Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2002; Kütting, 2000a, 2000b), and also its ef ectiveness is ambiguous
according to dif erent viewpoints.
The Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) was created in 1975, under the
auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), only
three years after the Stockholm Ministerial Conference set up the latter
programme. MAP was adopted as a Regional Seas Programme under
UNEP's aegis. The UNEP Regional Seas Programme is a promising
attempt to develop treaties and soft rules and standards at the regional
level taking into consideration the dif erent characteristics - both needs
and capabilities - of the dif erent regions (Sands, 2003). MAP was the i rst
plan adopted and has worked since then as a model for designing the other
plans.
The Barcelona Convention was signed in 1976 and forms the legal part
of MAP, in force since 1978 and amended in 1995. It includes six pro-
tocols, namely, the Dumping Protocol, the Prevention and Emergency
Protocol, the LBS (Land-Based Sources) Protocol, the SPA (Specially
Protected Areas) and Biodiversity Protocol, the Of shore Protocol and the
Hazardous Wastes Protocol. The Barcelona Convention is complemented
by a research component (MED POL), policy-planning programmes
(Blue Plan and Priority Actions Programme) and i nancial/institutional
arrangements.
The Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) involves 21 countries
bordering the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the European Union, which
are Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its protocols.
MAP's main objectives (UNEP, 1995b: Annex IX) are:
to ensure sustainable management of natural marine and land
●
resources and to integrate the environment in social and economic
development, and land use policies;
to protect the marine environment and coastal zones through pre-
●
vention of pollution, and by reduction and, as far as possible, elimi-
nation of pollutant inputs, whether chronic or accidental;
to protect nature, and protect and enhance sites and landscapes of
●
ecological or cultural value;
to strengthen solidarity among Mediterranean coastal states in man-
●
aging their common heritage and resources for the benei t of present
and future generations; and
to contribute to improvement of the quality of life.
●
Origins, negotiations and formation of the Mediterranean Action Plan
Haas (1990, ch. 3) gives a detailed overview of the history and negotiations
up to the adoption of MAP, which is summarized below. Early worries
