The celebration of the tenth anniversary of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation and the official opening of the Forum on 22 November welcomed in this occasion more than 200 representatives from public administrations, NGOs, universities and experts in biodiversity and sustainable development in the Mediterranean.

Julia Marton-Lefèvre - IUCN Director General; Mohamed Endichi - Director of the Fight against Desertificación and the Protection of the Nature at the High Commissariat for Water, Forests and the Fight against Desertificación (Morocco); Patrick Van Klaveren - Ambassador of the Principality of Monaco in Spain; Miguel Esteban Martin Montero - Second Vice-president  of the Provincial Government of Malaga; Jose Jiménez García-Herrera - General Director of Nature and Forestry Policy at the Spanish Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs; Jose Juan Diaz Trillo - Andalusia Regional Minister for Environment; and Francisco de la Torre Prados - Mayor of Malaga, opened the acts of celebration of the 10 years of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation and the Mediterranean Forum in the Albéniz Theatre in Malaga.

Participants enjoyed a video show on the 10 years of IUCN in the Mediterranean, images of the exhibition "Veus of the Mediterrània" courtesy of the Museu of the Mediterrània de Torroella de Montgrí (Girona) and the musical performance of the Duet "Fathi Benyakoub". Immediately afterwards the signature in the new agreements of collaboration with different organizations took place, in the City council of Malaga.

The consensus and the creation of networks of partners are some of the key objectives of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation based in Malaga, since an effective conservation without the implication of all is not possible. The agreements signed aim at coordinating and working together for the development of activities of common interest to these organizations and with a Mediterranean reach.

Agreements with the following organizations were signed: Casa Mediterráneo - Director Yolanda Parrado Marcos; Project FAO-CopeMed II for the Coordination of  support to the management of fisheries in the western and central zone of the Mediterranean, phase II) - Director Juan Antonio Camiñas; Collaborative Partnership on Mediterranean forests; Foundation Three Cultures of the Mediterranean - Elvira Saint-Gerons Herrera; Habitec Foundation - Director Jose Luis Casado;  Red Eléctrica de España - Director of REE for Andalusia Miguel González; the Center of Regional Activity for Specially Protected Areas Protected (RAC SPA)) - Director Abderrahmen Gannoun; with the Chamber of Commerce of Malaga - President Jerónimo Homemade Perez and with the Office of the Mediterranean Programme of WWF - Director Paolo Lombardi.

During this day, participants could debate the main challenges which the sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean faces, one of the main tourist destinies of the world, and listen to first hand initiatives carried out from Malaga with this intention.  Nature conservation as an asset for rural development and marine ecosystems, deeps seas in particular,  occupied great part in the morning. In the afternoon, several presentations about the role of agencies of international cooperation and foundations as well as funding tools for activities related to the conservation of environment were made.

On Wednesday 24, several technical sessions were held to approach the areas of work of the Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in collaboration with their members and partners. These included a session on the euromediterranean policies, marine governance and sea canyons, the perspectives and challenges of the conservation of species, the management and conservation of marine and coastal areas, the global change in Mediterranean mountains and forests, energy networks and natural resources, as well as the paper of IUCN members in the elaboration of our programme of work for the next years