The Mediterranean region is identified on the basis of its common history and culture, by its common geography and ecological characteristics and by the enclosed nature of the shared sea. This "Mare Nostrum" has been the basis for concerted policies and actions in the region over the last 30 years.

The Mediterranean-rim countries hold around 400 million people, and 135 million of them live on the Mediterranean coast. The high levels of urbanisation and industrialization along its shores and rivers have long made it sensitive to profound environmental change.

This migration towards coastal areas, and specifically in the south and east of the Mediterranean, is causing a pressure on the coastal environment, and more importantly on its
biodiversity.

The GDP per capita of the Mediterranean EU countries is twelve times that of their North African counterparts, and population growth and slow-growing economies make legal or illegal immigration to the EU an attractive prospect for many as well as providing temporary jobs especially in the agricultural sector.

All in all, the Mediterranean natural resources are under a huge pressured.

Forests

Mediterranean forests provide a wide range of important benefits and services to society that go far beyond traditional forest products. Furthermore, they represent one of the planet's important centres of plant diversity, with an estimated 25,000 species of plant which around half are endemic. The forests are now fragile and under threat. Agricultural intensification, fires, over-grazing, and climate change are some of the major threats to Mediterranean forests and have helped lead to forest loss and degradation in many countries over the past several decades.

Fisheries

Fisheries involve some 120 commercial species and an annual catch of 1.1 million tonnes per year - recent trends have threatened stocks of swordfish and tuna, and increasingly riparian countries struggle to maintain artisanal fisheries of local economic and cultural importance. Aquaculture in the region fails to fill the gap between annual catches and consumption in riparian states (4 million tonnes per year), and sustainability of fisheries is rapidly becoming a major concern.

For many countries, water resources are a key issue, except perhaps in the more water-rich Balkans, and the global debate on water finds a voice in the Mediterranean region. By the year 2025 the Blue Plan estimates that 10 of the 12 countries may be consuming more than 50 per cent of their renewable water resources, with eight of then using more than 100% . Some 70 % of Mediterranean water is used for agriculture, much of it for consumption within Europe. Many wetlands have been lost through drainage and diversion (eg. 65% in Greece, 28% in Tunisia).