Algeria 
Egypt 
Jordan 
Lebanon 
Libya 
Morocco 
Palestine * 
Syria * 
Tunisia WES-BCA (Water and Environment Support – Biodiversity and Climate Action)
Countries covered:
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Algeria
-
Egypt
-
Jordan
-
Lebanon
-
Libya
-
Morocco
-
Palestine *
-
Syria *
-
Tunisia
WES-BCA
The action includes two separate but complementary components. Together, these two components will contribute to fighting against climate change and minimizing its impact on people and the environment and to address urgent needs in terms of biodiversity protection and restoration.
The first component will focus on improved integration of biodiversity’s protection/restoration into partner countries’ sector policies, and the reduction of pollution risks and impacts in the Mediterranean Sea. This includes the fight against plastic proliferation and other types of solid and liquid waste pollution. The second component will focus on rolling out massive awareness campaigns towards all socioeconomic layers of the population.
Objectives
The overall objective of this programme is to improve the protection of the environment, the restoration of biodiversity and the management of scarce water resources, while enhancing the resilience to climate change in the Mediterranean region, strengthening the formulation and enforcement of the relevant policies of the Partner Countries and the two regional political frameworks, namely the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Barcelona Convention.
Specific objective 1 – Outcome 1 (Biodiversity and Environment): An integrated approach to biodiversity protection/restoration and pollution reduction/prevention is promoted.
Specific objective 2 – Outcome 2 (Water): Scarce water resources in the Southern Neighbourhood are managed more efficiently.
Specific Objective- 3 Outcome 3 (Communication and Outreach): Awareness raising and better understanding by the general public (and specific segments of the population) including youth and women are promoted stimulating adoption of appropriate behaviours and attitudes towards improved climate action and effective environmental protection.
Actions in brief
The proposed programme aims to contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal, the commitments made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) including the Paris Agreement and following COPs, as well as the conclusions of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15 – December 2022), the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Climate Action – October 2021, EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the EU Climate Adaptation Strategy (2021), the New Agenda for the Mediterranean as well as the UN SDGs 13, 6, 10, 14, 5, 15 & 16.
The first component will focus on improved integration of biodiversity’s protection/restoration into partner countries’ sector policies, and the reduction of pollution risks and impacts in the Mediterranean Sea. This includes the fight against plastic proliferation and other types of solid and liquid waste pollution. This component will be a follow-up to existing successful regional EU-funded “Water and Environment Support” (WES) programme, which also contributes to the normalisation process (Abraham Accords) and thus could pave the way for enhanced trilateral cooperation in the field of cross-border integrated water management.
The second component will focus on rolling out massive awareness campaigns towards all socioeconomic layers of the population. Indeed, several studies (including a recent IEMED study) have shown that environmental and climate action are not at all perceived as high priorities by the general population in the Southern Neighbourhood. There is a clear need to work on citizens’ perception on these issues and to empower them as agents of change.
The action will contribute to the implementation of the EU Gender Action Plan 2021-2025 GAP III, and specifically to its thematic area of engagement “Addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition and the digital transformation, digitalisation, climate change and environment”.
