Pollution in the Mediterranean

• The Mediterranean is polluted by an estimated 730 tonnes of plastic waste every day.
   
• Plastics account for between 95 to 100% of total floating litter, and more than 50% of seabed litter.
   
• Single-use plastics represent more than 60% of the total recorded marine litter on beaches.
   
• Concentrations of microplastics at sea surface exceed 64 million floating particles per square kilometer in certain locations.
   
• Concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceed 100 micrograms per cubic meter in certain areas in the Mediterranean basin (the global average stands at 39.6 μg/m3).
   
• It is estimated that more than 228,000 people died prematurely in 2016 due to exposure to ambient air pollution.
   
• Municipal solid waste generation has been increasing across the whole region since 2014 and shows no sign of abating.
   
• More than 50% of the waste collected in south Mediterranean countries is disposed of in open dumps.
   
• The contribution of urban wastewater treatment plants to nitrogen discharges is estimated at 90 %, with the remaining 10 % attributed to industrial discharges.

Findings of recent assessments

• Coastal population and tourism, associated with take-make-waste economic models, are the main drivers of plastic waste generation and marine litter in the Mediterranean.
• Water reuse is on the rise, driven by increasing demand for water and decreasing water availability.
• Progress has been made on the level of wastewater treatment, but tertiary treatment is lagging behind.
• Despite notable improvements, the collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) is still a significant issue in most south Mediterranean countries. Only a few countries have reached full waste collection coverage.
• The collection of MSW remains particularly difficult in rural areas, where waste is usually illegally dumped or burned.

Learn more:

• State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (SoED)
• Towards a cleaner Mediterranean Sea: a decade of progress, a joint UNEP/MAP-European Environment Agency (EEA) report

The normative framework

Five out of the seven Protocols of the Barcelona Convention aim at preventing multiple forms of pollution in the Mediterranean.

The Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management (RPML) in the Mediterranean adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention in 2013 is the first-ever legally binding instrument aiming to prevent and reduce marine litter and plastic pollution and to remove existent marine litter, using environmentally sound techniques.

The Ecosystem Approach

The overall objective of the implementation of the Ecosystem Approach roadmap is to achieve and maintain Good Environmental Status (GES) of the Mediterranean Sea and coasts. Under the vision of "A healthy Mediterranean with marine and coastal ecosystems that are productive and biologically diverse for the benefit of present and future generations", Contracting Parties adopted a list of 11 Ecological Objectives, addressing all key elements of the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment. Lean more

The Programme for the Assessment and Control of Marine Pollution in the Mediterranean (MED POL)

The MED POL mandate covers the following areas:

• Assessment of status and trends in the quality of the marine and coastal environment;
• Promotion of policy reforms for the implementation of national action plans, including programmes and measures for the reduction and gradual elimination of pollution;
• Catalyzing and facilitating the the completion of the pollution reduction actions listed in National Action Plans (NAPs);
• Regular assessment of loads of pollution reaching the Mediterranean and the determination of trends in coastal areas, including pollution hot spots;
• Collection, analysis and dissemination of data and information on pressures and on the state of the marine and coastal environment;
• Capacity building and technical assistance to support the Contracting Parties in the aforementioned areas.

To deliver its mandate, MED POL implements several regional, sub-regional and national activities in the framework of the MAP Programme of Work (PoW). This includes pollution monitoring and assessment in line with Article 12 of the Barcelona Convention, and Articles 8 and 13 of the LBS Protocol. Learn more

Tackling air pollution in coastal areas

UNEP/MAP is working on the implementation of the "Roadmap for a Proposal for the Possible Designation of the Mediterranean Sea, as a whole, as an Emission Control Area for Sulphur Oxides Pursuant to MARPOL Annex VI, within the Framework of the Barcelona Convention”, adopted at COP 21 (Naples, Italy, 2-5 December 2019). Learn more

The GEF-funded MedProgramme

The MedProgramme is comprised of eight child projects implemented across ten countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. More than 100 coordinated actions will be deployed at regional and national levels in the beneficiary countries over the 5-year duration of the project (2020-2024). Expected results include the disposal of 3,250 tons of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and of fifty (50) tons of Mercury, as well as the prevention of the use of 1,309 tons of POPs per year, an increase in volumes of water treatments, and improvements in coastal and water management. Learn more

The Marine Litter MED II project

The Marine Litter MED II project, funded by the European Union , further supports the implementation of the Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean at national, sub-regional and regional level with a particular focus on southern Mediterranean countries namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. The project builds on the outcomes of the EU-funded Marine Litter MED project (2016-2019). Learn more about projects implemented by the MAP system