3. The Barcelona Convention and the
Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP)
3.1. The Barcelona
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the
Coastal Region of the Mediterranean
3.2. The Protocols of
the Barcelona Convention
3.3. The Mediterranean
Action Plan for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the
Sustainable Development of the Coastal Zones of the Mediterranean
3.4. The Mediterranean
Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD)
3. THE BARCELONA CONVENTION AND
THE MEDITERRANEAN ACTION PLAN (MAP)
3.1. The Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean
After the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) held in Stockholm in June, 1972, an Intergovernmental Meeting was called in Barcelona (January, 28 - February 4, 1975). It was attended by 16 governments and the European Union, and they approved an Action Plan for the protection and development of the Mediterranean Sea, and they requested that documents should be prepared to create a Framework Convention and two protocols. A year later, a Conference of Plenipotentiaries from the costal States was held (February 2-16, 1976), and this was held in Barcelona, and approved the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (the Barcelona Convention) and two protocols, which were all signed by 14 States and the European Union.
In June 1995, 20 years later, the Contracting Parties to the Convention met again in Barcelona, to review application of the Convention and to modify some of its articles, as well as to approve Phase II of the MAP and a new protocol and to create the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD).
The Barcelona Convention is applicable in the "Zone of the Mediterranean Sea" and this includes all "the maritime waters of the Mediterranean as such, with all its gulfs and tributary seas, bounded to the west by the Strait of Gibraltar and to the east by the Dardanelle Strait. (...) The application of the Convention can be extended to the coastal areas decided by each Contracting Party (CP) within its own territory". The depositary of the Convention and Protocols is Spain, and the seat is in Athens (Greece).
Aims:
- To prevent, reduce, combat and, as far as possible, eliminate pollution in the Zone of the Mediterranean Sea.
- To attain the objective of sustainable development, taking fully into account the recommendations of MCSD.
- To protect the environment and to contribute to sustainable development:
. By applying the precautionary principle and that the polluter should pay
. By performing Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)
. By promoting cooperation between coastal States in EIA procedures.
- To promote the integrated management of coastal zones, taking into account the protection of zones of ecological and landscape interest and the rational use of natural resources. To apply the Convention and its Protocols:
. By adopting programmes and measures with defined deadlines for completion.
. By using the best techniques available and the best environmental practices.
- To formulate and adopt Protocols that prescribe agreed measures, procedures and regulations to apply the Convention.
- To promote, within the relevant international bodies, measures relating to the application of sustainable development programmes and environmental protection, conservation and rehabilitation and the natural resources of the Mediterranean Sea.
Commitments: a commitment was made to take specific measures:
- against pollution due to dumping from ships and airplanes and against incineration at sea,
- against pollution due to discharges from ships,
- against pollution caused by prospection for, and exploitation of, the continental shelf, the seabed and its subsoil,
- against land-based pollution,
- to cooperate in pollution incidents giving rise to situations of emergency,
- to protect biological diversity,
- against pollution due to transboundary movements of dangerous wastes and to eliminate them,
- to monitor pollution,
- to cooperate in science and technology
- to apply environmental legislation, and
- to facilitate public access to information and public participation.
Members: All the countries of the Mediterranean's shoreline and the European Union. Observers may attend: any international governmental institution, or any Non Governmental Organization whose activity is related to the Convention.
Date it came into effect: The Convention came into effect on February, 12, 1978, but the 1995 Amendments have still not come into effect, because by June 1998, one member State has ratified them, and a minimum of 6 ratifications are necessary.
