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Under the auspices of H.E.

The 23rd Meeting (COP 23) 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 will take place from 5-8 December 2023 in Portoroz, Slovenia. The overarching goal is to enhance the protection of the Mediterranean region’s marine and coastal environment in the context of sustainable development. 

Ms. Fatma Varank, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of Türkiye, and President of the Bureau of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, opened the 2023 meeting of the Focal Points of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), which took place on 12-15 September in Istanbul (Türkiye).

The deadline for application for the fourth edition of the Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award (2022-2023) has been extended to 30 June 2023. This is your chance to put your Mediterranean city on the map and earn recognition for achievements in the field of urban sustainability.

On 14-16 March 2023 representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Montenegro and Tunisia—participating countries in the GEF-UNEP MedProgramme— met in Sarajevo with the institutions supporting implementation to review progress on two (out of eight) Child Projects (CP):  CP 1.1 (“Reducing pollution from harmful chemicals and wastes in the Mediterranean hotspots and measuring progress to impacts”) and CP 4.1 (“Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

The Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) will contribute to advocacy efforts on the sidelines of the crucial negotiations at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) taking place from 7-19 December 2022 in Montreal, Canada.

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The Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) and its Components are taking part in the Mediterranean Pavilion located in the Blue Zone at UNFCCC COP 27 (6-18 November 2022, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt).

The GEF-UNEP MedProgramme’s Annual Stocktaking Meeting (ASM) will be held on 2-3 November 2022 in Athens, Greece. “Assess – Synergize – Move forward” is the slogan chosen for the meeting. The MedProgramme Coordination Unit, which is hosted by the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP), the MedProgramme’s lead executing agency, is organizing this first edition of the ASM in cooperation with the implementing agencies and executing partners of the eight MedProgramme Child Projects.

The UNECE Ninth Environment for Europe (EfE) Ministerial Conference will be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, from 5-7 October 2022. This is the first time that the event takes place in a Mediterranean country.

150 scientists will take part in the "Mediterranean Symposia on Marine Vegetation, Coralligenous, Dark Habitats and Non-Indigenous Species", which will take place on 19-23 September 2022 in Genoa, Italy.

The world marks the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies on 7 September.

Mediterranean Coast Day (25 September) is an annual observance introduced by the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP).

IMAP-MPA, EcAp MED III and Marine Litter MED II, three projects funded by the European Union (EU) and executed by the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP), recently held their Steering Committee meetings (on 7 June, 15 J

The Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) will take part in the 2022 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) to convey the voice of the Mediterranean, and share lessons learned from almost five decades of multilateral ocean governance, including on issues pertaining to plastic pollution where significant progress has been made well before the breakthrough achieved at UNEA 5.2.

The 78th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 78) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which convened on 6-10 June 2022, approved the designation of the Mediterranean Sea Emission Control Area for Sulphur Oxides and Particulate Matter (Med SOx ECA) under regulation 14 of Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

On 17-18 May 2022 UNEP/MAP organized the Regional Meeting on “Marine Litter Best Practices” in Seville, Spain.

On 9 May the UNEP/MAP Coordinator Tatjana Hema met with Leila Chikhaoui, Minister of the Environment of Tunisia, and heard an unequivocal statement of support to the Mediterranean Action Plan and commitment to the implementation of the Convention for the protection of the marine environment and the coastal region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention).

Ms. Leila Chikhaoui, Minister of the Environment of Tunisia, announced on 11 May 2022 the launch of a nationwide communication campaign aiming to boost citizen awareness and participation in the country’s ambitious efforts to phase out single-use plastic bags. The campaign titled “Let us be responsible” is supported by the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre ‘MedWaves’ specialized in sustainable consumption and production.

Several participants in the "Mediterranean 2030" workshop—which took place on 9 February 2022 in Brest, in the context of the One Ocean Summit—paid tribute to the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system’s role in facilitating multilateral action for healthy marine and coastal ecosystems and sustainable development in the Mediterranean region.

The Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) has released the “Young Person’s Guide to the Mediterranean Action Plan and the Barcelona Convention” aimed at ocean literacy practitioners, educators and young readers aged 11-17.

The UNEP/MAP Coordinator Tatjana Hema took part in the “2020 Forum on Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean” (28-29 November 2021, Oceanographic Museum of Monaco). SPA/RAC, the Tunis-based UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre specializing in conservation and biodiversity, is one of the four institutions that organised the forum. The quartet includes WWF, MED PAN and Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP)–Barcelona Convention Secretariat hosted an online meeting of the Ecosystem Approach Coordination Group (EcAp CG) on 9 September 2021. The EcAp CG comprises representatives of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union).

Turkey, the Host Country of the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (COP 22, 7-10 December 2021), hosted a preparatory meeting on 28-30 September 2021 in the Mediterranean city of Antalya.

Focal points of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) met online on 10-17 September 2021 and paved the way for the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (COP 22, 7-10 December 2021, Antalya, Turkey). Meetings of the MAP Focal Points, which take place prior to COPs (convened every two years), constitute important milestones as part of the intergovernmental process that UNEP/MAP has been steering since its inception in 1975.