UfM joints first Steering Committee of the Plan of Action for a Model Mediterranean Sea by 2030 (PAMEx)

24-25 January 2023, Athens. The Plan of Action for a Model Mediterranean Sea by 2030 (PAMEx) held its first Steering Committee meeting on 24-25 January 2023 in Athens, Greece with the participation of UfM Deputy Secretary General in charge of Water, Environment and Blue Economy, Almotaz Abadi and UfM Senior Expert, Marie-Claire Boillot.

In the meeting, partners followed up on the implementation of the 20 concrete actions that PAMEx encompasses, including governance matters and the functioning of the Local Investment Finance Facility (PLIFF) —the innovative financial mechanism created to underpin the implementation of PAMEx—. The Steering Committee meeting also reviewed the ongoing project.

Background

According to the “State of the Environment and Development in Mediterranean (SoED)” report (2020, Plan Bleu), the Mediterranean region has one of the highest rates of biodiversity loss in the world: 40% of its marine species are deemed to be in decline.

On September 2021, 8 Mediterranean governments and 5 international organizations launched an action plan “The Mediterranean: a model sea by 2030” (PAMEx)” with the aim to reverse the dramatic loss of marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea through concrete and collective actions. This Action Plan encompasses 19 concrete actions that aim at collectively preserve 30% of the Mediterranean Sea, end overfishing, limit plastic pollution and develop sustainable maritime transport by 2030.

The PAMEX Local Invest Finance Facility (PLIFF) is a public – private independent finance facility, which builds on the role of the Union for the Mediterranean as a regional platform to coordinate and promote initiatives and concrete projects, the EU SEACAPs (Sustainable Energy and Adaptation Climate Action Plans) and the programmatic framework of the PAMEx 2030.  PLIFF is proposed to be structured as a Collective Investing and Financing Facility (CIFF).

The 4 PAMEx components are:

1. Marine and Coastal Biodiversity: MedPan, MedFund, SAPBIO and PLIFF natural landscape restoration (Egypt)
2. Sustainable Fisheries: GFCM and its 2030 Strategy
3. Maritime transport: PLIFF Greening Mediterranean Ports and GHG Med
4. Pollution: Marine Litter MED II and the Regional Plan for Marine Litter

Moreover, the steering committee identified the PLIFF Action Plan and expected deliverables in 2023 with a focus on the Mediterranean hotspots based on landscape, climate change and biodiversity indicators (Earth Posaidon).