What is the MedPartnership?
The Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (MedPartnership) is a collective effort of leading environmental institutions and organizations together with countries sharing the Mediterranean Sea to address the main environmental challenges that Mediterranean marine and coastal ecosystems face.
The MedPartnership is being led by the United Nations Environment Programme / Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and is financially supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and other donors, including the European Commission and all participating countries.
The MedPartnership catalyzes action to create an enabling environment for the necessary policy, legal and institutional reforms in the partner countries, as well as investments, to:
- improve environmental conditions of pollution and biodiversity hotspots and other priority areas under stress;
- promote the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources through integrated approaches;
- reduce pollution from land-based sources;
- enhance the protection of ‘critical’ habitats and species;
- integrate climate considerations into national marine and coastal planning.
The MedPartnership’s 78 demonstration projects and the promotion and replication of good practices will maximize impact and ensure the sustainability of the project beyond its lifespan.
The Project is being carried out in the following GEF eligible countries:
Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Montenegro, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
The MedPartnership is a continuation of the previous GEF Project run by UNEP/MAP (2002-2006). This project reviewed and updated the existing Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis for the Mediterranean (TDA-MED) and designed/elaborated two Strategic Action Programs (SAPs):
FRAMEWORK OF ACTIVITIES
The MedPartnership focuses on priority actions identified by the signatory countries to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) in two Strategic Action Programmes (SAPs). These respectively aim to
(a) reduce land-based sources of marine pollution > SAP-MED
(b) protect biodiversity, living resources and their habitats > SAP-BIO
Goals and Objectives
The MedPartnership's overarching goal is to enable a coordinated and strategic approach to catalyze the policy, legal and institutional reforms, and the investments necessary to reverse the degradation trends affecting the unique Mediterranean Large Marine Ecosystem, including its coastal habitats and biodiversity.
The specific objectives of the MedPartnership are:
- to assist countries in the implementation of the SAPs and NAPs to reduce pollution from land-based sources, and preserve the biodiversity and ecosystems of the Mediterranean from degradation;
- to assist countries in the implementation of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management ICZM Protocol;
- to leverage long-term financing, and
- to ensure through the Barcelona Convention and MAP systems the sustainability of activities initiated within the project beyond its specific lifetime.
The SAPs, NAPs and ICZM Protocol are three very important instruments which will help countries towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the targets of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).