Last March, a delegation from the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation attended high level meetings with Egyptian authorities aiming to boost the collaboration between IUCN and its Members in Egypt, discuss areas of interest and identify new IUCN-Med partners from governmental, NGOs and international organization based in Egypt. This IUCN-Med´s mission was organized in partnership with the Arab Office for Youth and Environment in Egypt.

On June, 14, 2013, a national workshop on Marine Protected Areas was organized in Zagreb, Croatia by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (UNEP/MAP - RAC/SPA) the IUCN Center for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) and the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (IUCN ELC).

The objective of this workshop was to review and discuss with national stakeholders, experts and NGOs the findings of the study regarding the legal and institutional framework for the establishment of marine protected areas in the country and then to examine options for improving the declaration and management of marine protected areas, including participatory mechanisms.

A Red List Assessment Workshop was held from 22 - 25 April in Azraq, Jordan. The event is part of the project "Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment and Conservation Priorities for the Mediterranean Basin Hotspot" and has been organized by IUCN Freshwater Unit, Cambridge, with the support of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), Jordan, and the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. Financial support as provided by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the MAVA foundation.

A Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) and the Moroccan High Commissariat for Water, Forest and Combating Desertification (HCEFLCD) on May 7th, in Rabat. Through this agreement, the two parties aim to strengthen their relations regarding the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and the protection of nature.

Twenty protected areas in ten countries bordering the Mediterranean will serve as study subjects for a European project led by Federparchi. This projects aims to create a Mediterranean model of participatory planning for tourism respectful of nature. The main objective is to develop an integrated strategy (which foresees coordinated actions) in order to settle an Eco-Tourism Development model for the Mediterranean area that boosts a better seasonal distribution of tourism flows.

On the 8th and 9th of June, El Ejido municipality welcomed the 3rd edition of the Life+ Festival "Seas of Posidonia". Through entertaining and fun activities, this festival raises awareness in the population on the crucial role played by marine meadows in the good health of the littoral. Indeed, they serve as a habitat and breeding ground for many commercial species, as water purifiers and as carbon sinks.

More than 50 technicians and experts in the conservation of the Alboran Sea, coming from Morocco and Spain, gathered in Malaga from the 19th to the 21rst of June for a Technical Meeting, in the framework of the POCTEFEX-Alboran project. This meeting had been set to analyze the current situation of marine protected areas, cetaceans and marine turtles, integrated coastal zone management and global change in the Alboran Sea.

Antonio Troya, Director of IUCN-Med, addressed today the Senior Officials´ Meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean in order to present the main activities of the IUCN Mediterranean Programme. It is the first time that IUCN is invited to participate in a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Over 30 experts from the university and scientific field, coming from 19 countries, worked together for three days in the frame of this workshop, analyzing the information currently available on nearly 400 species of Mediterranean butterflies. Almost 9% of the butterflies in Europe are threatened, and the latest data shows that one third of European butterflies are in decline.

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation is implementing a project to improve capacities on species conservation planning and management in three Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). One of the main activities of this project for this year has been to hold training courses about elaboration of Species Conservation Strategies in these three countries.

In the framework of the POCTEFEX-Transhabitat project, two workshops have been organized by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) and its partners to progress in the establishment of the Moroccan Red List of Ecosystems. These days of intensive work aimed to set the methodological basis to evaluate and classify threatened ecosystems in Morocco.

IUCN launched two new publications on alpha ecosystems and dunes that aim to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of these vital ecosystems to the Mediterranean region.