comprehensive Coherent Network of Well-Managed MPAs to Achieve Aichi Target 11 in the Mediterranean, as well as enhance the integration of the Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) in this process;
- to strengthen and further develop the Mediterranean network of ecologically representative, inter-connected, effectively managed and monitored MPAs. This is to be achieved through improving national biodiversity-related governance and policies; preparing and implementing management plans for MPAs and improving MPA management with targeted actions;
- to support the process of alignment of the Strategic Action Programme for the conservation of Biological Diversity (SAP BIO) and other Mediterranean action plans and strategies with the relevant global and regional processes.
Expected results
The project is contributing to the assessment of MPA effectiveness through the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols in 2016 during COP 19 (Decision IG.22/7). The project is also provided an important contribution to the implementation of UNEP/MAP Mid-Term Strategy (MTS) 2016-2021 (Decision IG.22/1) and Programme of Work 2020-2021 (Decision IG.24/14), and is now providing an important contribution to UNEP/MAP Mid-Term Strategy (MTS) 2022-2027 (Decision IG.25/1) and Programme of Work 2022-2023 (Decision IG.25/19).
Under the IMAP-MPA project, the IMAP “Pollution and Marine Litter”, “Biodiversity and Non-Indigenous Species”, and “Coast and Hydrography” Clusters is implemented in an integrated manner.
By demonstrating environmental status differences between MPAs and areas which are under high pressure because of human activity, the IMAP-MPA project is contributing to the overall status assessment of the Mediterranean Sea and coast.
The project is also providing support to the beneficiary countries in enhancing their relevant capacities, including through targeted trainings, exchange of specific best practices, and undertaking of pilots in new areas of monitoring of IMAP, in MPAs and outside with a focus on the sub-regional level.
Learn more:
- IMAP-MPA project: a new drive to strengthen integrated monitoring and biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean
- Launch of the IMAP-MPA Project in Tunisia
- Launch of the IMAP-MPA Project in Libya
- Bright spots in the Mediterranean - An assortment of projects funded by the European Union and executed by the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) is strengthening the implementation of the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols
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