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UNEP(DEPI)/MED IG 20/8
Annex I
Page 2
first legally binding instrument of its type in the world, seeking to ensure their effective,
collective and responsible implementation, and aware of the necessity to ensure their timely
implementation through action plans;
Convinced of the need to enhance governance in the MAP system, taking into account
contemporary institutional developments and the plurality of political, civil, environmental and
financing actors, and aware of the need for sound budgetary management, financial
sustainability and the effective use of resources;
Aware that the effectiveness of future structural reforms and the implementation of
programmes of work require prompt implementation of the adopted resource mobilization
strategy, involving the regional and global actors concerned;
Reaffirming the value and importance of the overall system of the Convention and its
Protocols as a legal and regulatory platform for policy decisions for advancing cross-sectoral
cooperation to progress on internationally agreed conservation and sustainable use goals in
marine and coastal areas, and their commitment to implement the related action plans;
Recalling the framework for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation offered, amongst others, by the
Union for the Mediterranean and the European Neighbourhood Policy and their calling to
promote sustainable development and in particular depollution of the Mediterranean, notably
through the EU-Horizon 2020 Initiative inter alia;
Welcoming the results of the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the
Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Nagoya in 2010, which achieved a global
agreement for the protection and development of world biodiversity and the adoption of a
new strategy aimed at halting biodiversity loss, with a programme for the preservation of the
marine environment;
Emphasizing the need to implement the recommendations of the Tenth Meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity regarding marine habitats
and species, and particularly on the use of marine protected areas as an instrument for
protecting the marine environment and on the designation of marine ecologically or
biologically significant areas (EBSAs);
Emphasizing the need to further reinforce cooperation between all actors in the marine and
coastal environment of the Mediterranean and welcoming the ongoing efforts to enhance
cooperation with the Secretariats of the Union for the Mediterranean, the General Fisheries
Commission for the Mediterranean, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International
Maritime Organization, IUCN and the other regional seas conventions and programmes, and
future cooperation with all other relevant organizations;
Committed to working together to preserve the wealth and sustainability of Mediterranean
ecosystems, goods and services to serve as an example for other regions of the world and
thus contribute to the adoption at the worldwide level of global measures for the protection,
sustainable development and management of the marine and coastal environment;
Conscious of the opportunity represented by the United Nations Conference for Sustainable
Development in 2012, known as Rio+20, and determined to address marine and coastal
environment concerns among the major challenges to be tackled at the Conference;