News

The Union for the Mediterranean joins forces with FAO and CIHEAM to highlight regional initiative to counter land degradation in the Mediterranean, Near East and Eastern Europe at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) 2-13 September New Delhi, India. The Mediterranean region is characterized by an acute scarcity of land resources suitable for production, due to aridity, inherently poor soils in many areas, and poor land management. To tackle desertification, the 14th session of Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will take place from 2-13 September… read more

26 June 2019, Rome. Hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, UfM, with the support of UNESCO-WWAP, gathered over 30 delegates from policy making level and WASH technical field on 26 June in Rome for the 1st Regional Policy Dialogue dedicated to its new project initiative Achieving SDG 6 and related SDGs in Mediterranean Region. This new initiative builds on the UfM regional cooperation, information exchange and policy coherence being fundamental in the water sector and critical for the achievement of SDG 6 on water and sanitation as well as all related SDGs. While sharing similar water resource… read more

21 June 2019, Marseille. The Union for the Mediterranean, represented by its Deputy Secretay General Miguel Garcia Herraiz took part to the international seminar “Strengthening cooperation efforts for a more cohesive, inclusive and sustainable Mediterranean”, held within the frame of the General Assembly of the CPMR Inter-Mediterranean Commission. The CPRM Assembly, taking place back to back with the Sommet des deux Rives, was the occasion to discuss issues such as green/blue/circular economy, sustainable consumption and production. These topics were addressed within the Palermo event, organized by Italy, in preparation and as contribution of the Sommet in Marseille. The seminar focused on… read more

Brussels, 11 June 2019. The UfM organized on 11 June 2019 its first technical Workshop on Project Preparation for Transformational Climate Resilience Water Projects in the Mediterranean Region for the Green Climate Fund. The Mediterranean is one of the 25 climate change hotspot cuasing water scarcity, demographic change including concentration of economic activities and population in coastal areas, changing consumption patterns with growing energy needs and reliance on climate-sensitive agriculture, etc. The region is expected to face even more severe climate‑related vulnerabilities, such as extreme weather events like droughts and floods, increase of soil erosion and desert areas, sea level rise, etc.,… read more

Every year, around 7 million deaths are caused by outdoor and household air pollution, 1 million of those in the European and Eastern Mediterranean regions.[1] At the same time the Mediterranean region offers huge potential for sustainable and environmentally friendly development and different actors in the region actively support the transition to an inclusive, circular and green economy The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) supports the implementation of regional agendas on environment, water, energy efficiency, low carbon energy sources (Gas) and renewable energies as well as blue economy with the objective of tackling all sources of pollution. Barcelona, 5 June… read more

On the occasion of the 2nd World Conference on the Revitalization of the Mediterranean Diet in Palermo, the UfM met with CIHEAM and FAO to partner in support to a new platform on sustainable food systems in the region Within the conference, UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, participated in the session “A Mediterranean Contribution on Environment and Sustainable Co-Development to the Summit of the Two Shores”, to which the UfM is contributing with a UfM Regional Dialogue Forum in Barcelona Palermo, 15-17 May 2019. The Conference, organised by CIHEAM Bari and the Forum on Mediterranean Food Cultures and under the… read more

One year after the International Donor Conference, additional international funding has been obtained for the project. The first tenders have been launched and the first construction works are due to start in August. The desalination plant is expected to supply drinking water to 2 million Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza, where over 97% of the water is not drinkable Barcelona, 2 May 2019. The available water in Gaza is among the lowest in the world and 97% is unfit for human consumption. To meet this urgent need, and on the occasion of the annual spring meeting of the international donor coordination… read more

The Mediterranean region has more than 25 million hectares of forests and about 50 million hectares of other wooded lands. Protected forest areas cover 9 million hectares, representing 4.3 percent of the region’s total surface area. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) will launch a project to restore biodiversity in the Mediterranean through forest and landscape restoration, on 1 April at the 6th Mediterranean Forest week (Lebanon) Barcelona, 20 March 2019. The Mediterranean basin is the world’s second largest biodiversity hotspot: rich in plant diversity containing some 25 000-plant… read more

If nothing is changed by 2050, water-related issues with an impact on agriculture, health, and incomes could lower the GDP of the Middle East and North Africa region by 6-14%[1]. 3 out of 4 jobs worldwide are water-dependent [2], yet 50 million jobs should be created in the next decade to absorb the growing labour supply in the Mediterranean region. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) has led the development of a regional Water Agenda and a financial strategy to help achieve access to water for all. Barcelona, 19 March 2019. The Mediterranean region is one of the 25 “hotspots” impacted… read more

The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, participated in the Ministerial Meeting of the WestMED initiative, which took place today in Algiers. The WestMED initiative seeks to promote specific measures to secure a sustainable development of the maritime economy in ten Western Mediterranean countries. The UfM is closely associated to the initiative to ensure coherence and synergies with the broader Mediterranean Blue Economy agenda. Algiers, 4 December, 2018. Ministers of the Western Mediterranean countries, together with the European Commission and the Union for the Mediterranean, adopted today a declaration to strengthen regional cooperation on the WestMED… read more