The Mediterranean works towards a Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change in 2020 and the formulation of a Horizon2030 Initiative

Nov 20, 2018 | News

The UfM Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Climate Change was adopted in Athens on 13 May 2014 (see more here). It called for a specific monitoring mechanism for its implementation. To this end, country representatives and regional stakeholders met for the first UfM Working Group (WG) on ENV and CC on 14-15 March 2017 and for the second on the 12th of November 2018 in Barcelona. Preparatory work for a second UfM Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change was prominent during the Barcelona WG meeting, which discussed:

  • the priorities for action on environment and climate change in the Mediterranean region after 2020. These will provide the basis of the declaration of the next Ministerial Meeting that is expected to take place in 2020;
  • the draft final report of the external evaluation that has been running since July 2018 on the implementation of the 2014 Declaration. The outcomes will contribute towards defining priorities, operational modalities and the work programme post-2020.

The Barcelona WG on ENV and CC, in formulating its conclusions, was mandated to take note of:

  • written comments sent till December 2018
  • the results of the meetings of the next day (November 13th) i.e. UfM Task Force on Environment and the UfM Climate Change Expert Group.

The main agreed conclusions were:

  • propose to hold a 2nd UfM Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change, possibly in 2020; they also welcomed the results and recommendations of the External Evaluation of the implementation of the 2014 Ministerial Declaration as a contribution to the preparation of the 2nd UfM Ministerial Meeting on ENV and CC. The Ministerial declaration would be accompanied by the skeleton/concept note of the future Initiative post-2020 (“the H2030 Initiative”);
  • the Non-Paper discussed during the meeting provides the basis for the identification of the priorities to be included in the Ministerial Declaration. It is based on the work of the 2018 meetings of the UfM Task Force on Environment and the UfM Climate Change Expert Group.

The UfM Secretariat will prepare a Concept Note on the proposed Ministerial that will be submitted to the UfM Senior Officials Meeting in early 2019.

In addition, the meeting:

  • called for a regular UfM Expert Group on Environment to be set-up;
  • agreed on a proposed tentative calendar and process towards the Ministerial Meeting on ENV and CC;
  • welcomed the participation of the representatives of the UN organisations partners of the UfM, regional stakeholders, and their willingness and offers to contribute and participate in projects and activities under this framework;

A draft preliminary proposal on a future “H2030 Initiative” will be presented at the UfM ENV Task Force that will take place in early 2019. The Task Force will also elaborate the draft Terms of Reference for the UfM Environment Expert Group, to be eventually approved at the 2020 Ministerial.

Read in French here