Representatives of international media organizations attended a briefing on the State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (SoED) report, which has been produced by UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre Plan Bleu.

Gaetano Leone, the Coordinator of UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention Secretariat, told journalists that the report is a wake-up call for Mediterranean leaders and actors in all sectors. “The time for resolute action to save the Mediterranean is now and tapping into knowledge of the interactions between environment and development will be crucial,” he said during the online media briefing organized by UNEP and the European Commission on the sidelines of EU Green Week.

“By shedding light on the mistakes of the past, the report’s findings can guide a green renaissance in the Mediterranean. Embarking on greener development paths now can halt the environmental degradation trends and salvage hard-won achievements in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Mr. Leone is quoted as saying in the press release announcing the publication of the report.

According to SoED, rising inequality, biodiversity loss, the growing impact of climate change and unrelenting pressure on natural resources could lead to irreversible environmental damage in the Mediterranean basin. Unless urgent and resolute action is taken to halt current trends, environmental degradation could have serious and lasting consequences for human health and livelihoods in the region.

François Guerquin, Plan Bleu Director, who also spoke at the briefing alongside Mr. Leone, presented the report’s finding and urged a resolute action to act on them. “Unsustainable consumption and production have brought Mediterranean ecosystems to near exhaustion, while socio-economic inequalities are becoming unbearable in some places. We have to collectively re-invent our Mediterranean,” Mr. Guerquin said.

According to the report, 15 per cent of deaths in the Mediterranean are attributable to preventable environmental factors; in 2016, more than 228,000 people died prematurely from exposure to air pollution. The region – one of the world’s most coveted tourism destinations (360 million arrivals in 2017) and one of its busiest shipping routes – is polluted by an estimated 730 tonnes of plastic waste every day. The presence of more than 1,000 non-indigenous species also poses threats to biodiversity, and the region is warming 20 per cent faster than the global average.

The report indicates that the region, which is home to more than 512 million people, is not on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
This report comes at a historical turning point for the region and the world. In the first half of 2020, COVID-19 has spiraled into a pandemic, compounding a set of intersecting crises already affecting the Mediterranean region. The pandemic is taking a hefty toll through loss of life, human suffering and massive economic disruptions in our region, with much of its medium- and long-term impacts yet to be fully apprehended. As we launch the SoED and in response to the socio-economic crisis caused by COVID-19, Mediterranean countries are in the process of introducing policies, measures and stimulus packages to support recovery. Millions of jobs are on the line and according to initial estimates, the crisis has knocked several percentage points off national income. There is no silver lining to be found in the COVID-19 pandemic, but we believe that our region must seize a historic opportunity to recover in a smart, evidence-based green fashion.

The SoED brings to the decision-makers’ fingertips a timely compilation and analysis of the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge available on the environment and development in the Mediterranean. This will be crucial for informed decision-making in this period of high uncertainty. If Mediterranean countries are to seize the historical opportunity to build back greener in the recovery from COVID-19, the SoED offers the possibility of drawing lessons from the mistakes of the past and evidence of the toll they have taken on the health of the environment and human wellbeing. Such lessons would be crucial in turning the tide on the unsustainable business-as usual and in scaling up adequate sustainable consumption and production models.

Building back better entails revisiting our relationship with nature. It calls for prioritizing green jobs, renewable energy, integrated water resource management, organic agriculture, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, alternative tourism, low carbon shipping, solutions with limited resource intensity; and recognizing the potential of all generations and genders, to shape our collective future in the Mediterranean region.

A report on the cost of environmental degradation in Morocco in 2014 (requested by the Government of Morocco and published by the World Bank in 2017) estimated the total cost of environmental degradation to Moroccan
society at approximately 3.5% of national GDP (Figure 25).

The cost associated with water degradation alone represented around 1.6% of Moroccan GDP, followed by air pollution at 1.05% of GDP. Costs of land degradation are associated with erosion issues and the conversion and desertification of rangeland. The report also states that damage to the coastal zone is considerably underestimated, as it is largely captured under other categories (air pollution, land and water degradation). In addition to national impacts, greenhouse gas emissions cause damage to the global community, which was estimated at 1.6% of GDP in 2014.

A United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) report produced by Plan Bleu, a UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre, provides the most comprehensive assessment of the state of the environment and development in the region and includes a set of key messages that can inform an adequate policy response. The report was prepared under the Barcelona Convention, the Contracting Parties of which are 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union.