EVENT | First Coordination Meeting on the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031) – Dec 01, 2022

    EVENT | First Coordination Meeting on the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031)

    A new step to define priority actions to collectively address pollution from ships in the Mediterranean: First Coordination Meeting on the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031) hosted by REMPEC

           The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) hosted the First Coordination Meeting on the Mediterranean Strategy for the Prevention of, Preparedness, and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2022-2031), in its premises in Malta from 29 November to 1 December 2022. This Meeting was held with the support of the Mediterranean Trust Fund (MTF) and the discretionary contribution from the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica).

    SCAT Workshop 2022, Israel (29).png

    Gathering representatives from Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention as well as relevant regional and international organisations, this Meeting opened a new era of cooperation for the implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031) by taking steps towards defining the priority actions for the biennium 2024-2025 and beyond to collectively address pollution from ships in the Mediterranean at horizon 2031.

    The Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031), at the heart of this Meeting, aims at providing guidance to the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention with a view to cooperating on the prevention of, preparedness, and response to marine pollution from ships. It sets seven Common Strategic Objectives (CSOs) that apply to the Mediterranean region. The Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, alongside the various organisations and institutions of the Mediterranean, have a role to play in achieving these objectives.

    poster-strategy-mediterranean-strategy (1).jpg

    This Meeting aimed at reporting and assessing the progress made in the implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031), defining priority actions and proposing related activities for the biennium 2024-2025 and beyond, defining roles and responsibilities for the implementation of the proposed activities, as well as establishing operational and strategic synergies, through specific partnership agreements, if required.

    This Meeting was an excellent opportunity to emphasise the importance of the necessary governance, partnerships, and resource mobilisation to ensure the full and timely implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031) and its Action Plan within the framework of the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols.

    During this Meeting, each CSO was discussed, hence the following priority topics were addressed around the table: prevention, preparedness and response to operational, illegal and accidental oil and hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) pollution from ships (CSO 1); climate change (CSO 2); air emissions from ships (CSO 3); marine litter (CSO 4); non-indigenous species (CSO 5); protected areas (CSO 6); and emerging issues, including underwater noise (CSO 7). On the related topics of climate change (CSO 2) and air emissions from ships (CSO 3), the Meeting recalled the urgency of ratification, transposition and effective implementation of Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), particularly in view of the Mediterranean Sea Emission Control Area for Sulphur Oxides and Particulate Matter (Med SOx ECA) expected to enter into effective application on 1 May 2025.

    Follow-up work will be held within the framework of intersessional working groups specifically established by this Meeting. There will be a joint intersessional working group for CSO 2 (climate change) and CSO 3 (air emissions from ships), whilst, for the other CSOs, there will be individual intersessional working groups. CSO 1 will be overseen by two separate intersessional working groups: the first one dealing with preparedness and response; and the second one dealing with prevention, more specifically illicit ship pollution discharges.

    This Meeting was the first of a series of five meetings to be organised over the next ten years. The Second Coordination Meeting on the Mediterranean Strategy (2022-2031) is expected to be held in 2024.

    IMG_20221130_102529.jpg IMG_20221130_110137.jpg
    IMG_20221130_095650.jpg IMG_20221129_090536.jpg