Environment
and Sustainable Development Network
Aiming at disseminating
the contents of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable
Development as much as possible, INFO/RAC-UNEP/MAP has participated
with a special window of the Mediterranean
Environmental Award in other Euro-Mediterranean
film and photographic festivals, sensitive to environmental
issues.
Furthermore,
INFO/RAC has cooperated with such festivals to create the
“Environment and Sustainable Development Network”,
which, in time, can encourage and collect thoughts, contributions
and proposals of solutions.
The
purpose of the NETWORK is the adoption of a joint information
and communication strategy aimed at fostering, through film
and radio-television initiatives, the meeting of different
cultures and, at the same time, promoting wider participation
and awareness among civil society on the “best practices”
to be adopted for environmental protection and sustainable
development.
www.medaward.org
The
Barcelona Convention – signed on February 16, 1976 and come
into force on February 12, 1978 – represents a sort of “Constitution”
for the safeguard of the Mediterranean Sea. The key actors
of this international agreement are the 21 countries coasting
the Mediterranean Sea, which were joined by the European
Union. Aware of the importance of the safeguard of the naturalistic
and cultural heritage of the Mediterranean, these Governments
have decided to tackle the environmental emergencies, entrusting
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – whose
action is implemented through its Mediterranean Action Plan
(MAP) – with the task of managing the coordination of the
cooperation activities among the Contracting Parties of
the Convention, in order to win the challenge of sustainable
development.
UNEP/MAP has therefore the honour as well as the burden
of representing the common reference point for the Mediterranean
environmental policies as well as for the pooling of information
and data originating from the adhering countries for a constant
monitoring of the whole eco-region. The aim is to attempt
to collect as much information as possible concerning the
state of health of the Mare Nostrum
During the last Meeting of the Contracting Parties in Slovenia
(November 2005), the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable
Development (MSSD) has been approved. Its aim is to adapt
international commitments to regional conditions, to guide
the national strategies of sustainable development and to
promote dynamic partnerships among countries with different
levels of development. Such a strategy represents, for the
21 countries which have strongly endorsed it, a unique opportunity
to move substantially towards sustainable development, to
reinforce peace, stability and prosperity in the whole region,
and, in so doing, reducing the gap between developed and
developing countries.
The fundamental principle stated in the Mediterranean Strategy
is that sustainable development is the product of a balanced
combination of economic development, social equality, environmental
protection and good governance. Seven fields of action have
been identified as priorities: they relate to a better management
of water resources and a rational use of energy - also exploiting
alternative sources -; mobility, urban development, tourism,
sustainable agriculture and, last but not least, safeguard
of coastal zones and of biodiversity.
This is the context in which the action of INFO/RAC, the
MAP environmental Information and communication centre of
the United Nations Environment Programme, is implemented.
With the conception of a wide-ranging and articulated awareness-raising
mechanism in the civil society on the processes of environment
protection and sustainable development, through cooperation
and partnership programmes, as well as through the use and
sharing of information and communication technologies and
education and public participation, INFO/RAC will make the
policies and actions of the Barcelona Convention and of
UNEP/MAP visible and shared.
Among the many initiatives, on the occasion of the 30 years
of UNEP/MAP, INFO/RAC-MAP has organized the Mediterranean
Environmental Award, a film and photographic festival dedicated
to Environment and to the Mediterranean. This was an audiovisual
and photographic voyage, which had the merit of representing
a significant cutaway view of the environmental issues which
need to be tackled, but also the huge asset represented
by the culture of the Mediterranean peoples and by the richness
of the Mediterranean sites.
Aiming at disseminating the contents of the Mediterranean
Strategy for Sustainable Development as much as possible,
INFO/RAC-UNEP/MAP has participated with a special window
of the Mediterranean Environmental Award in other Euro-Mediterranean
film and photographic festivals, sensitive to environmental
issues. Furthermore, INFO/RAC has cooperated with such festivals
to create the “Environment and Sustainable Development Network”,
which, in time, can encourage and collect thoughts, contributions
and proposals of solutions from a wide portion of the civil
society.
In order to increase the number of occasions to exchange
ideas, a Forum has been created in our site (www.medstrategy.org),
within our on-line magazine, “EcoMed-ia Magazine”: it is
a virtual area where to meet and talk, to learn and “think
sustainable”.
I would like to address heartfelt and sincere thanks to
the organizers of the host Festival, who have generously
provided for spaces and time and who have enthusiastically
adhered to the promotion of this initiative of spreading
awareness and of encouraging commitment for the whole Euro-Mediterranean
area.
Dr.
Sergio Illuminato, Director General INFO/RAC-MAP, United
Nations Environment Programme
