March 2012

A Blue economy for the Mediterranean

Leading policy makers from 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union gathered to discuss the health of the Mediterranean Sea and the progress that has been made in their efforts to protect the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment at 17th meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) and its Protocols that took take place in Paris, France from 8th to 10th February.


The Paris Declaration was adopted, a call on the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention for a strategic policy framework for a “blue” economy - a version of the Green Economy applying to seas and oceans, to be adopted at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in June 2012.


The Action Plan for the Implementation of the ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean (2012-2019) was unanimously adopted by the Contracting Parties as well. The Action Plan identified key priorities, expected major outputs and accomplishments, time frames for their achievement, necessary partnerships to be established and the potential financial resources required for its successful implementation.


Another of the important Decisions adopted at this COP was the Decision IG.20/13 on Governance in which it requests the Secretariat to prepare formal collaboration with four relevant institutions: the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, Convention on Biological Diversity, UICN, and Union for the Mediterranean.


This Decision implies the recognition of IUCN as one to the priority institutions with capacity to work closely with the Barcelona Convention as to deliver agreed conservation goals in the Mediterranean.



More info: antonio.troya@iucn.org

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