Side event “Together towards Green Economy in the Mediterranean Coastal and Marine Areas” during the 18th COP in Istanbul

The aim of the event was to enhance the collaboration between the different components of UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan and other institutions to better support countries in the implementation of Green Economy and SCP in the coastal and marine areas of the Mediterranean region.

The focus of the meeting was the need for a broader and closer collaboration among all Mediterranean actors to achieve a sustainable Mediterranean.  Ms Zeljka Scaricic, Director of PAP / RAC-UNEP/MAP, remarked that “integrated coastal zone management (IZCM) can’t be the job of one single institution and joint action especially around sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices is very much needed”.

Indeed, most of the impacts affecting coastal areas are caused by human activities, that originate from consumption and production choices. Thus, shifting to sustainable consumption and production patterns would result in an improvement of the state of the marine and coastal ecosystem. However, one of the major challenges for the scaling-up of sustainable production is the way to communicate the opportunities behind it to various target groups, as Magali Outters, team leader of the Policy Component of SWITCH-Med Programme, stressed during her intervention.

The Turkish delegate from the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning said that the Environmental Cities Award, mentioned as part of the ‘Istanbul Declaration’ of COP 18, could be a great opportunity to integrate all perspectives taking into account ICZM, Cleaner Production, Eco-system Approach.

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