For the second year in a row, Mediterranean Coastal Day was celebrated in compliance with the restrictions linked to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, this did not prevent the events from being festive and bringing together a large audience, especially when they were virtual! Celebrations were organized both at regional level and in many Mediterranean countries.

Among the many initiatives at the regional level, it is worth mentioning in particular the organization of a digital awareness campaign through a website dedicated to the event by INFO/RAC with the support of PAP/RAC and the UNEP/MAP Coordinating Unit. The website contains all the information on this emblematic event, as well as games for all ages to test your knowledge of the coast. It also allows all users of the coast to inform about events they plan to organize so that they are announced on our official page. This site is intended to be permanent, and to be enriched over the years.

The central event of the Mediterranean Coast Day this year took the form of a webinar organized by PAP/RAC on September 27th. The main themes of the webinar were coastal urbanization and tourism, two intrinsically linked themes. The host country of the webinar was Greece, which was represented on this occasion by its Secretary General of the Natural Environment and Water of the Ministry of the Environment, Professor Konstantinos Aravossis. In his introductory speech, Professor Aravossis underlined that these two themes were essential for the entire Mediterranean basin, and in particular for Greece. Professor Aravossis also took advantage of his speech to speak about another major issue in the Mediterranean: marine plastic waste. He stressed the need for immediate action to combat this scourge. The appointment by Zeljka Skaricic, Director of PAP/RAC, of ​​Lefteris Arapakis as Ambassador of the Mediterranean Coast 2021 responds directly to this need, since this young man is the co-founder of a company that collects and recycles plastic waste brought up by fishermen to transform them into clothes and other accessories. Tatjana Hema, MAP coordinator, said that Lefteris, who is the son of a fisherman, was a model of bottom-up initiative because he had succeeded through his motivation in finding an innovative solution to a major problem. She insisted that the experience was particularly inspiring, and that she hoped that the young people of the Mediterranean would follow suit.

Other regional webinars were also organized, such as that of the International Center for Comparative Environmental Law which took place on September 25 and which was entitled “An Effective Law at the service of the Mediterranean Sea: stop plastic pollution and establish legal indicators”. During this event, the participants were invited to discuss how to make the legal rules for the protection of the Mediterranean more effective. The development of environmental legal indicators as an additional guarantee of protection was mentioned in particular.

Also on September 25, a “Mediterranean Ocean Literacy Festival” was organized by the EU4Ocean Coalition with the support of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Ocean literacy initiatives and activities from across the Mediterranean were presented.

In addition to these regional events, many celebrations were organized at the local level, either live or through webinars.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H): As part of the B&H Coastal Area Management Plan, activities were organized on September 23 and 24 for the Mediterranean Coast Day. The 23rd was devoted to capacity building and two training workshops dedicated to the sustainable development of tourism were organized. The key issue was to decide how to promote tourism in the hinterland in the Neum region. The second day was more festive, since schoolchildren had prepared a musical show to which a large audience was invited, and young people were involved in cleaning the beaches.

Cyprus: On September 24, 2021, Mediterranean Coast Day was celebrated in Geroskipou in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Mr. Costas Kadis. The campaign was organized by the NGO AKTI with the support of the Department of Environment, the Municipality of Geroskipou and the Mediterranean office of MOI-ESCEDE. Among the events organized, it is worth mentionning a beach cleaning action by high school students from Geroskipou; sorting waste and recording data in the AKTIS ocean protection database; and the cleaning of the seabed by divers. The highlights of the event are shown in the following video.

Italy: In the afternoon of September 24, the National Convention on Coastal Studies (CNSC) was held at the Fiere e Congressi in Ferrara, as part of the technology fair RemTechExpo2021, which brings together events dedicated to management and coastal and marine protection, as well as coastal engineering and small ports. The event brought together the most competitive companies in the sector, as well as representatives of key authorities, including ministries, port authorities, regions and others.

