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Mediterranean Country Profiles
The Blue Plan scenarios, published in 1989, showed that the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, its shores and coastal regions, could not be achieved through action carried out on the sea or on the coastal regions alone. On the contrary, it depended mainly on the overall development, environment and physical planning policies followed by the Mediterranean countries at the national level. “ Decisions on the bulk of environmental protection will be made (or not) largely at the level of the state. Essential legislation and standards will have to be established at this level, as well as the necessary mechanisms and institutions with the financing and competence to apply them... ”. The Blue Plan then invited the neighbouring countries to change direction and undertake deliberate policies based on an effective implementation of physical planning and on the preparation of national and regional environmental protection plans, assorted with objectives and deadlines.
Since then, environmental policies are expanding in the Mediterranean countries. In line with extended efforts since the Earth Summit in 1992, and whereas economic or land-use planning show some decline, environmental plans, together with institutional, regulatory and economic tools, are being drawn-up or implemented in more than half of the riparian countries. Initially aimed at restoring degradation, environmental policies are presently searching more and more to integrate the ecological concerns into a sustainable pattern of development.
Within the framework of its Observatory mission under the aegis of the Mediterranean Action Plan, and with the European Commission’s support (GD XI, Life Programme), the Blue Plan has made efforts over several years to follow up these changes in the countries. From this work the Mediterranean Country Profiles were born, the objective of the series being to know better –and to communicate- the great diversity of situations in the basin. The first Country Profiles relate to Albania, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco (1995), Egypt (1996), Algeria (1998), and were mainly focused on the emerging environmental institutions at the national level.
The series has progressively evolved from a descriptive approach at the beginning to a more analytical one at present. Senior national experts carry out the analysis in close co-operation with the Blue Plan. Each country report provides an overview of a country’s key environmental, societal and developmental issues and challenges. Underpinned by a sustainable development perspective, the purpose is to identify the priority issues in a given country and to better understand the existing and evolving conditions for implementing environmental policies or for integrating the ecological concerns into development and sectoral policies. The Country Profiles pertaining to this approach relate to Lebanon (1999) and Tunisia (2000).
Series "Institutions Environment Development"
Albania : Plan Bleu, 1995 - Eng (out of print)
Algérie : Plan Bleu, 1998 - Fr
Algeria : Plan Bleu, 1998 - Eng
Egypt : Plan Bleu, 1996 - Eng (out of print)
Maroc : Plan Bleu, 1995 - Fr
Tunisie : Plan Bleu, 1995 - Fr (out of print)
Turkey : Plan Bleu, 1995 - Eng (out of print)
New series"Environment and Sustainable Development Issues and Policies"
Lebanon : Plan Bleu, 1999 - Eng
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