The System for reporting on the pollutant loads discharged into the Mediterranean Sea

In occasion of “Meeting for developing the preliminary elements for new National Action Plans (NAPs) and sharing Best Practices for application of the Guidelines for estimating pollutants loads from agriculture and aquaculture sectors” held in Athens on 24 -25 October, Francesca Catini by INFO/RAC, the UNEP/MAP Information and Communication Activity Center, presented the National Baseline Budget Reporting System.

During the meeting, Francesca Catini explained how the System has been structured, what data is required and who are the subjects involved in the reporting activities.

The System allows the data reporting on the pollutant loads discharged directly or indirectly into the Mediterranean Sea and will be available in 2024 for the 5th reporting cycle, from 2019 to 2023.

NBB, the National Baseline Budget, is an inventory of annual pollutant’s loads released by all significant Land Based Sources at country level.
It meets the obligations established by the LBS protocol, monitoring the trend, on a five-year basis, of the pollutant loads discharged directly or indirectly into the Mediterranean Sea. The reporting cycles analyzed at national, sub-regional and regional river basin levels contribute to NAP, the National Action Plans implementation evaluation.

INFO/RAC also provided an overview of the updates that have been made or are being made to the National Baseline Budget Reporting System since it was implemented in 2018.