Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
For the Priority Actions Programme (PAP), another Regional Activity
Centre was established, namely the PAP/RAC. Contrary to the Blue Plan,
it involved particular actions to be taken on issues considered as priorities
at the time. Following the example of MED POL it was designed to be
implemented through demonstration and pilot projects. At that time there
was inadequate scientii c awareness on the integration of environment
and development for the purposes of environmental management so this
approach was the only solution (Raftopoulos, 1993).
However, according to Raftopoulos (1993, p.32), the environmental
management component, consisting of the Blue Plan and the Priorities
Action Programme, even though a rather large and important aspect of
MAP, was clearly not covered in the Barcelona Convention. This means
its ideas and i ndings were not translated into legal provisions, so to a large
extent integration of environment and development was only in the form
of words and not action.
The i nancial component of MAP
Finally, the i nancial component of
the Mediterranean Action Plan is mainly covered by the Mediterranean
Trust Fund. This is a fund that all the Contracting Parties to the
Convention contribute to, according to their respective national wealth.
The Contracting Parties may also contribute to the operations of MAP
through in-kind contributions (for example, through participation of their
national institutes in the MED POL programme especially in MED POL
Phase II). Additionally some Contracting Parties may provide extra vol-
untary contributions to the Mediterranean Trust Fund, even on a regular
basis such as, for instance, the European Union. The i nancial arrange-
ments of MAP are also supported on certain occasions by UNEP through
project funding, and this was the case especially in the i rst years of MAP's
operation.
Ef ectiveness of the Mediterranean Action Plan
Ef ectiveness of the Mediterranean Action Plan has not been extensively
studied by international relations academics. A few exceptions include
Haas, who brought MAP to the attention of the academic community by
praising it as a success, and some others like Skjaerseth and Kütting who
were more critical. Other types of studies carried out discussed certain
aspects of MAP or tried to assess specii c features (for example, legal per-
spectives) of its operation (Boxer, 1978; Raftopoulos, 1993, 1997; Jeftic,
1996; Pavasovic, 1996; Vallega, 1996; Massoud et al., 2003; Raftopoulos
and McConnell, 2004, inter alia).
Haas's study of 'epistemic communities' (Haas, 1989, 1990) did much
to bring the Mediterranean Action Plan to the attention of the academic
