The Mediterranean context:
The Mediterranean makes you dream with the beauty of its landscapes, its climate, its historical and cultural heritage. It is a unique place due to its biodiversity, its coastline and its inland sea. Today, this idyllic portrait is cracking and its wealth is deteriorating, in the 21 other countries bordering the Mediterranean. It is today one of the most polluted seas in the world, the basin and its ecosystems are in danger and hit hard by climate change and the degradation of ecosystems.
The Barcelona Convention System, the first ever Regional Sea Convention.
Since February 1976, the UNEP/MAP Barcelona Convention and its successively adopted protocols constitute a unique and advanced multilateral institutional, legal and implementation framework for the protection of the marine and coastal environment and sustainable use of their resources in the Mediterranean, adopted by its Contracting Parties - the 21 riparian countries and the European Union - for concerted action to fulfil the vision of a healthy Mediterranean Sea and Coast that underpin sustainable development in the region. Over the decades, the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system has responded to evolving environmental challenges and bolstered a growing body of knowledge on marine and coastal ecosystems and of interactions between development and environment in the Mediterranean region.