3.2. The Protocols of the Barcelona Convention
a) The Protocol for the prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft (Dumping Protocol). It was prepared in Barcelona on February 16, 1976, and came into effect on February 12, 1978. The Amendments were accepted in Barcelona in June 1995, but have not yet come into effect (by June, 1998).
b) The Protocol concerning Cooperation in Combatting Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Oil and other Harmful Substances in cases of Emergency (Emergency Protocol). Accepted in Barcelona on February 16, 1978. Came into effect on February 12, 1978.
c) The Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean from Pollution from Land.bases Sources (LBS Protocol). Accepted in Athens on May 17, 1980. Came into force on July 17, 1983. Amendments: Syracuse, March 7, 1996, which have not yet come into force (June, 1998).
d) The Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean (SPA & Biodiversity Protocol). Accepted in Geneva on April 3, 1982. Came into effect on May 23, 1986. New draft: Barcelona, June 1995, which has not yet come into effect (June, 1998).
e) The Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution resulting from Exploration and Exploitation of the Continental Shelf, the Seabed and its Subsoil. Accepted in Madrid on October 14, 1994, but has not yet come into effect (June, 1998).
f) The Protocol on the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Hazardous Wastes Protocol). Accepted in Smyrna on October 1, 1996, but has not yet come into force (June, 1998).
Conclusion: The Barcelona Convention and its Protocols are a good judicial and intergovernmental cooperation on the environment instrument, which have integrated other social and economic sectors of the Mediterranean into its activities. Its main problem is the lack of political will of its members to apply a set of measures that could represent a considerable improvement for the region. At the moment (June 1998), the important points incorporated into the Convention in 1995 have not yet come into effect, and 5 of the 6 Protocols have not come into force because only a single State (Monaco) has ratified them.
3.3. The Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Sustainable Development of the Coastal Zone of the Mediterranean
The First Phase of the MAP was adopted in Barcelona on February 4, 1975, by 16 of the 18 States then forming part of the Mediterranean Basin or the EU. Phase II was approved in Barcelona in June, 1995. The MAP is dependent on the Unitede Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the seat of the Coordination Unit is in Athens (Greece).
Aims:
- To guarantee sustainable management of marine and terrestrial natural resources and to integrate the environment into social and economic development, and into land planning policies.
- To protect the marine environment and coastal zones by preventing pollution, and by reducing and, as far as possible, eliminating inputs of pollution, whether chronic or accidental.
- To protect wildlife and to protect and emphasize sites and landscapes of ecological or cultural value.
- To strengthen solidarity between the Mediterranean shoreline's States in the management of their common patrimony and their resources, in benefit of present and future generations.
- To make a contribution to improving quality of life.
Fundamental aspects of the MAP:
1. The sustainable development of the Mediterranean:
- Integration of the environment into development
- Conservation of nature, the landscape and special sites.
- Assessment, prevention and elimination of marine pollution.
- Information and participation.
2. Strengthening the legal framework.
3. Institutional and financial instruments.
Management components: The MAP has a Coordination Unit (CU) whose seat is in Athens, and which is dependent on the UNEP. To help the CU there are Regional Action Centres (RAC), located in different countries and which can carry out different programmes.
- BP/RAC (Blue Plan). Sophia-Antipolis (France).
- PAP/RAC (Priority Action Programmes). Split (Croatia).
- SPA/RAC (Specially Protected Areas). Tunis (Tunisia).
- REMPEC (Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean, UNEP/IMO). Malta.
- ERS/RAC (Environment Remote Sensing). Palermo (Italy)
- CP/RAC (Cleaner Production). Barcelona (Spain).
Programmes:
a) MEDPOL (Coordinated Mediterranean Research and Monitoring Programme on pollution). This has taken place in three phases, and is now in Phase III. It has the following objectives (among others): to assess the sources of pollution, to draw up and apply action plans against marine pollution, to assess the state of the environment, to formulate action plans to prevent and combat pollution and to monitor the application of the plans, programmes and measures adopted.
b) Priority Actions Programme. These are aimed towards practical actions to be taken to protect the Mediterranean and to increase local and national capacities in the application of the integrated planning and management of coastal zones. It is closely linked to the Coastal Zone Planning Programme (CZPP). Both are dependent on the PAP/RAC.
c) The Blue Plan and the Mediterranean Observatory for Sustainable Development. These are two programmes to explore, observe and assess the Mediterranean environment.
