Priorities on international cooperation

To safeguard all the Mediterranean biodiversity and features, several international efforts have been developed. In line with the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) and the recommendations of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the objective of restraining the loss of biological diversity of the oceans was agreed. A target was agreed by the countries: by 2012, at least 10% of each marine region will be protected by establishing an ecological representative Network of Protected Areas (CBD, COP7, Decision VII/28, CBD 2004 and Decision VII/30, CBD 2004).

At the European Level as a product of the policies made by the Habitats and Birds Directives (92/43/CEE; 79/409/CEE), an EU-wide network of terrestrial and marine protection areas has been established, the Natura 2000 network of protected sites among all European countries. However, to date, such a Network of sites covers only a small percentage of marine areas and most of them are close to the coast.

As a mirror to this initiative and the principles set by Benn Convention of 1998, the Emerald Network of areas of special conservation interest has been also created outside the European Union, with the objective of establishing a regional network in Africa and the Mediterranean. The Emerald Network development programme was started in 2005/2006 in South-Eastern Europe through the implementation of pilot projects, with most of them covering only the terrestrial environment.

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean, also called the Barcelona Convention of 1995, is a broad international effort to protect the Mediterranean Sea. It also sets up to establish sites "of importance for conserving the components of biological diversity in the Mediterranean” also called the Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Interest (SPAMI).

Despite all these initiatives and efforts the present protected areas and conservation zones do not – as yet – come near to fulfilling global biodiversity commitments, nor the needs of species and ecosystems, as a large number of these species, ecosystems and ecological processes are not adequately protected by the current protected areas networks. Furthermore, very few countries within the Mediterranean region have developed a nation-wide management and network of protected areas.