WES-BCA project Regional Webinar on the Mediterranean monitoring and reporting programs for marine litter prevention and mitigation
The EU funded “Water and Environment Support-Biodiversity and Climate Action (WES-BCA) in the Neighbourhood South region” project held its Regional Webinar on the Mediterranean monitoring and reporting programs for marine litter prevention and mitigation, on the 3rd of February 2026.
This regional activity is to support its Partner Countries (PCs) in monitoring methodologies (for all marine matrices) that have been adopted by the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention.
Robust monitoring and reliable data are essential for informing and guiding effective policies and measures; therefore, the PCs could greatly contribute to the efforts of their Ministries of Environment to prevent and minimise marine pollution.
Through this webinar, more than 45 key stakeholders from the Mediterranean region had also the opportunity to exchange of national experiences, case studies, and best practices related to marine litter monitoring and reporting as well as on mitigation strategies.
The WES-BCA team of environment and marine litter experts compiled inputs and prepared a Background Document that gives an overview on tools, and methodologies and introduces best practices to support the implementation of regional and national marine litter monitoring and reporting programmes. This aims at enhancing informed decision-making and policy development.
The Background Document, together with the findings of a regional survey and insights from the Regional WES-BCA Webinar, will feed into the Regional Assessment Report currently under preparation. The report will include country profiles, a regional synthesis, cross-cutting analyses, action-oriented recommendations, and a proposed project concept to support further implementation and capacity-building.
The Mediterranean sea is renowned for its biodiversity and cultural heritage, faces escalating pressure from marine litter and plastic pollution that threatens habitats and species and impacting human livelihoods.
Plastics, particularly single-use items, microplastics that infiltrate the food web, and threatening public health but also they are disrupting multiple economic sectors such as tourism and fisheries, two pillars of the Mediterranean economy.
Marine litter is caused by a complex combination of unsustainable production and consumption patterns, weak solid waste management practices, lack of adequate policy and legislative frameworks, irresponsible behaviour of individuals and economic sectors.
Plenty of regional and international initiatives address plastic pollution:
The European Union has advanced key policies such as the EU Plastic Strategy and the Single-Use Plastics Directive, aimed at reducing plastic waste and fostering circular economy models.
In fact, one of the five topics of WES-BCA activities is ‘Curbing plastic pollution and marine litter’.
A useful video on Single-Use Plastics (produced by the previous EU funded WES project) is complementing the WES-BCA’s efforts to provide key information on the impacts of the use of SUPs, the benefits of anti-plastic measures but also on the ways to addressing the problem.
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) provides a regional framework for environmental action and sustainable development in relation to plastic pollution via its GreenerMed Agenda and its Sustainable Blue Economy Roadmap, while the United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) has been providing long-term support to the implementation of the Regional Plan for Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean through improved monitoring, knowledge-sharing, and best practice dissemination.
The Nice Conference on Plastic Pollution in June 2025, where 96 countries signed the "Nice Wake-Up Call for an Ambitious Plastics Treaty", was indeed a key milestone for a coordinated global action, as numerous Mediterranean stakeholders agreed on a regional roadmap to reduce plastic waste and strengthen cross-border collaboration.
