Marseille, France, June 14-16, 2023 – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) participated and actively contributed to the 20th Session of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development (MCSD). The three-day meeting took place in France, which currently holds the Presidency of the Commission.
In 2021, PAM was elected as a full-fledged member of the MCSD, an advisory body to the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention, which was established within the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP/MAP).
Alongside senior environmental and economic experts of the region, representatives of the Contracting Parties, local authorities, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, parliamentarians and the scientific community, the meeting was attended, among others, by Mr. Hervé Berville, French State Secretary for the Sea, and Ms Tatjana Hema, UNEP/MAP Coordinator, and was the occasion for participants to discuss the most pressing environmental challenges for the Mediterranean region.
PAM Special Rapporteur on Energy, Hon. Claire Pitollat (France), led the PAM delegation and contributed to the working of the meeting by illustrating the most recent activities of PAM in supporting sustainable development strategies in the region and the Assembly’s contribution to the advancement of the Mediterranean Strategy on Sustainable Development (MSSD).
In particular, Hon. Pitollat emphasized the importance of involving the private sector in designing innovative models for sustainable development, with a multi stake-holder approach.
Moreover, Hon. Pitollat recalled PAM’s efforts in establishing a permanent Parliamentary Conference on Renewable Energies for the green transition in the region, while praising the fruitful collaboration between PAM and UNEP/MAP, and their joint cooperation on the first Guide for MPs to protect the Mediterranean Sea and its Coastal Areas.
MCSD future Strategy and Priorities were also discussed, based on possible scenarios – until 2050 – prepared by a number of scientific institutions. PAM representatives, while endorsing the background research and scientific data, recommended further research on the implications and proposed solutions to the various scenarios, as a number of the suggested political, economic, energy and social coordination mechanisms and tools already exist and operate successfully.
At the conclusion of the Meeting, Members of the MCSD agreed on the need for further and more ambitious action on a number of key areas, including marine and coastal biodiversity protection, the revision of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD), and the need to adopt a blue economy approach for sustainable development.
The outcome of the Marseilles meeting will be presented at the forthcoming Conference Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention (COP23), to be held in Slovenia on 4-5 December 2023, where PAM will participate, prior to attending the COP28 in the UAE.
PAM remains firmly committed to fostering sustainable development strategies and to its cooperation with relevant regional stakeholders, such as UNEP/MAP and Plan Bleu, to ensure a rapid and carefully planned green energy transition.//