Institutional framework

The Blue Plan is a Regional Activity Centre (BP-RAC) of Mediterranean Action Plan, which is established under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme.

The Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP)

The 1972 United Nations conference on the Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, mobilised governments and public opinion and created the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Three years later the Mediterranean countries and the European Community - the Contracting Parties - adopted in Barcelona a convention supplemented by a Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) under the auspices of the UNEP.

MAP Regional Activity Centres

Originally the MAP had three aspects:

• The first was institutional/legal and dealt with the implementation of the Barcelona Convention on the protection of the Mediterranean Sea and its Protocols, today numbering six.
• The second was scientific and was embodied by the Programme for the Monitoring and Research of Marine Pollution (MED POL).
• The third was socio-economic and worked on a systemic approach to the prospective and environmental priorities of all of the Mediterranean countries with the setting up in 1977 of regional activity centres for the Blue Plan and for a Priority Actions Programme.

The 1980s saw the creation of other specific regional activity centres and the development of MAP’s activities on the coastal regions with its “Coastal Area Management Programm”. A co-ordination unit in Athens sees to the implementation of the whole. Today several countries host programmes and specialised regional activity centres (RAC):

• The MED POL programme in Athens for monitoring and research of marine pollution;
• REMPEC in Malta for the prevention and emergency intervention for marine pollution accidents;
• BP/RAC (The Blue Plan) in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, with the task of observing, evaluating and exploring the possible developments in the relationships between the environment and development in the Mediterranean Basin;
• PAP/RAC (Priority Actions Programme) in Split works for the planning of and integrated coastal management;
• SPA/RAC for specially protected areas, located in Tunis, contributes to the protection of coastal environments and endangered marine species;
• the network of the 100 Historical Mediterranean Sites, run by the "Atelier du patrimoine" of Marseille
• INFO/RAC (ex-ERS/RAC) implemented in Palermo in 1993. In 2005, INFO/RAC redefined its mandate and activities towards strengthening information and communication capabilities of MAP ;
• and CP/RAC for clean production, the founding of which in Barcelona was approved in June of 1995.

 

Institutional structure of Mediterranean Action Plan

At the 1992 Rio United Nations Conference on Environment and Development the concept of sustainable development was confirmed, and Agenda 21, in particular, was adopted. This international dynamic and the results of the previous Mediterranean work led to the development of an Agenda MED 21 in 1994 in Tunis, as well as to the revision of the MAP in Barcelona in 1995 (MAP II) and the decision in Montpellier in 1996 to establish a Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD). By expanding its field of activity to the coastline and shifting from a sector-based approach of fighting marine pollution to the integrated planning and management of the coastal regions, the MAP today mobilises the twenty-one coastal nations and the European Community and constitutes the prime initiator for making regional proposals and actions for sustainable development in the Mediterranean region. Its work is funded by all of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, who convene every two years to adopt the programme and budget.

 

The Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD)

The Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) is a forum for dialogue and proposals where the Contracting Parties define a sustainable development strategy for the Mediterranean. As MAP’s advisory organ, the MCSD is composed of both representatives of the Contracting Parties and Civil Society, i.e.:

• 22 experts named by the coastal States (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) and the European Union;
• 15 representatives from Civil Society (5 NGOs, 5 representatives from the socio-economic sector and 5 from local authorities).

Since its inception the MCSD has oriented its work around eight priorities:

• Sustainable management of the coastal regions;
• Management of water demand;
• Indicators for the sustainable development of the Mediterranean;
• Tourism and sustainable development in the Mediterranean;
• Industry and the environment;
• Awareness raising and information;
• Free trade and the environment in the Euro-Mediterranean context;
• Urban management and sustainable development.

Each subject is taken up by a work group run in general by two task managers (MCSD members) with technical support from MAP and the Regional Activity Centres, mainly the Blue Plan and the Priority Action Programme. Five subjects have already led to the adoption of recommendations: the sustainable management of the coastal regions, the management of water demand, tourism, indicators and awareness-raising. The Blue Plan together with the task managers in particular ran the work relating to water, the indicators, tourism, free trade and urban-rural relationship.

Work is ongoing on cooperation and financing and local governance.

In addition to "thematic" activities, the MCSD prepared a Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD), which was adopted during the 14th Meeting of the Contracting Parties (Slovenia, November 2005).

 

 

 

 

As part of a continuous improvement approach of its website, Plan Bleu aims to meet visitors expectations, by conducting a Satisfaction Survey available online:

http://www.planbleu.org/planBleu/enquete_uk.html

Thank you for giving us few minutes to answer this survey.

Your feed-back and comments will be more than welcome!