Slovenia: Even if due to the COVID 19 epidemic, Slovenia has not been able this year to celebrate the Mediterranean Coast Day as it has done every year for a decade, it has decided to dedicate all the same an important event on its coast by organizing the 6th week of the Mediterranean coast and macro-regional strategies 2021 in November 2021. The event will bring together politicians, decision-makers, experts, civil society and the public interested in all the levels - local, regional, national and international. The aim of this year's event is to further enhance collaboration between EUSAIR countries, as well as to strengthen macro-regional efforts of the EU and neighboring countries. The event will be organized online on 9-11 and 22-23 November 2021 on the common stakeholder platform EUSAIR. The platform also contains a lively space for interventions, debates, networking and the exchange of views.

The MSSD and its dashboard are WFP's strategic and technical tool (led by Plan Bleu) to monitor sustainability at the regional level by providing a set of 28 indicators. To achieve these objectives of monitoring sustainability and supporting decision-making processes, Plan Bleu is working to set up a genuine Mediterranean network observatory, involving specialized national agencies such as statistical institutes, thematic observatories, laboratories and ministerial departments.

Based on the latest technologies in environmental information sharing (open source and interoperable), Plan Bleu has developed a pilot project in partnership with UNEP / GRID in Geneva. This project allows to publish the data they manage (from the MSSD dashboard) and make it viewable in the MapX environment, the cartographic component of the World Environment Situation Room (WESR), the future digital infrastructure for online data sharing of UNEP. This tool offers various functionalities such as the interactive sharing of environmental information and the combination of maps of environmental information and human activities at different scales.

With a dynamic MSSD dashboard, Plan Bleu is positioned at the forefront to support the decision-making process and measure the progress made with regard to the sustainable development goals linked to the environment and multilateral environmental agreements. This goes hand in hand with enhanced governance on the sharing of environmental information by mobilizing the collective expertise (institutional, non-governmental, academic) of all the actors in the observation of the Mediterranean environment.

On August 23^rd 2021 Syria requested emergency assistance due to a leakage of fuel into the sea occurred from one of the fuel tanks (contained 12,000 m3 of fuel ) at the Baniyas thermal station. In response REMPEC activated the Mediterranean Operational Network for the Global Ocean Observing System (MONGOOS) (CMCC, Orbitaleos and Orion), member of the Mediterranean Assistance Unit.  As result neighbouring countries, i.e. Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey were notified for a possible arrival of oil on coastal areas. Later on a crisis management meeting was organized and attended by representatives of the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, UNEP/West Asia, UNEP/MAP, IMO and REMPEC. to obtain updated information on the pollution, the impacted areas, measures undertaken by the Syrian Government and REMPEC and to define the course of action.

Following the oil spill forecast Cypriot authorities mobilised the EMSA vessel “Alexandria”, and requested REMPEC to notify Greece and Israel about the potential activation of the Sub-regional Marine Oil Pollution Contingency Plan between Cyprus, Greece and Israel.

On  the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies  Air Day  the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) launched the video on the designation of the Mediterranean Sea, as a whole, as an Emission Control Area for Sulphur Oxides (Med SOx ECA) pursuant to MARPOL Annex VI, developed within the framework of the Barcelona Convention. This video aimed at raising awareness and informing of the on-going process. It should enable to better understand the maritime context of the Mediterranean region, as well as the impact of Sulphur Oxides (SOx) and Particulate Matters emitted from ships on human health and the environment.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress held in Marseille, provided an important opportunity for the Mediterranean conservation community to exchange new solutions for addressing the main challenges of the region in terms of climate action and biodiversity conservation. Following the new political announcements and the launch of the Plan of Action for an Exemplary Mediterranean Sea by 2030 (PAMEX) by 8 Mediterranean governments and 5 NGO to preserve marine biodiversity through 19 operational actions, 12 partner organisations explored new joint mechanisms to kick-start nature-based recovery across the region.

