Global Environment Facility Initiative Launched to Tackle Marine and Coastal Pollution

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) launched the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Mediterranean Pollution Hot Spots Technical Assistance initiative, which aims to control pollution in the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment.

FREMONT, CA: Being among the most valued seas of the world, the Mediterranean Basin consists of a vast set of coastal and marine ecosystems. These ecosystems provide vital benefits to all the 250 million coastal inhabitants. But due to anthropogenic factors, the Mediterranean Sea and the region along its coast is facing several unprecedented challenges. These human-related factors include eutrophication, chemical contamination, over-exploitation and marine litter pollution.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Mediterranean Pollution Hot Spots Technical Assistance initiative was jointly inaugurated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The initiative is a part of the USD 5 million Hot Spots Pollution project  and aims to mitigate pollution in the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment. The initiative is an important step towards achieving adequate water, wastewater, solid waste and industrial effluents management in the South Mediterranean countries, namely Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia. It aims to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation services, and hence reduce health risks.

The initiative was launched by the Vice President of the EIB, Ricardo Mourinho Félix, and Susan Gardner, Director of UNEP’s Ecosystems Division. It was inaugurated on the sidelines of the UN Oceans Conference in Lisbon. The dignitaries concurred to aid the preparation of priority investment projects in order to reduce pollution in the marine and coastal environments of the Southern Mediterranean region.

Susan Gardner deliberated that the untreated and adulterated discharges of wastewater present a key problem for Mediterranean ecosystems and for the health of the population living in the region. She professed that many large coastal cities still lack a wastewater treatment system, and a number of existing systems are based on obsolete and inefficient technologies. She said that the joint GEF-EIB-UNEP project will supply resources to decrease pollution. It will also improve the marine ecosystems and the health of people living in the Mediterranean region.

The 2021 State of Finance for Nature report indicates that a total of USD 8.1 trillion is required between now and 2050 in order for the world to meet its climate change, biodiversity, and land degradation targets. The Technical Assistant Initiative tends to bridge this gap and tackle pollution problems. The technical assistance provided under the Mediterranean Hot Spots Investment Programme (MeHSIP) aims to tackle the anthropogenic  pressures in the Mediterranean region by helping promoters accelerate the preparation of projects in the environment and water sectors.

The initiation of the Technical Assistance initiative flags progress towards realising commitments taken at the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties (COP 22) to the Barcelona Convention and its protocols on regional pollution reduction from wastewater treatment plants.