Publications

The Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) was established in 1975as a coherent legal and institutional framework for cooperationthrough which all Mediterranean countries decided to jointly address common challenges of environmental degradation whilelinking sustainable resource management with development. Itwas soon followed by the Barcelona Convention and seven Protocols addressing issues relevan ...

Life on earth is fundamentally and inextricably linkedto the marine environment. Our oceans and seas regulate global processes such as climate and weather andprovide us a vast array of goods and services: food, energy, minerals, medicines, transport and social servicesfor society. The ocean’s “natural capital” is howeverglobally depreciating due to the cumulative effectsof human activities a ...

The world’s oceans and coasts – the Blue World – are the cornucopia for humanity. They provide us with food, oxygen and livelihoods.

Healthy natural coastal ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, saltwater marshlands and seagrass meadows provide a vast array of important co-benefits to coastal communities around the world, including throughout the Arabian Peninsula. These benefits include ecosystem services such as a rich cultural heritage; the protection of shorelines from storms; erosion or sea-level rise; food from fish ...

Oceans cover almost three-quarters of the planet, yet we are just beginning to discover the extent of the resources, both biotic and abiotic, that lie beneath their surfaces. We are also just beginning to understand the complexity of the interactions that tie oceans to the rest of Earth’s systems. And then there is the coastal biome, where vital ecosystem services are most vulnerable. The co ...

The Mediterranean Sea is complex in its ecology and its social dimensions. Twenty-one countries border the basin of this heavily used and highly valued sea. The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) provides a critical framework for setting standards and targets acceptable to all the Contracting Parties, as ...

During the past decade, many coastal States have been delineating the limits of their maritime zones. This process is defining the exact extent of the sovereignty or jurisdiction of coastal States over the seas and the oceans. The process paves the way for the application of a legal order, which will facilitate international communication, and will promote the peaceful use of the seas and oc ...

“Sick water? The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development” not only identifies the threats to human and ecological health and the consequences of inaction, but also presents opportunities, where appropriate policy and management responses over the short and longer term can trigger employment, support livelihoods, boost public and ecosystem health and contribute to mor ...

A new Rapid Response Assessment report released 14 October 2009 at the Diversitas Conference, Cape Town Conference Centre, South Africa. Compiled by experts at GRID-Arendal and UNEP in collaboration with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commissions and other institutions, the report highlights the critical role of the oceans and ocean e ...

An Overview of the State of the World’s Fresh and Marine Waters The report presents an overview, through a set of graphics, maps and other illustrations, of the current state of the world’s fresh, coastal and marine waters. It illustrates the causes and effects of trends that threaten our water resources, with examples of areas of major concern and future scenarios for the use and manageme ...