The urgency to act to reverse the current trends in the region was confirmed by the findings of three different reports presented by the network of experts on climate change in the Mediterranean (MedECC), Plan Bleu (with SPA/RAC contribution on biodiversity topics) and Tour du Valat, namely the MedECC MAR1 – Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Report, the State of the Environment and Development Report, and the Living Mediterranean Report. In a region that is warming up 20% faster than the rest of the world, the dramatic effects of unsustainable development on terrestrial and marine ecosystems are indeed placing human livelihoods of current and future generations at risk.

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UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC is a partner in the new project “ENSERES” financed by the European Union.

The project ENSERES (ENhancing Socio-Ecological RESilience in Mediterranean coastal areas) funded by the European Union under the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation program ENI CBC Med, has kicked off in Malaga on 20 October 2021 bringing together international organizations engaged in research, environmental protection, and public authorities from five countries to start the work plan for the next 24 months, until September 2023.

SPA/RAC is part of this new partnership among Mediterranean cities and marine protected area networks. The objective of this new collaboration is to enhance transfer monitoring and management knowledge and techniques and digital tools across the Mediterranean shores. The knowledge about ecosystems and biodiversity and the environmental threats and pressures they face will provide the basis for the adoption of protection and management measures with an integrated approach, in particular in Sfax (Tunisia) and in Tyre (Lebanon).

The project aims to integrate existing management tools with an ecosystem-based approach into coastal and marine areas.  The Mediterranean natural resources offered by the sea and its surroundings are crucial for its economic and social sustainability. This project should help people living along the coast to better know the value of these ecosystems and engage them in their protection through an enhanced integrated management of human activities. Read more.

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).

Participants in the meeting reviewed progress and recognized efforts in the implementation of the Ecosystem Approach Roadmap in the Mediterranean. The deliberations addressed the need to complement nationally sourced data with input from scientific institutions. The implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme for the Mediterranean Sea and Coast (IMAP), a regionally harmonized environmental data production system adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, remains one of the top priorities of UNEP/MAP.

The meeting agreed on a Data Policy for IMAP. Progress was also made on several technical fronts related to IMAP Common Indicators that the Contracting Parties adopted for harmonized environmental monitoring and assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) of the Mediterranean Sea and Coast. Updated baseline and threshold values for marine litter—upon which regional and national efforts in the implementation of measures and the assessment of GES will be based— were approved for consideration by the 22^nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (COP 22).

In addition, the participants thrashed out assessment criteria for contaminants, pollution effects and nutrient concentrations. On biodiversity, work has advanced in establishing assessment scales, baseline and threshold values related to marine mammals and sea turtles. Guidance factsheets on non-indigenous species were approved.

There was an agreement on the structure of the forthcoming edition of the Mediterranean Quality Status Report (2023 MED QSR), one of the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system’s flagship knowledge products and a major deliverable for the 2022-2023 biennium. The 2023 MED QSR illustrates the urgent need for the Contracting Parties to provide quality-assured data.

Finally, the participants agreed on a proposal to strengthen the governance mechanism of the Ecosystem Approach Coordination Group for the effective implementation of the Ecosystem Approach.

The Ecosystem Approach pursues the management of human activities and ecosystems in an integrated and sustainable manner. Its relevance is encapsulated in the shared vision that it aims to fulfil: “healthy Mediterranean with marine and coastal ecosystems that are productive and biologically diverse for the benefit of present and future generations”.

On 24 September 2021 the Secretary-General of the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy Konstantinos Aravossis and UNEP/MAP Coordinator Tatjana Hema met with Lefteris Arapakis, the UNEP Young Champion of the Earth for Europe (2020). The meeting took place on the premises of Enaleia, a social enterprise that Mr. Arapakis co-founded. It was followed by a visit to the fish market of Keratsini, one of several sites in Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin where Enaleia works with fishers on fishing for plastic. The visitors were presented with samples of by-catch plastic items brought on shore for recycling instead of being thrown back into the sea. Read more.