For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020This initiative is funded by the European Commission through DG EuropeAid.
For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020The UfM Ministerial Meeting of May 2014 also formally and unanimously endorsed the Mediterranean Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development (MSESD). The Strategy was finalised with the support of the Horizon 2020 Initiative which facilitated the final stakeholder consultations on the text.
Ministers attending the first Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change in Athens on the 13th of May issued a Declaration reiterating their commitment to tackle the growing environmental and climate challenges facing the region. More specifically the Ministers agreed to launch the second phase of the Horizon 2020 Initiative with the full involvement of the UfM Secretariat and agreed on future strategic directions to reduce pollution and increase resource efficiency in the Mediterranean.
A Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change is overdue. The last Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on the Environment in November 2006 established the Horizon 2020 Initiative for the De-pollution of the Mediterranean and endorsed the timetable for its first phase, while the ministers agreed to periodically review its implementation. Two attempts at holding a ministerial meeting so far have not come to fruition due to external factors. At the same time, climate action is increasing in importance, namely considering the expected serious impacts of a changing climate in the Mediterranean region, as well as climate change international scene.
The year 2013 marks the mid-way point of the Horizon 2020 Initiative. Under the Horizon 2020 components and projects but also under the EU, UfM and UNEP/MAP frameworks, a number of assessments, studies and reports (see more details below) are underway which will feed into an overall Mid-term Review of the Horizon2020 Initiative. Their first results were presented at the 6th Steering Group Meeting of the H2020 Initiative (19-20 November 2013) and will be further elaborated in the Amman meetings described above. A synthesis report will facilitate the process by taking stock of progress made during the 2007-2013 phase of the Initiative and making recommendations for its next phase. The final recommendations of the Mid-term Review of the H2020 Initiative are expected to be a background document for the UfM Environment and Climate Change Ministerial in May 2014 and provide the basis for the launch of the second phase of the Horizon 2020 Initiative (2014-2020).
