On February 7th & 8th of 2022, the Forum des Mondes Méditerranéens –World Mediterranean Forum– took place at the Palais des Congrès de Marseille, in France.
Organized at the initiative of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, this forum was presented as the extension of the commitments previously assumed at the Summit of the two Shores in 2019. Key figures and actors from civil society from all over the Mediterranean have been brought together in order to develop concrete solutions to the common challenges facing the Mediterranean today.
Equal opportunities between the two shores of the Mediterranean has been the central axis of the program, which has included several conferences in which issues such as the Environment and Biodiversity or Territorial Action and sustainable development, among others, have been discussed.
About that, different round tables have been organized in which Whitesand Solutions has had the pleasure of participating as part of the Executive Committee of the Mediterranean Posidonia Network. The recent activity of the Network has been announced, which has been working for about a year in order to unify efforts for the conservation of Posidonia, bringing together authorities, the scientific community, international environmental organizations, professionals and agents of the nautical world of all the Mediterranean countries. At the round table Protection of Posidonia Meadows, organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in association with Plan Bleu and the Maritime Prefecture of the French Mediterranean Coast (PREMAR), featured presentations and the participation of Daisee Aguilera (CEO of Whitesand Solutions), Pierre-Yves Hardy (WWF Francia), Thierry Duchesne (French Maritime Prefecture of the Mediterranean), Zrinka Jakl (Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development, SUNCE), Atef Ouergui (SPA/RAC) and Phénia Marras (French Office for Biodiversity). During the meeting, important issues were discussed, such as the main threats to Posidonia (improvements in moorings for recreational boats, fishing, construction on the coast and pollution of the sea), as well as the presentation of management tools currently applied. in different parts of the Mediterranean, as is the case of the Anchoring Control and Surveillance Service implemented in 2013 in the waters of Formentera and later extended to all the Balearic Islands and now to the Valencian Community.
The main objectives worked on in this meeting were:
- Present some recommendations to protect Posidonia meadows throughout the Mediterranean by 2030
- Achieve greater cooperation between countries of the North and South Mediterranean
- The implementation of the Action Plan of the Mediterranean Posidonia Network, developed at the meeting held in Formentera during the month of September 2021
- The request for more political support and greater fundraising to finance the necessary projects for the protection and management of the Posidonia meadows on the coasts with the greatest nautical influx.
For more information about the Forum, access the following link: https://www.mondesmediterraneens.org/en/
Let us continue working in order to strengthen existing networks between countries and communities, united by the same objectives.
