PANACeA – MBPC – Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community

Mainstreaming management efforts for environmental sustainability

Project summary

The Mediterranean is a biodiversity hotspot with varied socio-economic features and common environmental challenges and pressures. To effectively preserve and sustainably manage this shared natural capital, there is a need to raise awareness among all societal sectors and territorial actors on the importance of getting prepared and acting together to achieve a good environmental status for the benefit of all.

The MBPC project is a collaborative initiative that offers a science-management-policy platform for knowledge, dialogue and action, in partnership with 15 thematic projects, to help build bridges between policy frameworks and environmentally positive practices, building on science and effective solutions in place to address biodiversity and ecosystem protection. MBPC so aims to build the capacities of Mediterranean players by strengthening networks for further outreach, creating opportunities for transferring best tools, capitalizing on the knowledge and experience of a community made of 342 partners in 24 countries, and making knowledge available through an online capitalization platform at biodiversity.uma.es.

Our role

ETC-UMA has been the lead partner during the first phase of the project (PANACeA) from 2016 to 2019, and is leading the MBPC project from 2019 to 2022. In addition to coordinating the overall partnership and its activities, the ETC-UMA plays a key role in:

Building a community of individuals and institutions aiming at concerted actions towards biodiversity protection and management.
Devising and supporting joint publications, events and actions in the community, fostering additional partnerships with organizations and initiatives outside the partnership.
Ensuring the mainstreaming and transfer of key messages and tools towards targeted policies and events relevant to environmental protection in the Mediterranean.
Leading the action plan for the MBPC working group on biodiversity protection and transboundary challenges addressing climate change, marine pollution and governance across borders.
Maintaining and feeding the main online capitalization tool for biodiversity protection in the project (biodiversity.uma.es) with spatial data and knowledge originating from 15 Interreg Med projects and other external sources of relevance to Mediterranean biodiversity protection.
Developing and updating the first thematic database on research efforts addressing the interactions of marine litter and biodiversity in the Mediterranean and its analysis.

Main outputs

INTERREG MED BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER

Register here

Period 2016 - 2019

Period 2019 - 2022

INTERREG MED BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION COMMUNITY PUBLICATIONS (2016-2022)

MBPC 2nd phase

Marine litter in Interreg Med, 17 July 2017 – Watch the video.
Integrating data for biodiversity protection in the Mediterranean, 20 November 2017 – Watch the video.
Greening your events, 10 July 2018 – Watch the video

MBPC 2nd phase

Webinar:Revamping the Mediterranean Biodiversity Community, 12 June 2020
Webinar: Working Group 1 Biodiversity Protection and transboundary challenges, 26 June 2020
Webinar: Working Group 2 Sustainable use of natural resources, 3 July 2020
Webinar: Working Group 3 Integrated ecosystem monitoring and management, 1 July 2020
Preparation course: Science-policy-society interactions in ecosystem-based marine resources management & planning, 17 September 2020
Introductory video for Wetlands webinar, 22 October 2020
Webinar (video 1) Healthy wetlands: our best natural answer to the biodiversity crises: the Mediterranean case, 22 October 2020
Webinar (video 2) Healthy wetlands: our best natural answer to the biodiversity crises: the Mediterranean case, 22 October 2020
Webinar (video 3) Healthy wetlands: our best natural answer to the biodiversity crises: The Mediterranean case, 22nd October 2020
Webinar (video 1) Capacity building: "Climate change and MPAs focused on Adriatic-Ionian region", 20th November 2020
Webinar (video 2) Capacity building: "Climate change and MPAs focused on the Adriatic-Ionian region", 20th November 2020
Capacity building session - Marine litter in MPAs focused in Montenegro - 1st session, 29 June 2021
Capacity building session - Marine litter in MPAs focused in Montenegro - 2nd session, 29 June 2021
Capacity building session - Marine litter in MPAs focused in Montenegro - Conclusions, 29 June 2021
Webinar WG2: Sustainable use of natural resources. WETNET and TUNE-UP approaches - October 2021
EU Green Week 2022: A Green deal for the Mediterranean wetlands: building resilience through collaborative management
MBPC final event in Brussels (session 1- from 3 November at the Committee of the Regions)
MBPC final event in Brussels (session 2- from 4 November at the Committee of the Regions)

Interreg Med Joint publication: Guidelines for Sustainable meetings: Greening your events
Interreg Med Joint publication: Guidelines for Sustainable meetings: Greening your events
Communication Strategy
Guidelines for the sustainability of cruises & recreational boating in the Mediterranean region (April 2022). These guidelines were developed on the basis of outputs produced by specific projects from three Interreg MED Communities dealing with cruises and yachting (the Blue Growth Community, the Sustainable Tourism Community and the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community)
An assessment of marine biodiversity protection in the Mediterranean Sea: A threatened global biodiversity hotspot (November 2022)

