Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change

Athens, 13 May 2014

A Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change will take place on 13 May 2014, in Athens, Greece.  As agreed by the 43 UfM member countries at their Senior Officials Meeting in October 2013, the main topics of this Ministerial Meeting will be:

• The Horizon 2020 Initiative to de-pollute the Mediterranean
• Climate Change
• Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)

The outcomes of other related processes, namely the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20, the Conference of the Parties of the Barcelona Convention and the UfM Ministerial Meetings on Sustainable Development and Industrial Cooperation, are also intended to be referred to in the text of the declaration. Related key issues that will be considered include biodiversity and integrated coastal zone management, etc., with special focus on:

•  the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting on Environment, held in Cairo on 20 November 2006, in which participants agreed on the establishment of the Horizon 2020 Initiative for the de-pollution of the Mediterranean Sea (hereinafter the H2020 Initiative) and endorsed the timetable of actions for the first phase (2007-2013);
•  the relevant outcomes of the UfM Ministerial Meetings, namely the one on Sustainable Development in Paris on 25 June 2009; the one on Sustainable Urban Development, held in Strasbourg on 10 November 2011;  and the one on Industrial Cooperation held in Brussels on 19 February 2014.

In line with the priorities set by the Ministerial Meeting, a number of key activities have been developed by the UfM Secretariat in the field of environment and climate change. As the first project under the H2020 Initiative, the Senior Officials of the UfM endorsed the Integrated Programme for Protection of Lake Bizerte against Pollution in October 2013 and granted it the official UfM label. The project builds on a cooperative method to secure sound environmental management of the lake involving various stakeholders from public entities to private actors and NGOs. Among other lines of action, the Secretariat is also developing a specific project to provide access to financing and ensure resource efficiency of SMEs as a follow-up of Rio+20. Through a comprehensive regional approach in collaboration with a number of regional partners, the project aims to actively promote the adoption of sustainable consumption and production patterns in the Mediterranean region.

The roadmap to the UfM Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change is as follows:

Jordan, 10-11 March:    Stakeholder consultation meeting

Jordan, 13-14 March:    UfM Ad Hoc Senior Officials Meeting

Barcelona, 7-8 April:     UfM Senior Officials Meeting

Athens, 13 May:          UfM Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change