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12 | OCEAN GOVERNANCE

SESSION 4.
TOWARDS A BETTER
PRESERVED, MORE
RESILIENT, AND SUSTAINABLE “The Mediterranean is a region with
MEDITERRANEAN many conflicts, but when it comes to
the environment and climate, there is
Being an enclosed sea with great environmental, a true regional consensus”.
socio-economic, and cultural diversity, the Mediter- Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the
ranean presents particular challenges in terms of Union for the Mediterranean (Spain)
conservation and sustainable use. Building on the
themes of previous panels, this session concluded
the day's discussions by focusing on tools and strate-
gies to enhance the protection and resilience of the
Mediterranean Sea. Representatives from national, “Beyond the major decisions made at an
regional, and local governments and the private sec- international level within these essential
tor shared concrete examples and outlined their prio- multilateral institutions, it is the actual
rities for the next decade. The issue of funding was implementation for citizens on the
addressed by HE Bernard Fautrier, General Secretary ground that counts. The global problem
of The Medfund, who covered the topic of innovative
funding mechanisms, such as the trust fund that the of rising sea levels is a clear indication
Principality launched in 2015 with France and Tunisia, that we are facing the end of the road”.
which provides increasing financial assistance to the Renaud Muselier, President of the Regional
Mediterranean Basin's, marine protected areas (cur- Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
rently 15 MPAs from 7 different countries benefit from
this support). For the panellists, including Federico
Cardona Pons, Director of Coastal Health Strategy
Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Cuba for the Ibe-
rostar Group (Spain) and Renaud Muselier, President
of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regional Coun-
cil, sustainable tourism offers significant potential for THE HIGH SEAS TREATY
boosting the blue economy in the Mediterranean.
From Greece, Efstathia Liarou, mayor of Elafonisos, Finalised in New York on 4 March 2023, this historic United
outlines the challenges of this kind of tourism around Nations agreement aims to bridge a legal gap in the
the submerged city of Pavlopetri, an archaeologi- protection of marine areas beyond national jurisdiction.
cal site in the Peloponnese and a Natura 2000 site. It builds on the efforts initiated in 2004 to provide a legal
Multilateralism has been identified as one of the vital framework for the conservation and sustainable use of
factors in improving the preservation of the Mediter- marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdictions,
ranean marine ecosystem. Karim Amellal, France's i.e., 200 nautical miles (370 km).
Ambassador for the Mediterranean, stressed "the
importance of coalitions such as the Union for the "France and Monaco contributed to the adoption, in early
Mediterranean in boosting collective action at inter- March, of the international treaty to protect biodiversity
national, national and regional levels."
in the high seas. There are three reasons why this treaty
is so vital; it requires environmental impact assessments
for all new activities in the high seas, it enables the crea-
tion of marine protected areas in the high seas, and for
the first time in the history of environmental negotiations,
decisions will no longer be taken by consensus but by a
majority vote, which will prevent any state from blocking
the measures.”

Hervé Berville, Secretary of State for the Sea (France)