Ecosystem-based approaches to managing transboundary and cumulative impacts in the Mediterranean

Ensuring Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine ecosystems and biodiversity is a key Mediterranean priority, underpinned by regional frameworks such as the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Climate Change and the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean. For EU marine waters, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive aims to achieve GES by 2020. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity sets the Aichi target 11 to protect and effectively manage at least 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020 with aspirations to increase this percentage in the post 2020 global biodiversity framework.

Contributors: Dr Dania Abdul Malak (PANACeA/ETC-UMA), Dr Ameer Abdulla (IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas), Dr Emad Adly (RAED), Dr Mehdi Aissi (UN Environment/MAP-SPA/RAC), Dr Emanuele Bigagli (PANACeA), Dr Purificació Canals (MedPAN), Ms Nada El Shanawany (NCE), Dr Cristina Fossi (PlasticBustersMPAs/University of Siena), Dr Manal R. Nader (Institute of the Environment, University of Balamand, Lebanon), Ms Alessandra Sensi (Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean), Dr Vassiliki Vassilopoulou (AMAre/Hellenic Centre for Marine Research).

January 2019