Bridging Science-Practice-Policy Gaps for Biodiversity Protection in the Mediterranean, Barcelona, 24-25 October 2017
9th European Ramsar Meeting, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 19 March 2018 – 23 March 2018. How does the Mediterranean community contribute to the Ramsar Strategic Plan
Empowering the Mediterranean Community: Tools for Ecosystem-based Management Montenegro, 16-17 May 2018
Transferring Ecosystem-based management tools: increasing regional capacities workshop, Marseille, 23 October 2018, with a focus on POSBEMED
Ecosystem-based approaches to managing transboundary and cumulative impacts in the Mediterranean, with a focus on marine plastic litter and climate change, Cairo, 27 November 2018
Arabic version – Ecosystem-based approaches to managing transboundary and cumulative impacts in the Mediterranean, with a focus on marine plastic litter and climate change, Cairo, 27 November 2018,
Enhancing EU policies with ecosystem-based approaches – Brussels, 4-5 December 2018
FAO GFCM FishForum2018: Promoting co-management as an innovative tool for the sustainable use of marine natural resources – Rome, 10 December 2018,
Enhancing private sector engagement in ecosystem-based approaches, Rome, 6-7 May 2019
MARLICE: Marine Litter knowledge and tools in Mediterranean protected areas, Seville, 11-12 April 2019
Managing Transboundary Impacts in Priority Areas: Towards and Action Plan for Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) in the Southern Adriatic Sea Ecoregion – Herceg Novi, 31 May 2019
Mainstreaming Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Tools into National initiatives, Madrid, 4 July 2019 – Access to presentations in Spanish
Conclusions and Recommendations of the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community Encounter, Ecosystem-based Adaptation: A Pulse for Transformative Changes in the Mediterranean, Malaga, Spain, 14-16 October 2019.

MBPC 2nd phase

Healthy wetlands: our best natural answer to biodiversity, water and climate crisis. The Mediterranean case, EU Green Week workshop report, 22 October 2020
Climate change and marine protected areas - Focus on Montenegro - capacity building workshop, 20 November 2020
Mediterranean solutions towards zero pollution impacts on biodiversity and health - EU Green Week workshop report, 4 June 2021
Working group 2 on "sustainable use of natural resources". Maritime Spatial Planning: Decision Support Tool for Blue Economy in Mediterranean MPAs PHAROS4MPAs project, 11 June 2021
Marine litter and protected areas - Focus on Montenegro - capacity building workshop, 29 June 2021
Managing Transboundary Priority Areas: Towards a governance mechanism on the conservation of the south Adriatic-Ionian marine ecosystem, 13-14 July 2021
Streamlining biodiversity in sectoral development IUCN WCC Campus session Summary, 6 September 2021
Webinar WG2: Sustainable use of natural resources. WETNET and TUNE-UP approaches - October 2021
MPA Forum Report, 28 November 2021
Euro Med Academy: Interdisciplinary Mediterranean Ecosystem-Based Management MSP (April/May 2022)
MARLICE 2022 Report from the side event in Marlice Natura, 19 May 2022
Report_Capacity building workshop on Marine Protected Areas Governance: Exchange of lessons learned and best practices. (26/27 May 2022, Montenegro)
Wetlands ecosystem advocacy paper, June 2022
EU Green Week final report, June 2022
Working Group 2: The Plastic Busters MPAs approach for marine litter prevention and mitigation 'Plastic Busters MPAs project' (4 July 2022)- Presentation here // Report here

Working Group 2: Reconcile the tourist use of a beach with the Posidonia oceanica conservation: the win-win approach of POSBEMED2
Transboundary Governance in the SAIS-EBSA and contiguous regions: from the identification of an area to biodiversity conservation - Executive summary from the event held in Dubrovnik (UMay-June 2022)
MBPC Final event report (2-4 November, 2022, Brussels)

Spatial data

MEDITERRANEAN BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM

Pictures

Project photo gallery

Videos

Project videos

More about it

Dania Abdul Malak

Project Coordinator

daniaabdulmalak@uma.es

Dania Abdul Malak is a senior environmental researcher and Director of the European Topic Centre at the University of Malaga (ETC-UMA). She has over 15 years’ experience in environmental assessment and management...

Sonsoles San Román

Communication Officer

sonsolessanroman@uma.es

Sonsoles joined ETC-UMA as Communication officer to support the establishment of a two-way communication channel with the scientific community, promoting an effective communication of ETC-UMA´s outcomes...

Antonio Sánchez

MBP Knowledge Platform

a_sanchez@uma.es

Antonio Sánchez has developed his career focused on Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing tools, especially in the management and processing of data to calculate indicators and generate illustrative maps of environmental problems of all kind...

Our partners

MBPC PROJECT PARTNERS

European Topic Centre - University of Malaga (lead partner)

MedCities

InterMediterranean Commission - Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (IMC – CPMR)

Plan Bleu for the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean

Latte Creative

Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism

Marine Institute Croatia

MBPC ASSOCIATED PARTNERS

Adriatic Ionian Euroregion (Croatia)

American University of Beirut- FAFS (Lebanon)

Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED) (Egypt)

Arco Latino (Spain)

Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation of IUCN (IUCN-Med) (Spain)

Government of Catalonia, Directorate General of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (Spain)

ISPRA (Italy)

IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)

Legambiente (Italy)

Mediterranean Protected Areas Network (MedPAN) (France)

Municipality of Herceg Novi (OHN) (Montenegro)

Public agency for promotion of entrepreneurship and developing projects of Municipality of Izola (Slovenia)

Region of Crete (Greece)

Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (France)

Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) (Tunis)

Regione Lazio (Italy)

Service de protection de la nature et politiques des forêts de la Région Autonome de Sardaigne (Italy)

Small Islands Organisation - SMILO (France)

The Resource Environmental Center REC Albania

Tour du Valat Foundation (France)

University of Balamand / Université de Balamand (Lebanon)

Ville de Marseille (France)

WWF Mediterranean (Italy)

Project website

Project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund

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