Italy's Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea has committed €4.5 million euro in new funds for the protection of the sea through UN Environment's Mediterranean Action Plan.

The sum will be used to fund better safeguarding of protected areas in the Mediterranean, tackling the critical issue of marine litter, improving environmentally friendly management of coastal zones and boosting socio-economic development that benefit people and marine ecosystems (blue growth).

“This is an initiative undertaken to strengthen the collaboration and cooperation between our country and the Barcelona Convention, following the signature of the Livorno Charter,” said Silvia Velo, Italian Under-Secretary of State for Environment. In the first phase of implementation of the agreement, priority will be given to actions for the management of marine litter and the promotion of governance tools of blue growth, she explained.

“The cooperation agreement that we signed today confirms once again the extraordinary commitment of Italy for the protection of the marine and coastal environment of the Mediterranean,” added Gaetano Leone, Coordinator of UN Environment's Mediterranean Action Plan and of the Secretariat to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean. “The priorities that we have developed together will produce concrete actions that have a great impact.”

The three-year agreement, will assist in achieving important objectives of the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, such as the protection and sustainable use of the seas, oceans, marine resources and marine protected areas, by virtue of the purposes identified in the agreement.

For more information please write to hoda.elturk@unep.org