The Mediterranean Sea Programme (MedProgramme), funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented by the UN Environment Programme, seeks to operationalize priority actions to reduce major transboundary environmental stresses in its coastal areas while strengthening climate resilience, water security and improving the health and livelihoods of coastal populations.
With a coastline of 46,000 km, the Mediterranean Sea—the largest semi-enclosed sea in the world—has seen the population of coastal countries double in the last four decades to reach 450 million. The population is expected to grow to 600 million by 2050.
The increasingly vulnerable coastal zones must cope with relentless urban pressure coupled with the rising impacts of climate change, including erosion and the salinization of river deltas and aquifers that underpin livelihoods and food security.
According to the soon-to-be-launched UNEP/MAP State of the Environment and Development (SoED) report, sea-level rise may vary between 45 centimetres and more than 2 meters by 2100.
Implemented in nine beneficiary countries sharing the Mediterranean basin: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, and Tunisia, the MedProgramme's eight child projects [2] span four different Global Environment Facility focal areas (International Waters [IW], Biodiversity [BD], Chemicals and Waste [CW], and Climate Change [CC]) and involve a wide range of developmental and societal sectors, including banking institutions, the private sector, governmental and non-governmental organizations, industry, research, media, and a variety of other organizations.
One of the child-projects aims at balancing competing water uses through integrated governance, increasing resilience to climatic variability and change, and enhancing the water security of coastal populations through improved sustainability of services provided by coastal aquifers and by groundwater-related coastal habitats.
It builds on the MedPartnership and ClimVar & ICZM [3] GEF projects, which have: increased knowledge about the Mediterranean environment and revealed the implications of climate change and variability; strengthened countries' mutual trust, cooperation, and common purpose; consolidated partnerships among countries, UN bodies, civil society organizations, bilateral donors, and the European Union (EU); and tested the feasibility and effectiveness of technology on the ground.
At the regional level, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)—an important aspect covered by the Barcelona Convention and its ICZM Protocol—will constitute one of the key activities of the MedProgramme with a focus on improving the effective management of coastal aquifers in the region as well as bolstering resilience to climate change in Morocco and Montenegro.
It is in this context that Child Project 2.1 "Mediterranean Coastal Zones: Water Security, Climate Resilience and Habitat Protection" will be carried out. Child Project 2.1 will play a crucial role by assisting countries, coastal zone managers, and populations to protect and sustainably use the available coastal freshwater supply threatened by evolving climatic conditions, pollution, and competition at the water nexus and to adopt coastal zone management and land use policies respectful of the intrinsic vulnerabilities, carrying capacity, and cultural, social, and economic functions of the Mediterranean coasts and ecosystems.
Child Project 2.1 will work in tandem with all of the other Child Projects under Components 1 and 2, addressing the reduction of pollution from nutrients and persistent toxic substances in coastal hotspots (Child Projects 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3), the reuse of treated wastewater (Child Project 1.2), the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation approaches in ICZM planning (the SCCF Project), and the resolution of conflicts.
The synergistic interactions among these projects will trigger catalytic impacts that will be enhanced and disseminated throughout the region by the MedProgramme-wide knowledge management and coordination project 4.1. Last but not least, Child Project 2.1 will by design bring together various executing partners playing important roles and actively engaged in the region, but so far acting primarily in a fragmented and sectorial way – PAP/RAC, UNESCO IHP, GWP Med, and Plan Bleu.
Their interaction may prove very effective in producing long-lasting beneficial impacts on coastal zone management approaches in the Mediterranean region, better integration of hydrological, geological, and environmental sciences with land use and water resource planning; education with capacity reinforcement; monitoring with policy making.
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