During the last meeting of the Barcelona Convention COP 21 in Naples, IUCN-Med moderated the side event "Sustainable Coastal and Maritime Tourism to Tackle Environmental and Development Challenges in the Mediterranean Region".

The purpose of this side event was to share recent outcomes, tools, and lessons learned around the topic of Mediterranean maritime and coastal sustainable tourism.

In this context, IUCN-Med presented the second phase of the DestiMED Project (DestiMED Plus), as well as the MEET Network - two different projects to foster ecotourism in Mediterranean protected areas. 

Indeed, poorly managed and unplanned tourism is one of the key threats faced by Mediterranean natural ecosystems, especially in maritime and coastal destinations, as they are receiving a large amount of visitors concentrated in the peak season and around highly fragile areas.

At the same time, alternative and sustainable tourism models, such as ecotourism, can provide significant opportunities to improve livelihoods derived from ecosystem services while benefiting environmental conservation and local development.

Furthermore, this side event highlighted recent opportunities and gaps identified in governance, policy-making, impact monitoring and management, while sharing innovative perspectives on how recent achievements can be capitalized and scaled to broader Mediterranean context in the framework of the Barcelona Convention and other multilateral or voluntary environmental agreements and commitments at global, regional, national or local scale.

Novel approaches and lessons related to sustainable blue tourism and its role in supporting biodiversity conservation and territorial development around the Mediterranean coast completed the agenda.

The event took place on 3 December at Castel dell’Ovo (Sala Sirena). Co-organized by IUCN-Med, eco-union, Plan Bleu, Global Footprint Network and the French Ministry for Ecological Transition

For further information: Carla Danelutti

Photo: © UNEP-MAP Barcelona Convention