Six years after its deployment, the assessment of the MedProgramme aimed at strengthening the fight against degradation of ecosystems and promoting sustainable development in the Mediterranean region was presented last week in Tunis.
From June 23 to 25, representatives of regional countries, international organizations, financial institutions and numerous technical partners gathered to scrutinize the various actions undertaken within this regional initiative financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP).
Given the dossiers examined, this fourth Annual Stocktaking Meeting (ASM) marked a pivotal milestone for environmental cooperation in the Mediterranean basin, as the programme approaches its end and a new phase of intervention is being prepared.
Under the theme “One Sea, One Vision: Strengthening Partnerships to Transform the Mediterranean Sustainably,” the meeting allowed evaluating the results achieved since the MedProgramme’s launch in 2020, sharing the experiences gained in beneficiary countries and identifying priorities for the coming years.
As one of the region’s most important environmental cooperation mechanisms implemented, the MedProgramme mobilizes several hundred million dollars through supplementary funding, in addition to the funds allocated to it by the GEF.
This programme brings together about fifteen international partners, including UNEP/MAP, FAO, UNESCO, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), WWF Mediterranean, as well as several regional activity centers of the Barcelona Convention.
Its mission is to assist the region’s countries in combating the multiple pressures that undermine Mediterranean ecosystems, such as marine and land pollution, water resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, the coastal artificialization, and the growing impacts of climate change.
