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The article highlights the role of the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) in the preparation of worst-case scenario simulations related to a potential oil-spill event which ocurred in Libya, in March 2017. Click here to read the article: http://copernicus.eu/news/copernicus-assists-monitoring-risks-and-planni... For more information on REMPEC, please visit http://rempec.org

The Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) will hold its 17th meeting on 4-6 July 2017, in Athens, Greece. In its capacity of advisory body to the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, the MCSD will address and provide substantial contribution to the Contracting Parties to assist them in their efforts to integrate environmental issues, sustainability considerations, and global processes in their socioeconomic programmes, such as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Adopted under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN Environment in collaboration with Think Beyond Plastic™ invites university students from all over the globe to take part in the 2017 Marine Plastic Innovation Challenge. The challenge, which is the first of its kind, seeks to highlight solution-oriented engineering, research and communication efforts that can help solve the global marine litter problem. The innovation challenge is organized around the following four tracks:

UN Environment/MAP activities featured very high at the 2017 G7 Environment Ministers' meeting held in Bologna on 11-12 June 2017, under the auspices of the Italian G7 Presidency. Mr. Gaetano Leone, Coordinator of UN Environment/MAP, delivered the key-note address to the Ministers on the agenda item on "Marine Litter" and provided the closing remarks at the end of the discussion

Approximately 4,000 delegates attended the five-day UN Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, convened in New York from 5 to 9 June 2017. The reversal of the decline of the ocean’s health will begin thanks to a set of measures that have been unanimously agreed  by the 193 Member States of the United Nations. 

(Tunis) The collaborative international project will develop a platform that will integrate existing data with information generated by coastal observations, new and existing sensors at sea, oceanographic models and mobile apps. The European Union (EU) has awarded the international ODYSSEA consortium €8.4 million to develop an interoperable and cost-effective platform that fully integrates networks of observation and forecasting systems across the Mediterranean basin.

The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world. The annual celebration of World Environment Day on 5 June provides us with an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment. Since its designation in 1974, World Environment Day has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated all over the world.

The Meeting of the Focal Points of the Mediterranean Pollution Assessment and Control Programme (MED POL) was held on 29-31 May 2017, at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Headquarters, Rome, Italy.

May 7th 2017 was a sunny hot day in Athens. 9:15 in the morning UN Environment/MAP staff gather outside the metro station. Destination: Freattyda beach in Piraeus, Greece, to participate to the MedSOS Cleanup campaign "Don't let plastics become part of the sea", held under the auspices of UN Environment/MAP.  Enthusiastic and motivated groups of volunteers of all ages took part to the campaign. Upon arrival, they were handed big bags, gloves and sheets to record the different types of marine litter collected.

Marine litter has been globally recognized as one of the major threats not only to marine ecosystems but also to their sustainable growth. The Mediterranean area is considered as one of the most affected by marine litter in the world with its plastic concentrations found floating to be comparable with those reported for the five oceanic garbage patches.

A ministerial delegation headed by H.E. Mr. Davor Ivo Stier, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, H.E. Mr. Ditmir Bushati, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, and H.E. Mr. Mr. Srđan Darmanović, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, visited the premises of the Priority Action Programme Regional Activity Centre of the UN Environment/MAP on 10 February 2017 in Split.

The Steering Committee of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) held its 18th meeting on 18 and 19 January 2017 in Athens, Greece.

Under the main theme of "Caring for our Coasts - Mediterranean and Italian Experiences", the Coastal Area Management Program for Italy (CAMP Italy) held its final conference on Tuesday 17 January 2017 in Rome, in the presence of Mrs Maria Carmela Giarratano, General Director of the Ministry of the Environment, Land, and Sea Protection of Italy, and Mr. Gaetano Leone, Coordinator of the UN environment / Mediterranean Action Plan, Secretariat to the Barcelona Convention.

Egypt has started packing PCB-contaminated equipment in Cairo and Alexandria to ship them  to Spain for elimination. At the end of this process, it is expected that Egypt would have disposed of 200 tons of PCBs. This is the last activity within the framework of the MedPartnership project, led by UNEP/MAP and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It was implemented by the MAP MED POL programme in collaboration with the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA).

Algeria has ratified the "Protocol Concerning Cooperation in Preventing Pollution from Ships and, In Cases of Emergency, Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea" (Prevention and Emergency Protocol). The country deposited the instrument of Ratification on 14 November 2016, as confirmed by the Government of Spain, Depositary of the Barcelona Convention.

The Nineteenth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (“the Barcelona Convention”) and its Protocols, which was held in Athens, Greece from 9 to 12 February 2016, adopted Decision IG.22/3 related to the Mediterranean Offshore Action Plan in the framework of the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution resulting from Exploration and Exploitation of the Cont

Between 24 and 28 October 2016, UNEP/MAP and REMPEC participated in the 70th Session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70), held at IMO Headquarters in London, UK. Gaetano Leone, Coordinator of UNEP/MAP and Gabino Gonzalez Head of REMPEC presented the Mediterranean regional policies to tackle obligations arising from MARPOL and the Ballast Water Management Convention (BWM) Conventions, which embodies the implementation of the Barcelona Convention ecosystem approach in practice.

The Ecosystem Approach Correspondence Group on Pollution Monitoring (CORMON) met in Marseille, France, from 19 to 21 October 2016, with the participation of over 60 national representatives and experts in the Mediterranean.

Pour la 10ème année consécutive, la Méditerranée a célébré le Jour de la Côte le 27 Septembre cette année à Barcelone sous le thème “Une économie bleue pour une Méditerranée saine” . 

Marine litter poses a major threat to wildlife and ecosystems, as well as, to humans and their livelihoods. Regional cooperation is crucial to achieve the marine litter reduction targets decided by the Barcelona Convention COP 19, including a beach litter reduction of 20% by 2024”.

Italy has ratified the "Protocol Concerning Cooperation in Preventing Pollution from Ships and, In Cases of Emergency, Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea" (Prevention and Emergency Protocol). The country deposited the instrument of Ratification on 30 June 2016, as confirmed by the Government of Spain, Depositary of the Barcelona Convention.

Since today, the MedOpen ICZM Basic training in French is available here.

Ms Zeljka Skaricic, director of PAP/RAC represented UNEP/MAP in the 6th event of the Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) conference series that took place on 23-24 June 2016, at the University of Azores in Ponta Delgada, Portugal.

Three representatives of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), namely Ms Anne-France Didier director of Plan Bleu, Ms Tatjana Hema MAP Deputy Coordinator a.i. and MED POL Programme officer, and Mr. Gabino Gonzalez head of REMPEC Office, participated to the conference "Climate, biodiversity, blue growth: what solutions for the Mediterranean" and highlighted the role and related actions carried out within the Barcelona Convention.

Solheim pledges to tackle major environmental issues such as ocean and air pollution, climate change, and nexus between conflict, migration and the environment