Brussels, 19/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The review of the sustainable strategy of the countries that signed up to the Barcelona Convention on the protection of the marine environment and the Mediterranean coastline against pollution is beginning to take shape. A high level conference hosted in Malta by the Maltese government on 17-18 February - in cooperation with the UN coordination unit of the Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and Plan Bleu - enabled representatives from the governments of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, civil society, and environmental and sustainable development institutions to debate an initial draft text.
Common objectives, cooperation, solidarity, fairness and participative governance will guide the 10-year review process of a strategy developed in 2005 to preserve a closed sea that was suffering strong pressure threatening its natural resources, landscapes and ecosystems.
Leo Brincat, Malta's minister for sustainable development, the environment and climate change, stressed the importance of the future strategic framework “as a guiding strategy to inspire and direct activities in the area of sustainable development in a coherent way that involves all key stakeholders in the region”.
The review of the strategy is structured around six thematic areas: seas and coasts; natural resources, rural development and food; climate; sustainable cities; transition towards a green economy; and governance. The draft text takes account of the results of the Rio +20 UN conference on sustainable development, and builds on the ongoing global debate which is due to lead - in New York in September - to the setting of international sustainable development objectives and the adoption of a global programme for sustainable development post-2015 (see EUROPE 11248).
Consultation on this draft will continue and a more detailed version of the text will be presented in March. The revised strategy will be submitted for approval at the 16th meeting of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development, in Morocco in June 2015. Its adoption is planned for the next meeting of the parties to the Barcelona Convention (COP 19). The European Union is part of this convention - as are Italy, Spain, France, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus, along with 14 other non-EU Mediterranean countries. (Aminata Niang)