The need to increase protection for oceans is urgent, not only to fulfill international commitments, but to alleviate the increasing degradation of marine ecosystems. To this end, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Mediterranean Action Plan - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-MAP) organised, from 7-11 April in Malaga (Spain), a Mediterranean regional workshop to facilitate the description of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs).

The eight partners of the Mediterranean Experience of Ecotourism (MEET) project gathered on 10-11 April 2014 at the premises of the Directorate-General for Natural Environment and Biodiversity of the regional Government of Catalonia in Barcelona to put in common project activities to date, launch the new project website and decide the next steps forward.

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) organized on 10 -11 March, at the Historical-Botanical Garden "La Concepcion" in Málaga, a regional training workshop on the IUCN Green List global initiative with the participation of three Mediterranean regional groups representing Spain, France and Italy.

The project "Enhancement of biodiversity key areas in North Africa, through the involvement of civil society's organizations for their management and protection" was recently presented in Morocco and Algeria by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation team. Involving Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, this subregional project aims at improving the management and governance of protected areas and key biodiversity areas in the Mediterranean. The project is funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) in the framework of its strategic direction "Improving the conservation and the protection status of 44 Key Biodiversity Areas".

The Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, the Italian Federation of Parks and Natural Reserves (Federparchi) on behalf of the IUCN Italian National Committee, the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to identify and carry out specific collaborative projects and activities.

Libya remains as one of the most biologically diverse countries in the Mediterranean, but at the same time preserving its fragile environment from Sahara expanses and climate change is challenging. The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation has recently made a mission in Libya to promote two projects: the first one is about Small Initiatives for Civil Society Organizations in North Africa (PPI-OSCAN, its acronym in French) funded by the French Global Environment Facility (FGEF) and the MAVA Foundation, the second project is about "Promoting the value of key biodiversity areas in North Africa through the involvement of civil society in their conservation and management" supported by the critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).

The PEGASO's project final conference took place in Antalya (Turkey), from 14 to 17 January 2014, gathering a wide range of institutes and networks from the Mediterranean and the Black Sea together with representatives from Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) initiatives in other regional seas. PEGASO is a collaborative project between twenty-five partners that have co-worked over four years under the lead coordination of the Autonomous University of Barcelona to develop common, novel approaches to support integrated policies for the coastal, marine and maritime realm of the Mediterranean and Black sea basins.

Started in January 2011, the SEARCH project comes to its end, and is happy to announce the launching of a Guiding toolkit for Increasing Climate Change Resilience. The aim of the toolkit is to provide guidance and recommendations on how to develop climate change resilient strategies and plans at national, sub-national and local levels.