3rd LIFE4MEDECA International Conference Greening the MED: a shared approach to the transition
Last September 18 and 19 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt) Fundacion Philippe Cousteau’s Secretary General (Rafael Lobeto Lobo) and the Delegate for Italy and at the EU Commission (Mario Dogliani) contributed to the 3rd LIFE4MEDECA International Conference.
Jointly organised and chaired by the European Union Delegation to Egypt, the Port Authority of Livorno and SDG4MED and supported by LIFE4MEDECA and BMM EU Projects, the conference gathered more that 70 authorities and experts from all over the Mediterranean Basin Delegation at Cairo, EC senior officers and authorities and experts from all the Mediterranean basin.
The Mediterranean is facing a double challenge: restoring its health and ensure wealth to its increasing population. None of the two is more important of the other and they must be achieved jointly and synergically. This is well understood in all the major international common policies related to the Mediterranean such as the Mediterranean Action Plan (agreed by all the Mediterranean Countries within the Barcellona Convention framework) and the EU neighboring countries policy.
Besides common policies, which provide the necessary background, greening the Mediterranean requires a collaborative operational effort by all the involved categories and sectors. Promoting such synergic approach is the aim of LIFE4MEDECA and of the BlueMissionMed (BMM) initiatives.
According to Mario Dogliani, who co-chaired the event, the aim of the international conference is to share best practice across the Mediterranean Basin “less than 12 months after COP27, successfully lead by Egypt, it is time to discuss common challenges and solutions to foster the blue-green transition in the Med”.
At the conference, success stories as well as common bottlenecks were presented, among others, by the EU Commission, the Egyptian Ministry of Transport and that of Research, the Frech Ministry for the Sea and the ports of Alexandria, Damietta, Livorno and the whole Algeria, by experts from Egyptian Academy of Science, University of Alexandria, Cairo, Oran and Santander, the Egyptian Environmental Agency as well as by operators, competent authorities and scientists.
In addressing the audience, Rafael Lobeto Lobo underlined the, still not fully exploited, potentials of maritime tourism which counts for at least 3% of GDP in the Mediterranean area and can, if proper synergies are established, become fully green within the next few years: “Fundacion Philippe Cousteau and SDG4MED are ready and committed to assist the sector in its path to zero emissions; this will hopefully also facilitate bringing peace in the area”.
The conference was also the occasion to announce the appointment of new delegates of Fundacion Philippe Cousteau: Prof. Suzan Koleif delegate for north Africa, Prof. Beladjine Boumediene delegate for Algeria and Dr. Nirvana Mohamed delegate for Egypt (in the picture with Rafael Lobeto Lobo).