d) Priority Action Sectors related to the environment and sustainable development. In the 11th Meeting in Barcelona in 1995, the Priority Actions Programme for the next decade (1995-2005) was approved, which consists of 12 sections: 1) integration of the environment into development, 2) integrated management of natural resources, 3) integrated management of coastal areas, 4) waste management, 5) agriculture, 6) industry and energy, 7) transport, 8) tourism, 9) urban development and environment, 10) information, 11) assessment and prevention of marine pollution, and 12) conservation of nature, wildlife and sites. This Priority Actions Programme was the continuation of the unfulfilled Declaration of Genoa approved in the IV Meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention in 1985, when 10 really important objectives were defined, and which, twelve years later, remain totally unfulfilled. We could point out:
- The establishment of reception stations for ships at ports.
- Treatment of sewage in cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants and treatment plants in towns of more than 10,000 inhabitants.
- Protection of threatened marine species (monk seal and Mediterranean turtle).
- Protection of 100 historic coastal sites of common interest.
- Protection of at least 50 new marine or coastal reserves.
The position of the NGOs on the Barcelona Convention and the MAP:
1. We wish the modified 1995 Convention to be ratified, as well as the new Protocols, by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, and that they should come into effect immediately, in order to ensure effective protection of the Mediterranean.
2. We request the governments to show great political will to apply in their own countries the measures that they have accepted when they signed the Convention and its different Protocols.
3. We request the Euro-Mediterranean Process, and specifically the EU, to give its decided support to the MAP.
4. We request the MAP to show greater support for the activities of international networks of NGOS, such as MED Forum, and to allocate funding in its budget for this purpose.
3.4. The Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD)
After the Tunis Ministerial Conference (in November, 1994) and the support received at the XI Meeting in Barcelona in June, 1995, support was given to the Agenda MED 21, a document that seeks to develop the agreements made in Agenda 21 at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, but adapted to the Mediterranean, though it does not make specific recommendations and has no timetable for fulfilment. The most agreement decision was to create the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD), as a body linked to the MAP, with a high level of self-management. The originality of this body is that all its members are accorded equal status, and above all by the fact that it consists of representatives of States, of NGOs, of local government and socioeconomic bodies.
At the Montpellier Meeting (1996) the regulations on its functioning were adopted and in December 1996, the first Meeting of the MCSD was held in Rabat (Morocco). The initial composition of the MCSD is: 21 member governments, 5 NGOs, 5 Local governments and 5 socioeconomic bodies. At the first Executive Committee of the MCSD an NGO occupied the position of Relator, and this corresponded to EcoMediterrānia (MED Forum). The other initial NGOs were the WWF, MIO, APNEK and FIS.
The first meeting fixed the priority matters for 1997: demand for water and the integrated management of coastal zones - two issues that had been fixed as priorities in the IV Mediterranean Environmental Forum, which was held one day before the start of the first meeting of the MCSD. Other priorities in the medium term were agreed, the main ones being: sustainable tourism, information, participation and environmental education, indicators of sustainability.
In the first year of functioning, we can say that part of the expectations have been fulfilled. Proposals on the priority subjects have been drawn up, though the governments have been extremely reticent towards the proposals that came from civil society, especially those from NGOs. They rejected advancing towards a Protocol on integrated management of the coast, or setting up a Coastal Protection Fund, as was requested during the IX Meeting of the Contracting Parties.
The coordination of the MCSD is the responsibility of the MAP, and its seat is in Athens (Greece).
The Position of the NGOs:
1. More active participation by NGOs in the work of the MCSD is necessary, by presenting specific proposals to be incorporated into the resolutions to be adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention.
2. Clearer channels have to be established to allow greater information for, and participation by, the NGOs that are not direct members of the MCSD.
3. The Coordination Unit should give more support so that NGOs can assume the responsibilities of the Task Managers and organize the work of the groups
4. The MCSD has to assume the task of studying and analyzing the application of the Agenda MED 21 by the Contracting Parties.